Roofing Contractor in Martinsburg, WV
Black Stone Roofing is a woman owned, family run roofing company at 1886 Winchester Ave in Martinsburg, working Berkeley County and the eastern panhandle. Residential and commercial, licensed in five states, licensed and bonded and insured. The phone is answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and somebody picks up at 2 a.m.
Leaking right now
Emergency response
We answer 24 hours. Tarped and stabilized before more gets inside.
Planning ahead
Free inspection
Written scope and photos so you know what the roof actually needs.
Request your free estimate
What is actually happening up there
Almost 29 percent of the houses inside Martinsburg city limits went up before 1939, while the county median build year is 1998. Those are two completely different roofs and they fail in two completely different ways. Here is what the early signals mean before anybody quotes you anything.
Granules piling up at the downspout
The asphalt layer is losing the mineral coat that shields it from sun. A handful after a new install is normal. A steady pile in year 15 means the mat underneath is starting to cook, and from there the clock runs fast. See asphalt shingle roofing.
A ceiling stain that only shows up in wind driven rain
That is almost never the field of the roof. It is step flashing, a kickout that was never installed at the wall to gutter transition, or counterflashing caulked to the face of a chimney instead of cut into the mortar. It is a repair, not a replacement, and roof repair is where it belongs.
Nail heads pushing up through the shingle
The deck is moving, or the nails were overdriven or shot into the gap between sheathing panels. Every raised head is a hole waiting for the sealant strip to give up. This is one of the things we go looking for on a roof inspection rather than something you can see from the driveway.
Frost on the underside of the sheathing in January
Warm wet air is getting into the attic and condensing on cold wood, which rots the deck from the inside while the shingles still look fine. Nine times out of ten the intake is blocked or the slot behind the perforated soffit was never cut. Ventilation is a roof problem, not a heating problem.
Water still standing two days after the storm on a flat roof
Ponding means drainage or insulation slope failed, and the assembly under the membrane is likely already wet. Coating over that seals the water in, which is why we scan and core cut first. Start at single ply membrane roofing or roof coatings.
Four houses on your street got new roofs last year
Roughly a quarter of all housing in Berkeley County went up between 2000 and 2009. That cohort is 17 to 26 years old now, which is exactly where builder grade shingles quit. In Spring Mills, Falling Waters, Inwood, and Bunker Hill it hits street by street rather than house by house, because you were all framed the same month. See residential roofing.
Start where your building is
Residential Roofing
Shingle, metal, slate, and specialty work for the historic city stock and the county subdivisions alike.
Commercial Roofing
Membrane, coatings, and structural metal for warehouse, retail, church, and institutional buildings.
Roof Replacement
Tear off, deck inspection in front of you, and the per sheet rate for bad wood written on the estimate first.
Roof Repair
Pipe boots, step and kickout flashing, chimney crickets, valleys, and the honest repair versus replace call.
Roof Inspection
Ground level soft metals, the field, flashings, then the attic. You get a photo report you keep.
Storm Damage Roof Repair
We get on the roof, count what the storm actually did, and hand you a photo report with the date on it.
Roof Insurance Claims
What your carrier owes, what West Virginia law allows a roofer to do, and what we hand your adjuster.
Specialty Roofing
Slate, cedar, tile, synthetic composite, and the low slope porch roofs shingles were never legal on.
Preventative Roof Maintenance
Scheduled spring and fall visits with a dated photo record for a manufacturer, an adjuster, or a board.
Exterior Services
Gutters, siding, windows, and steel buildings on the same trucks, because mystery leaks live in the seam between two trades.
What happens between your first call and the last nail
The phone call
A person answers, including at 2 a.m. The first question is which Martinsburg you are calling from, because a slate porch roof downtown and a 2004 subdivision in Spring Mills are not the same job. If water is coming in now, we route you to emergency instead of scheduling.
The inspection
Ground level first for the soft metals, then the field, then every flashing and penetration, then the attic. You get a photo report you keep whether you hire us or not. If the roof has six good years left, that is what the report says.
The written scope
Line by line, in writing, before anybody asks you for money. Tear off, what underlayment goes down, what flashing gets replaced instead of reused, and the per sheet rate for rotten decking written on the estimate first so it is never a surprise on install day.
Approvals and permits
Work inside the Historic Preservation Overlay District needs a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Review Commission, which meets the first Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. Out in the county it is usually an HOA architectural committee instead. We handle that lane and we tell you the real timeline, not the optimistic one.
Install day
You know who is running your crew and how to reach that person without going through an office. The deck gets opened, inspected, and photographed before anything covers it back up. Landscaping gets protected and the ground gets swept and magnet rolled before we leave.
Final walk and the paperwork
We walk it with you, not at you. You get the manufacturer documentation for the products that actually went on your roof, the workmanship coverage written into your contract in plain terms, and the same phone number to call if anything moves later.
The layers you are actually paying for
The sheathing under everything
Plywood or OSB, and in the older city stock often board decking with gaps between the planks. Nothing above it works if it is soft. We open it, look at it with you standing there, and price bad sheets at a rate you already agreed to.
