Why were so many houses built here at once?
Two old roads cross in the middle of the Falls. Portage Trail follows the path Native Americans used when they left the river at the falls and carried their canoes south. State Road was once the Akron to Cleveland highway and carried Route 8 before the expressway was built to the east.
After World War II the land around that crossing filled with houses. The city's population went from 29,195 in 1950 to 47,922 in 1960. Census tract medians tell you where those people moved in. Between State Road and the river, north of Portage Trail, the typical house dates from 1952 or 1953. West of State Road, toward Valley Road and North Haven Boulevard, it dates from 1965.
So the streets here, from the numbered ones like 12th and 23rd to Lincoln, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Taft avenues, are lined with houses of nearly the same age. Their roofs have been replaced on nearly the same schedule ever since.
What roofs are on these houses?
The ranch
One story, a pitch around 4/12 or 5/12, and eaves that reach well past the walls. The shape is simple, a single gable or a hip, sometimes with an attached garage under the same ridge. A ranch roof is easy to walk and quick to strip. It is also bigger than it looks, often 15 to 20 squares on a modest house.
The Cape Cod
A story and a half under a steep roof, with bedrooms tucked upstairs and one or two dormers facing the street. Fewer squares than a ranch, but the pitch calls for roof jacks, and every dormer adds flashing and two small valleys. The upstairs ceilings follow the rafters, which leaves almost no attic. That is the root of most ice and heat problems on these houses.
The split-level
These show up more on the 1960s streets west of State Road. Two roof sections at different heights meet at a wall, and that wall joint needs step flashing along its whole length.
What is hiding under the shingles?
A second layer. When these roofs first wore out, nailing new shingles over the old ones was the cheap and common answer. A great many Falls ranches and Cape Cods are still carrying both. Ohio's residential code does not allow another recover on a roof that already has two layers, and a tear-off is the only method used here in any case.
Plank decking. Houses from the early 1950s were often decked with boards, not plywood. Boards hold up well, but they have gaps, knots and the odd split, and a few always need replacing once they are exposed.
No drip edge. It was routinely left off in that era. Look along your eave. If the shingles simply hang over the fascia with no metal under them, the top edge of that board has been getting wet for decades.
Thin ventilation. Small gable louvers and nothing at the eaves. A new ridge vent only works if air can enter low, so the soffits get checked at the same time.
The article on two-layer roofs on older Falls homes goes into what a tear-off uncovers.
Do the street trees matter?
Yes. The Falls has held the Tree City USA title since 1987, and the trees along these streets are full grown. They shade the north and east slopes, drop seeds and leaves into the gutters, and keep the lower courses damp. On a low ranch roof that moisture lingers. It is one reason the eave, not the ridge, is usually the first part to fail here.
Who issues the permit for a house off State Road?
The county does. Cuyahoga Falls contracts its building department work to the Summit County Division of Building Standards, and the county's residential permit application lists re-roofing by name. The office is at 1030 East Tallmadge Avenue in Akron, a short drive down Route 8. Anything about zoning goes to the city at 2310 Second Street.
What should owners here do first?
Find out how many layers you have and what shape the edge is in. Both are part of the free roof inspection, and both show up in the photos. If the gutters are original, read about doing the roof edge and gutters in the same week. If the roof grades Replace Soon, the written quote for a roof replacement in Cuyahoga Falls stays good for twelve months. The article on replacing a 1960s Falls ranch roof walks through the whole job.
Same age as the house next door?
If their roof just came off, yours is probably close. A free inspection tells you how close.