In Elsberry, the median home was built in 1965. We replace and repair roofs here and inspect after hail, starting with a free, photographed inspection.
It sits about 50 miles northwest of downtown St. Louis. The community dates back to 1879. We cover ZIP code 63343.
No completed roof in Elsberry is logged in our job records yet.
Postwar houses in Elsberry are plain to roof, which is exactly why so many get roofed carelessly. Expect 1x6 board decking or early plywood: usually sound, but it should be walked, not assumed. The weak spots are the shallow pitches — a porch roof, the join to a carport, the flat section over an addition — where shingles went on below their rated slope and have leaked slowly for years. Attics from this era rarely have the ventilation today's shingle warranties ask for, and a hot, under-vented attic ages a roof from below, so intake and exhaust get measured before the quote.
By the Census Bureau's estimate there are 725 homes in Elsberry, with a median year built of 1965. 170 of them (23%) went up before 1940 — 9th of 48 places on this site for pre-1940 share — and 78 (11%) in 2000 or later. More of today's homes date from before 1940 than from any decade since. Across Lincoln County the pre-1940 share is 5%, so Elsberry sits above it.
The rule of thumb from Missouri's Department of Commerce and Insurance is a useful life of usually about 25 years for a roof. On that yardstick the 647 homes in Elsberry built before 2000 (89%) have outlived at least one roof; 407 of them (56%) predate 1970, old enough for two replacements already. Homes from the 2000s (67 in Elsberry) are reaching their first replacement, while the 11 built since 2010 are mostly still on the roof they were built with. Older houses are where a second layer laid over the first turns up, and that layer is what hides soft decking.
78% of homes in Elsberry are single-family detached houses (562) and 1% attached ones such as townhouses (7). 103 homes (14%) sit in two- to nine-unit buildings and 18 (2%) in buildings of ten units or more, whose roofs are normally an owner's or a board's call rather than a resident's. Owners live in 53% of the 695 occupied homes. On a housing mix like this, the likely work is full tear-offs on houses past two roof lives, deck and flashing checks on pre-war board sheathing and flat and low-slope sections, which turn up more on attached and multi-unit buildings.
| Built | Homes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1940 | 170 | 23% | |
| 1940s | 49 | 7% | |
| 1950s | 94 | 13% | |
| 1960s | 94 | 13% | |
| 1970s | 140 | 19% | |
| 1980s | 66 | 9% | |
| 1990s | 34 | 5% | |
| 2000s | 67 | 9% | |
| 2010s | 7 | 1% | |
| 2020 or later | 4 | 1% |
Census ACS 2020–2024, tables B25034, B25035, B25024 and B25003: 725 homes, 695 occupied. Survey estimates.
From 2016 through 2025, NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center recorded 1 reports of hail of 1 inch or more within 5 miles of Elsberry’s center, spread over 1 storm day. None was 1.75 inches or larger. The largest, 1 inch, came on February 28, 2017, about 0.7 miles west of the center. Counts follow people as much as storms, since every report is a spotter’s or a resident’s.
If one of those storms crossed your street and nobody has been on the roof since, a storm inspection photographs what it did.
Elsberry's zoning code makes it unlawful to start the erection, construction, reconstruction, alteration or extension of a building without a building permit (Section 41.600), and the city's Building Permits and Inspections Department says it permits all construction. Re-roofing is not named either way, so we ask the city before the job starts and pull whatever it requires.
Elsberry does not publish the code edition it currently enforces, so this page does not name one. Editions across the metro run from the 2006 IRC to the 2024 IRC — worth asking any contractor which one they are building to.
The published number is 573-898-5588. The city's Building Permits and Inspections Department lists a Building Inspector but does not publish the inspector's name. The department page is here.
The design figures are metro-wide rather than local: 115 mph ultimate design wind and a 20 psf ground snow load. What they do to a roof is in the roofing code guide.
Also in Lincoln County:
| City | Re-roof permit | Code | Median built |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elsberry | Not published | Not published | 1965 |
| Moscow Mills | Not published | 2021 IRC | 2007 |
| Troy | Not published | 2015 IRC | 2000 |
| Winfield | Not published | 2018 IRC | 2000 |
All 4 Lincoln County cities side by side →
Elsberry's zoning code makes it unlawful to start the erection, construction, reconstruction, alteration or extension of a building without a building permit (Section 41.600), and the city's Building Permits and Inspections Department says it permits all construction. Re-roofing is not named either way, so we ask the city before the job starts and pull whatever it requires.
Older than most people guess: the Census puts 89% of Elsberry's homes before 2000 and 56% before 1970, with a median year built of 1965 (2020–2024 estimates). A roof usually lasts about 25 years, so the deck and the layers get checked before any quote.
Yes. The most recent report of hail 1 inch or larger within 5 miles of Elsberry's center was 1 inch on February 28, 2017, one of 1 such reports from 2016 through 2025.
Not yet: no completed roof in Elsberry is in our job records, so this page shows no job count.
Researched 2026-10-24; housing, Census ACS 2020–2024; hail, NOAA SPC. Sources: cityofelsberry.com · cityofelsberry.com · cityofelsberry.com · cityofelsberry.com · data.census.gov · www.spc.noaa.gov. Rules and staff change; check with the jurisdiction.
