Tarrant County has more hail days than any other county in Texas — 91 of them in eleven years. Fort Worth also does not require a permit for a shingle-only re-roof, which means the city will not be the one checking the work. Somebody still should.
Fort Worth sits in the single most hail-prone large county in the United States. From 2015 through 2025 NOAA's Storm Events record logged 482 hail reports across 91 distinct hail days in Tarrant County — first in Texas and twelfth nationally. Dallas County, by comparison, logged 202 reports over 66 days. Two counties that touch each other, and one takes roughly fifty percent more hail days than the other. April is the peak month, with March and May close behind and a smaller September cluster.
The anchors are not subtle. 12 June 2023 produced 5.00-inch hail at Mansfield and 4.00-inch at Cedar Hill on the same night. 4 March 2025 put a 91 mph thunderstorm gust down at Haltom City — the strongest straight-line wind report in either county in the whole eleven-year record.
Against that, Fort Worth's permitting posture is unusual and worth understanding. Fort Worth does not require a building permit for a re-roof that is shingles only. The permit requirement switches on the moment decking is replaced. That sounds like a convenience, and in scheduling terms it is. But it also means that on a straight shingle-over-deck job, no city inspector is coming. There is no third party checking the underlayment, the valley metal, the starter, the fastener pattern or the flashing. In a county that takes 91 hail days a decade, the absence of an inspection puts the entire burden of quality on which contractor you picked.
Fort Worth's 2021 amendment package — Ordinance 25383-03-2022, effective 1 April 2022 — prints an ultimate design wind speed of 105 mph. That is lower than the 115 mph that Garland, Richardson, Rowlett and several Tarrant neighbours still carry, and it is worth knowing which number your roof is actually being detailed to. The city's own FAQ also confirms that 3/8-inch plywood or OSB remains compliant at 24 inches on centre where it carries a 24/0 span rating — which matters enormously in the 1950s and 60s south-side neighbourhoods, where a contractor who insists the whole deck must be replaced to meet code is either mistaken or selling.
The historic side of Fort Worth is where the real rules live. Fairmount — the city's largest historic district — publishes mandatory roofing standards, and they are specific. Original tile and slate roofs shall be maintained. Composition shingle is allowed as an in-kind replacement. R-panel and rib-panel metal are prohibited on residential structures. Standing seam metal is permitted only on secondary roof slopes under 4/12. Vinyl and plastic gutters are prohibited, original gutter profiles must be maintained, and exposed rafter tails may not be boxed in or removed. Skylights must be flat and rise no more than eight inches; bubble and round skylights are called out as inappropriate. Mistletoe Heights, Carver Heights, Morningside, Garden of Eden and Stop Six Sunrise Edition are also city-designated historic districts, and a re-roof in any of them goes through a Certificate of Appropriateness first.
One more scheduling item people get wrong: within 300 feet of a home, weekend work may not start before 9:00 a.m. A crew that shows up at seven on a Saturday is generating a complaint, not progress.
The other half of Fort Worth is brand new by comparison — 75,826 homes built between 2000 and 2009. That cohort is now sixteen to twenty-six years old and squarely into first-replacement territory in Park Glen, the Villages of Woodland Springs and the rest of the far-north growth ring.
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View Roof Maintenance →Fort Worth requires no permit for a re-roof that does not replace decking, which means nobody from the city verifies the underlayment, valleys, starter, fasteners or flashing on most residential jobs in this town. We photograph the deck, the dry-in and the details at every stage and hand you the file. In the hailiest county in Texas, that record is the only thing standing between you and taking a contractor's word for it.
Fort Worth's own guidance confirms 3/8-inch plywood or OSB still complies at 24 inches on centre with a 24/0 span rating. In the 1950s and 60s south-side neighbourhoods, blanket 'code requires full re-deck' claims are a sales tactic, not a code citation. We replace the boards that are actually bad, document why, and leave the rest — and we tell you which is which before you sign.
