Roof replacement, leak repair and hail & storm damage for homes in Festus. In Festus, 9% of the 5,539 homes went up before 1940. It starts with a free inspection that photographs every slope.
Festus runs to about 5.9 square miles and roughly 12,706 people. It sits about 30 miles south of downtown St. Louis. The community dates back to 1887. We cover ZIP code 63028.
No completed roof in Festus is logged in our job records yet.
Festus housing runs from homes built before 1940 to a wave of 1990s and 2000s building; the Census figures below show how the decades split.
Festus grew out of neighboring Crystal City and was originally called 'Tanglefoot,' then 'Limitville,' before taking the name Festus. It was established in 1878 and incorporated in 1887.
From this stretch of building, houses in Festus sit on plywood or OSB, were first roofed in three-tab shingles, and are mostly on their second roof now. Trouble tends to be at the penetrations rather than across the field: the rubber collar on a pipe boot splits years before the shingles give out, and it is the leak we trace most often. Ridge vents were hit and miss in these decades, and OSB that stays damp for a season softens in a way plywood does not, something you feel underfoot rather than see from the yard.
By the Census Bureau's estimate there are 5,539 homes in Festus, with a median year built of 1983. 471 of them (9%) went up before 1940 — 17th of 48 places on this site for pre-1940 share — and 1,701 (31%) in 2000 or later. The 2000s were the busiest decade, adding 1,018 of today's homes (18%). Across Jefferson County the pre-1940 share is 3%, so Festus sits above it.
Missouri's Department of Commerce and Insurance puts the useful life of a roof at usually about 25 years. By that measure, 69% of Festus' homes — the 3,838 built before 2000 — are past their first roof, and the 2,272 built before 1970 (41%) are usually on a third covering or later. The 1,018 homes from the 2000s are where first replacements come up now, while the 683 built since 2010 are mostly still on the roof they were built with. On houses that old, the question worth asking is how many layers are up there: a roof laid over an old one hides the deck.
73% of homes in Festus are single-family detached houses (4,025) and 2% attached ones such as townhouses (133). 750 homes (14%) sit in two- to nine-unit buildings and 366 (7%) in buildings of ten units or more, whose roofs are normally an owner's or a board's call rather than a resident's. The count also takes in 265 mobile homes, which are a different kind of roof job. 2,945 of 5,091 occupied homes (58%) are lived in by their owners. Read together, those figures point toward full tear-offs on houses past two roof lives, first replacements on 2000s builder-grade shingles, flat and low-slope sections, which turn up more on attached and multi-unit buildings and hail checks on newer roofs that look fine from the driveway.
| Built | Homes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1940 | 471 | 9% | |
| 1940s | 374 | 7% | |
| 1950s | 871 | 16% | |
| 1960s | 556 | 10% | |
| 1970s | 355 | 6% | |
| 1980s | 455 | 8% | |
| 1990s | 756 | 14% | |
| 2000s | 1,018 | 18% | |
| 2010s | 467 | 8% | |
| 2020 or later | 216 | 4% |
Census ACS 2020–2024, tables B25034, B25035, B25024 and B25003: 5,539 homes, 5,091 occupied. Survey estimates.
Between 2016 and 2025 there were 11 reports of 1-inch-plus hail within 5 miles of Festus’ center in the records of NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center, on 8 separate days. 1 of them was 1.75 inches or larger. The largest, 1.75 inches, came on May 8, 2024, about 3.5 miles northeast of the center. The most recent was 1 inch on March 14, 2025. A report needs someone to see the hail and send it in, so the count is a floor, not a full tally.
| Latest reports | Size | From center |
|---|---|---|
| March 14, 2025 | 1 inch | 1.7 mi E |
| March 14, 2025 | 1 inch | 4.2 mi N |
| March 14, 2025 | 1.5 inches | 4.2 mi N |
| May 8, 2024 | 1.75 inches | 3.5 mi NE |
| February 16, 2023 | 1.25 inches | 0.5 mi SE |
A bruised shingle can look fine for a season or two, which is why a storm inspection after a date like these is worth having.
The city says 'Any project considered a substantial improvement would require a building permit,' and the building commissioner decides what counts. The city does not address roofing either way. Festus is its own city, so Jefferson County's re-roof exemption does not apply here. We confirm the requirement for your job with the city before work starts.
Festus 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 636-937-6646. The city refers to a building commissioner but does not name the commissioner on its permit pages. 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 Jefferson County:
| City | Re-roof permit | Code | Median built |
|---|---|---|---|
| Festus | Not published | Not published | 1983 |
| Arnold | Not published | 2021 IRC | 1977 |
| Imperial | No | 2015 IRC | 1990 |
All 3 Jefferson County cities side by side →
The city says 'Any project considered a substantial improvement would require a building permit,' and the building commissioner decides what counts. The city does not address roofing either way. Festus is its own city, so Jefferson County's re-roof exemption does not apply here. We confirm the requirement for your job with the city before work starts.
Older than most people guess: the Census puts 69% of Festus' homes before 2000 and 41% before 1970, with a median year built of 1983 (2020–2024 estimates). A roof usually lasts about 25 years, so the deck and the layers get checked before any quote.
The last report near Festus of hail 1 inch or bigger came on March 14, 2025; NOAA's records hold 11 of them within 5 miles since 2016.
Not yet: no completed roof in Festus is in our job records, so this page shows no job count.
Researched 2026-09-09; housing, Census ACS 2020–2024; hail, NOAA SPC. Sources: festusmo.gov · www.festusmo.gov · www.festusmo.gov · ecode360.com · en.wikipedia.org · www.bestplaces.net · data.census.gov · www.spc.noaa.gov. Rules and staff change; check with the jurisdiction.
