◼ CSLB C-39 Licensed | Roofing Contractor | Santa Ana, CA 92703
Roofing for Washington Square & Wilshire Square — The Craftsman Bungalow Neighborhoods of Santa Ana
We’ve been on the roofs along Washington Avenue, Wilshire Avenue, and the WPA-era blocks between downtown and Midtown for years. These 1920s and 1930s bungalows are some of the most character-rich homes in all of Santa Ana — and also some of the most mishandled when it comes to roofing. The porch roof is leaking into the rafter tails. The chimney flashing hasn’t sealed in two decades. And there’s a good chance someone already put two layers of shingles over the original 1920s skip sheathing. We know these houses because we work on them constantly — and we know what they need.
We don’t guess on these homes. We pull the drip edge, look at what’s underneath, and tell you exactly what you’re dealing with — including whether that original clay tile is worth keeping. No upsells. No pressure. Just a straight read from someone who’s been doing this work in 92703 for a long time.
COMMON QUESTION — ANSWERED STRAIGHT
Can the Original Clay Tile on My 1920s Washington Square Bungalow Be Saved — or Does It All Have to Come Off?
The tile itself is almost always salvageable — sometimes entirely, sometimes partially. The mission barrel clay tile used on the Craftsman and Spanish Colonial Revival bungalows built in Santa Ana during the 1920s and early 1930s was fired to last. It’s the underlayment beneath it that has not lasted, and that’s the real problem. The original felt underlayment on these roofs — if it was ever installed properly at all — has been dried out and brittle for at least 30 years. In many cases it’s simply gone, and the tile is sitting on deteriorated skip-sheathed boards with nothing waterproof in between. When we lift tiles from roofs along Wilshire Avenue or 3rd Street, we routinely find the underlayment crumbling to dust at the touch. The tile looks fine from the street. Underneath, there’s no protection left.
A proper clay tile underlayment replacement means removing every tile carefully, numbering or mapping the field tiles and the specialty pieces — ridge caps, hip tiles, rake tiles — setting them aside, replacing the decking if the skip sheathing is too far gone, and installing new code-compliant underlayment before relaying the original tile. Under California Building Code, a tile re-roof in a re-use scenario still requires current underlayment standards, which means a minimum two-layer system for low-slope sections. Broken or missing mission barrel tiles are the hard part: that exact profile hasn’t been manufactured in some patterns for decades. We source salvage tile when we can find a match, but sometimes a section has to come off and be closed with something historically appropriate. The honest answer is: get someone up there who will tell you exactly how many tiles are broken, whether your ridge tiles are intact, and whether the sheathing under the tile is solid or shot. We can do that inspection and give you a real number — not a ballpark built to close a sale.
WHAT WE FIND ON THESE ROOFS
Four Problems That Show Up on Washington Square and Wilshire Square Homes — Every Single Time
These aren’t generic roofing problems. They’re specific to pre-war bungalow construction — the way these homes were built, the way they’ve aged, and the way they’ve been repaired (and misrepaired) over a hundred years. Here’s what we actually find when we get on a roof in the 92703 zip code.
Porch Roofs and Shed Dormers: The First Thing to Fail
The low-pitch porch roof is the Achilles heel of the Craftsman bungalow. Designed with a shallow slope — sometimes as little as 2-in-12 — these porch roofs don’t drain aggressively. Water sits. Debris accumulates in the valleys where the porch roof ties into the main roof. And where water sits long enough, it finds a way through composition shingle that was never designed for that slope to begin with. On shed dormers — which appear on a number of the larger bungalows on Washington and Wilshire Avenues — the back wall flashing almost always fails first. Water tracks down behind the siding, into the rafter cavity, and then it sits in the rafter tail. By the time you see a stain on the porch ceiling, the rafter tails have been wet-dry cycling for a couple of seasons. We pull out rotten rafter tails on these porch roofs more often than we don’t. The repair is not complicated — but it does require removing the eave, cutting back to solid wood, and rebuilding the tail properly before re-roofing, not just slapping new shingles over the problem. A lot of contractors skip that step. We don’t, because it comes back — and when it comes back, it’s your problem, not theirs.