R-panel and rib-panel metal are prohibited on Fairmount houses. Standing seam is allowed only on secondary slopes under 4/12. Vinyl gutters are prohibited, original gutter profiles must be kept, rafter tails may not be boxed in, and skylights must be flat and under eight inches. We read those standards before we design the roof, and we carry the Certificate of Appropriateness submittal for you in Fairmount, Mistletoe Heights, Carver Heights, Morningside, Garden of Eden and Stop Six.
Don't see your question? Call us at (469) 936-7663 — we're happy to talk it through.
Not for a shingle-only re-roof. Fort Worth's permit requirement is triggered the moment decking is replaced. So a straightforward tear-off and re-cover with no deck work needs no building permit — and gets no city inspection. If any decking is replaced, a permit is required and an inspection follows.
You don't, unless your contractor gives you evidence. That is the practical consequence of Fort Worth's rule and it is why we document every Fort Worth roof in stages — deck condition, underlayment and dry-in, valley and flashing detail, and finished field — and hand the homeowner the photo file at closeout. It is also worth asking any bidder directly what they will show you, because there will be no inspection card to point at.
Fort Worth's 2021 amendment package, adopted as Ordinance 25383-03-2022 and effective 1 April 2022, prints 105 mph ultimate design wind speed. Note that this is lower than several neighbouring cities, which still carry 115 mph — so the fastener and edge-detail requirements are not identical across the county line.
Usually not. Fort Worth's own published guidance states that 3/8-inch plywood or OSB remains compliant at 24 inches on centre where it carries a 24/0 span rating. Older Fort Worth decks frequently meet that. Genuinely rotten, delaminated or cracked sheathing obviously has to go, and we will show you each sheet we are calling bad. But 'code requires a full re-deck' as a blanket statement in Fort Worth is a sales line, and it is an expensive one.
Considerably more. Tarrant County logged 482 hail reports across 91 distinct hail days from 2015 to 2025 — the most hail days of any county in Texas and twelfth-most in the country. Dallas County logged 202 reports over 66 days in the same period. Reference events include 5.00-inch hail at Mansfield and 4.00-inch at Cedar Hill on 12 June 2023, and a 91 mph gust at Haltom City on 4 March 2025.
Fairmount's published standards are mandatory and specific. Original tile and slate must be maintained. Composition shingle is permitted as an in-kind replacement. Metal shingles are allowed only where they accurately replicate the original material in appearance, scale and texture. R-panel and rib-panel metal are prohibited on residential structures. Standing seam is permitted only on secondary roof slopes with pitches under 4/12. Vinyl and plastic gutters are prohibited and the original gutter profile must be maintained. Exposed rafter tails may not be boxed in, concealed or removed.
In Fairmount, a new skylight should rise no more than eight inches and should be flat — bubble and round skylights are identified as inappropriate. Any skylight change is part of what the Certificate of Appropriateness reviews, so it needs to be settled before the roof is designed, not discovered during the tear-off.
The city-designated historic districts include Fairmount, Mistletoe Heights, Carver Heights, Morningside, Garden of Eden and Stop Six Sunrise Edition, and a Certificate of Appropriateness is required before the work. Elizabeth Boulevard, in the Ryan Place area, is also a designated district — worth confirming your exact boundary, because being one street off changes the answer.
Yes, but not early. Within 300 feet of a home, weekend work may not begin before 9:00 a.m. in Fort Worth. We schedule around it rather than risking a stop-work complaint on your street, and we tell neighbours what to expect.
Very possibly. Fort Worth has 75,826 homes built between 2000 and 2009, which puts that entire cohort at sixteen to twenty-six years — right at the end of a builder-grade three-tab or early architectural shingle's life, before you even count eleven years of Tarrant County hail on top of it. A free inspection will tell you whether you are looking at an insurable storm loss or ordinary end-of-life replacement, and those are two very different conversations.
Call us at (469) 936-7663, or request your free estimate online — most inspections are scheduled within 24–48 hours.
(469) 936-7663