Self adhering membrane at the vulnerable spots
Eaves, valleys, and around every penetration. Martinsburg gets freeze and thaw cycles that back water up under the shingle at the eave, and this is the layer that stops it from reaching your ceiling.
The secondary water barrier over the field
Synthetic rather than felt on our jobs, because felt wrinkles when it gets wet and telegraphs through the shingle. It is also what keeps the house dry the night between tear off and finish if weather turns.
The first course at the eave and the rake
A real starter strip with a factory sealant line, not cut up shingles flipped backward. Most asphalt roofs in this county fail at the nail line, the starter course, and the eave, not out in the middle of the field where people look.
The shingle or the panel you picked
Architectural asphalt, standing seam or exposed fastener metal, slate, cedar, tile, or synthetic composite. On metal we put gauge, substrate, resin system, and seam profile in writing, and we explain oil canning before you sign. See residential metal roofing and commercial metal roofing.
Every place the roof meets something else
Step flashing at walls, kickout flashing where the wall dies into the gutter, crickets behind wide chimneys, valley metal, and pipe boots. This is where leaks actually come from, and it is the line item cheap bids quietly leave out by reusing what is already up there.
Intake and exhaust that are actually balanced
Ridge vent with no intake is a decoration. We check that the soffit slot was cut, that insulation is not choking the baffles, and that you do not have two competing exhaust types short circuiting each other on the same roof plane.
Roofs we have put on in Berkeley County
Straight answers about who you are hiring
Licensed in five states
VA, WV, MD, PA, FL.
Based in Martinsburg
1886 Winchester Ave, Martinsburg, WV 25405. Berkeley County is where we live, not a market we drive into after a storm.
Family owned since 2016
Same family, same phone number, still picking up the spring after the storm when the callbacks start.
Licensed, bonded, and insured
4.9 stars from 50 Google reviews. Ask for our license number and it goes on the estimate, then ask every other bidder for theirs.
Martinsburg, Berkeley County, and the rest of the Panhandle
Do not see your town? We work the whole corridor, so ask or call (540) 550-9703.
Questions people ask before they hire us
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Who is actually going to be on my roof?
You get names before the job starts: who is running your crew, how to reach that person without going through an office, and who owns your job from the estimate to the final walk. That is not a normal disclosure in this trade, which is why we make it. If a company bidding against us will not tell you who is doing the work, ask why.
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Are you actually based in Martinsburg?
Yes. Our office is at 1886 Winchester Ave, Martinsburg, WV 25405, and Berkeley County is where we live and work rather than a market we drive into after a storm. Location still matters less than licensing, so check both. West Virginia requires a contractor license number to appear in contracting advertisements and to be posted at the job site. Ask us for ours and it goes on the estimate. Then ask every other bidder for theirs.
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You are licensed in five states. Does that make you a storm chaser?
It makes us the opposite of one. A storm chaser works without a local license, takes a deposit, and leaves. We have been in business since 2016, we hold a West Virginia contractor license that goes on your estimate and gets posted at the job, and we are family owned with an office on Winchester Ave in Martinsburg you can drive to. The licenses let us send crews toward damage legally, and we are still answering the phone the following spring when the callbacks start.
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Can I see proof of insurance?
Yes, and take one extra step. Ask for the certificate of insurance to come to you from the insurance agency rather than as a PDF forwarded by the contractor, because a certificate is easy to alter and a call to the agent confirms the policy is in force today. We have no problem with you checking. Anyone who does have a problem has answered your question.
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Do you really do commercial work, or is that a sideline?
It is a real part of the business. Single ply membrane, restoration coatings, structural standing seam, and new pre engineered steel buildings, on top of the residential side. Berkeley County has a genuine low slope market that most roofing companies here ignore, and the warehouse and manufacturing corridor along I-81 is most of it.
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Is the roof inspection really free, or is it a sales appointment?
It is free and you get to keep the photo report whether you hire us or not. We start from the ground with the soft metals, then the field, then every flashing and penetration, then the attic to check for daylight, staining, frost on nail points, and whether the slot behind your perforated soffit was ever cut. If the answer is that your roof is fine for another six years, that is what the report says.
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Do I need approval before I reroof a house in downtown Martinsburg?
If the house sits inside the Historic Preservation Overlay District you need a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Review Commission, which meets the first Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. That timeline is real and it is worth planning around rather than discovering after tear off. Out in the county subdivisions it is usually an HOA architectural committee instead, and the approval is faster but the material list is stricter than people expect.
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What happens if something goes wrong after the job is finished?
You call the same number you called the first time and we come back out. You get the manufacturer documentation for the products that went on your roof, and the workmanship coverage is written into your contract in plain terms before you sign rather than described at the kitchen table. Read that section on every bid you collect. If a contractor cannot show you where his workmanship coverage is written down, there is nothing to enforce later.
Talk to a roofer, not a call center
Free inspection anywhere in Martinsburg and Berkeley County, with photos you keep whether you hire us or not. Open 24 hours, seven days a week, and somebody picks up at 2 a.m.