Multiple Shingle Layers Over Skip Sheathing: A Hundred Years of Band-Aids
A home built in 1924 on 2nd Street or Flower Street has had time for three or four re-roofs. Each contractor who came through added another layer of composition shingle rather than tearing off the old — it’s faster and cheaper at the time, and in California it’s been legal up to two layers. Some of these homes are sitting at three or even four layers. But the problem on bungalows isn’t just weight — it’s what’s underneath. The original sheathing on homes built in the 1920s is almost always skip sheathing: 1×4 or 1×6 boards nailed with gaps between them, designed for wood shake that needed to breathe. Composition shingle needs solid decking beneath it to seal properly and to give nails something to hold in. When you’re nailing through three layers of shingles and the nail finally reaches skip sheathing, it’s going into a gap as often as it’s going into wood. The fastening is compromised. The shingles work loose earlier than they should. And when it’s finally time to tear it all off — as California Building Code now requires when going to a third layer — you’re looking at skip-sheathing boards that are a century old, some of which have been wet, some of which have been home to pests, and none of which are up to code for a re-roof installation. We add solid plywood or OSB decking over the skip sheathing as a matter of course on these jobs. It’s not optional if you want the new roof to perform.
Chimney Flashing: The Number One Leak Source on Pre-War Bungalows
The brick chimneys on Washington Square and Wilshire Square bungalows are real masonry — not the fake zero-clearance units that went into later construction. That’s actually a good thing for historic character. The flashing situation, however, is almost universally bad. Original lead flashing was set into the mortar joints of the brick and counterflashed — a system that worked well when it was new and the lead was still flexible. After 90 or 100 years, lead flashing work-hardens and cracks. The mortar it was set into has spalled or been patched with the wrong product, leaving gaps at the step flashing and the counter flashing that admit water directly into the chimney-to-roof joint. Many of these chimneys have also been “repaired” with tar or roofing caulk at some point, which seals for a season and then shrinks away. When we inspect a bungalow chimney in this neighborhood, we’re almost always looking at active infiltration — sometimes a slow seep that’s been soaking into the framing for years before anyone noticed it on the interior. A proper chimney flashing rebuild on these homes means new step flashing, new counter flashing set into freshly tuck-pointed mortar joints, and new drip edge at the front apron. We don’t caulk and call it fixed. That buys you a year, maybe two, and then you’re calling someone again.
Original Clay Tile: Historic Value, Failed Underlayment, and a Parts Problem
Some of the Spanish Colonial Revival homes in Wilshire Square still carry their original clay tile — the same mission barrel tile that was installed when the home was built in the late 1920s. When it’s intact and unbroken, that tile is genuinely worth preserving. It’s irreplaceable in the sense that the exact color, patina, and profile was produced by kilns that have long since closed. But the underlayment beneath it has a finite life that has almost certainly already passed. Felt underlayment installed in 1929 or 1938 is simply not functional anymore — it has zero elasticity, it doesn’t shed water, and in many cases it’s essentially powder. The tile is doing all the waterproofing work, and the tile has gaps: at the ridge, at the hips, at any cracked or shifted piece, and especially at any area where a prior repair was done with different material. A full clay tile underlayment replacement — removing all tile, solid-decking over the skip sheathing where needed, installing a proper two-layer underlayment system, and reinstalling original tile — is a significant job. But it’s the only way to actually preserve this roof for another generation. Anything short of that is patching a hundred-year-old waterproofing system that no longer exists. We’ve done enough of these jobs in Santa Ana to know exactly how to handle the tile removal, the re-lay, and the salvage sourcing when pieces need replacement.
WHAT TO EXPECT TO PAY IN 2026
2026 Roofing Costs for Washington Square and Wilshire Square Homes — Real Numbers for 92703
These ranges are based on what we’re actually quoting on bungalows in the 92703 zip code in 2026. Every house is different — a 900-square-foot home on 3rd Street with one layer of composition shingle and a sound deck is a very different job from an 1,100-square-foot home on Wilshire Avenue with three layers, skip sheathing, a clay tile section over the porch addition, and a chimney that’s been caulked over for fifteen years. The numbers below reflect the range of what we see, not a low-ball number designed to get us in the door.
Full Re-Roof: Craftsman Bungalow (800–1,200 sq ft)
$9,500 – $15,500
Complete tear-off of existing composition shingle (one or two layers), new drip edge, new felt underlayment, new 30-year composition shingle. Includes standard ridge vent and pipe boot replacements. Does not include structural repairs, chimney work, or skip sheathing overlay — those are line-itemed separately so you know exactly what you’re paying for. Range moves based on actual square footage, number of existing layers, roof complexity (valleys, dormers, multiple pitches), and whether the deck needs repair or solid overlay after tear-off.
Clay Tile Underlayment Replacement (Tile Preserve and Re-lay)
$14,000 – $22,000
Full removal of original mission barrel clay tile, numbered and staged for reuse. New solid decking over skip sheathing where required. New two-layer underlayment system per California Building Code. Reinstallation of original tile, with salvage tile sourced for breakage as available. Ridge caps re-mortared. High end of range reflects homes where skip sheathing is fully shot and needs complete solid-deck overlay, where tile breakage exceeds 15%, or where valley and hip detailing is complex. This is not a job where cutting corners on underlayment makes sense — the tile will outlast anything under it, so what goes under it matters enormously.
Chimney Flashing Rebuild
$600 – $1,400
Full replacement of step flashing, counter flashing, and front apron. Includes tuck-pointing of mortar joints where counter flashing is set. New lead-free galvanized or aluminum flashing system. Low end applies to a smaller chimney with accessible, sound brick that just needs new metal and fresh mortar. High end applies to chimneys where the brick itself has spalled, where the cap is cracked and needs replacement, or where prior tar applications have to be fully removed before new metal can be set. We never quote chimney flashing as a caulk-only repair — that’s not a repair, it’s a delay.
Porch Roof Repair / Skip Sheathing Solid Deck Overlay
$800 – $2,500 / $1,200 – $2,800
Porch roof repair ($800–$2,500): Includes tear-off of existing material, rafter tail inspection and replacement where rotted, new drip edge, new underlayment, and new composition shingle or modified bitumen on the flat or near-flat sections. Rafter tail replacement is billed per tail if damage is isolated. Skip sheathing solid deck overlay ($1,200–$2,800): Applies when re-roofing requires adding a solid plywood or OSB layer over existing skip sheathing rather than full tear-out of the boards. Required by California Building Code in most re-roof scenarios where sheathing does not meet current code for fastening. Range reflects roof size and complexity.
Get a Straight Quote on Your Bungalow Roof
We’ll come out, get on the roof, look at what’s actually there, and give you a written scope and number — not a range designed to feel low until you sign. No pressure to commit on the spot.
WHERE WE WORK IN 92703
Streets We’ve Worked in Washington Square and Wilshire Square
We work throughout the Washington Square and Wilshire Square neighborhoods in Santa Ana’s 92703 zip code — the pre-war bungalow blocks that run from roughly 2nd Street north through 4th Street, and from Grand Avenue west through the mid-blocks. If your home is on Washington Avenue, Wilshire Avenue, 4th Street, 3rd Street, 2nd Street, Flower Street, or the cross-streets between them — we’ve almost certainly been on a neighbor’s roof within the last few years. These neighborhoods are dense with small lots and close-set homes, which means access can be tight and equipment placement takes planning. We’re used to it. We’re also within a short drive of the surrounding Central Santa Ana neighborhoods, Midtown Santa Ana, and the adjacent zip codes — if you’re just outside the immediate neighborhood boundary, call and ask. Odds are good we can still help you.
- Washington Avenue
- Wilshire Avenue
- 4th Street (between Washington and Grand)
- 3rd Street
- 2nd Street
- Flower Street (mid-blocks)
- Grand Avenue (nearby)
- Cross-streets in the WPA-era bungalow blocks
- Adjacent Midtown Santa Ana blocks
- All addresses in zip code 92703
A note on access: homes in Washington Square and Wilshire Square sit on small lots with fencing, mature trees, and shared side yards that can make ladder placement tricky. We scope access as part of the inspection, not as a surprise on the contract. If we need to coordinate with a neighbor to get equipment on the correct side of the home, we handle that conversation — it’s routine for us in these blocks.
QUESTIONS WE HEAR FROM HOMEOWNERS IN THESE NEIGHBORHOODS
Roofing FAQ for Washington Square and Wilshire Square Homeowners
My bungalow has original clay tile and I want to keep it. Is that realistic, or am I going to end up with composition shingle anyway?
It’s realistic if the tile is in decent shape and the structure under it hasn’t been compromised beyond repair. The mission barrel clay tile profile used on Spanish Colonial Revival and late Craftsman bungalows in Wilshire Square is a genuinely beautiful roofing material — and where the tile itself is intact, a full underlayment replacement and re-lay is the right answer. The challenge is sourcing replacement tiles for broken pieces, since that exact clay composition and firing profile often can’t be matched with new product. We’ll give you an honest count of how many tiles are cracked or missing before we quote the job, and we’ll tell you upfront whether salvage sourcing is viable. In some cases where breakage is significant, homeowners do choose to transition to a composition shingle that approximates the look — but that’s always a conversation, never a decision we make for you.
I’ve got a leak at the chimney every winter. Does the whole chimney need to come down, or is this a flashing problem?
In the vast majority of cases on pre-war bungalows, a chimney leak is a flashing problem — not a structural chimney problem. The brick chimney itself on homes from this era is usually sound masonry that just needs tuck-pointing in a few spots. What fails is the metal-to-masonry joint: the lead or aluminum flashing that was set into the mortar, the counter flashing that covers the top of the step flashing, and the front apron where water running down the chimney face hits the roof. When any one of these fails, water follows the path of least resistance into the attic or wall cavity below. A chimney flashing rebuild — new step flashing, new counter flashing set into fresh mortar, new apron — is almost always sufficient to stop the leak without touching the chimney structure. We inspect the cap as well, because a cracked crown on the top of the chimney will send water straight down the flue and into the attic regardless of how good your roof flashing is. We’ll tell you which of these you’re actually dealing with.
A roofer told me my house has three layers of shingles and he can’t re-roof it without a full tear-off. Is that true?
Yes — that’s accurate under California Building Code, and any contractor who tells you otherwise is either uninformed or not pulling permits. California limits residential roofs to two layers of composition shingle. If you’re already at two layers and need a new roof, a complete tear-off is required before re-roofing. On a bungalow in the 92703 zip code, that full tear-off is actually an opportunity: you get to see exactly what the original deck looks like, address any rafter tail issues, add solid decking over the skip sheathing where needed, and start fresh with a proper underlayment and drip edge installation. The tear-off adds cost and time, but it’s the only way to do the job correctly — and on a home this old, seeing what’s underneath before you close it up again is genuinely valuable information. We document what we find and walk you through it before we close the deck.
The porch ceiling has a water stain but the shingles look okay from the street. Why is it leaking?
The bungalow porch roof is almost always shallower in pitch than the main house roof — sometimes dramatically so. Composition shingle has a minimum slope rating, and on porch roofs that approach flat, standard shingle installation does not provide a reliably waterproof surface. Water doesn’t run off quickly enough to prevent it from wicking back under the shingle laps during rain. On top of that, the junction where the porch roof meets the main house wall — the step flashing and counter flashing at that transition — is a chronic failure point. Debris builds up in that valley, holds moisture, and the flashing eventually fails. The shingles can look perfectly intact from the street while water is actively infiltrating at the wall or through low-point saturation. Add in the rafter tail situation — the ends of the rafters at the eave, where water that gets under the shingles tends to collect — and you can have significant rot developing with no visible exterior sign. We always probe the rafter tails on a porch repair, because once they’re soft, we’d rather fix it now than re-do the whole repair in two years.
I care about the historic character of my bungalow. How do I know a roofer won’t just slap something generic on and call it done?
That’s a real concern and a reasonable one — because it happens. The preservation community in Washington Square and Wilshire Square has grown significantly, and homeowners here know the difference between a roof done right for a historic bungalow and one that just closes the building envelope without any regard for the architecture. A few things to look for: a contractor working on historic properties should be able to discuss the specific profile of your tile, match ridge caps to the existing installation rather than just laying a different product, and understand why certain materials are or aren’t appropriate for a shallow-pitch section of a pre-war roof. They should also be willing to preserve and reinstall original material wherever possible rather than defaulting to tear-and-replace because it’s faster to quote. We don’t claim to be a historic restoration firm — but we do know these roofs, we work in these neighborhoods regularly, and we understand why homeowners on 3rd Street or Wilshire Avenue care about getting it right. Ask us specific questions about your specific roof. If we know the answer, we’ll give it to you. If we don’t, we’ll tell you that too.
Service Area: Washington Square, Wilshire Square, and surrounding neighborhoods in Santa Ana, CA • Primary Zip: 92703 • Also serving 92701, 92704, and adjacent 92703 blocks in Central and Midtown Santa Ana
CSLB C-39 Licensed • Roofing Contractor • California
(657) 210-3803
Serving Craftsman bungalow, Spanish Colonial Revival, and Tudor Revival homeowners in Washington Square and Wilshire Square • Clay tile, composition shingle, and historic re-roof specialists • Zip code 92703 • CSLB C-39 Licensed roofing contractor • Chimney flashing, porch roof repair, skip sheathing overlay, rafter tail rot repair