Work around visitations
We get your week's schedule before we stage anything. Tear-off, compressors and the debris chute stop when families arrive, and pick back up once the lot clears.
Funeral Home Roofing, at a glance
Funeral home roofing in St. Louis means working around a calendar you don't control. John Beal Roofing schedules tear-off and loud work around visitations and services, keeps the entrance and porte-cochere clear, and pays close attention to the prep-room exhaust and equipment penetrations that cause most of the leaks we find. Free inspections. Call (314) 429-6000.
Most funeral homes we see around St. Louis are two buildings wearing one face. Up front there's a residential-looking pitched roof — shingles, sometimes a mansard — that matches the neighborhood. Behind it sits a flat or low-slope section over the chapel, the garage and the prep room, usually added in the '70s or '80s and reroofed at least once since.
That back roof is where the trouble lives. It carries the exhaust fans, the rooftop units that keep a viewing room comfortable in August, and on some properties a crematory stack. Every one of those is a hole in the roof. Water finds them. And when it shows up on a chapel ceiling the day before a visitation, there's no rescheduling.
How We Work
Built Around Your Service Calendar
Prep-room exhaust flashing
Dedicated exhaust fans sit on curbs that see constant airflow and hard temperature swings. We re-flash the curb, check the fan base gasket and look for duct condensation that gets blamed on the roof.
HVAC curb leak repairCrematory stack clearances
A retort stack runs hot. Membrane and insulation have to stay back from it, with a proper high-temperature collar and counterflashing. We won't wrap a single-ply sheet tight against a hot flue.
Porte-cochere and canopy roofs
The covered drive is small, low and easy to forget until its scupper clogs and water sheets onto the walkway. We clear it, re-pitch it if it needs it, and tie it into the gutter.
Gutters and roof drainagePitched front, flat back
One crew handles the shingle front and the low-slope addition behind it, including the transition where the two meet. That joint leaks more than anything else on these buildings.
Church roofing, a similar mix24/7 leak response
Our line's answered live around the clock. Water coming in Saturday night? We'll get a temporary dry-in on it so Sunday's visitation can go ahead.
24/7 emergency roofing
On The Roof
What A Roof Job Looks Like At A Funeral Home
Parking's the first thing we sort out. Your lot is for families, not dumpsters, so we usually stage the roll-off at the back of the building or off-site and bring material in the morning it's needed.
We open only as much deck as we can dry in by the end of the day. On a typical low-slope addition that might be eight or ten squares at a time — torn off, deck checked, new insulation and membrane down, edges sealed before the crew leaves. If a service is booked the next morning, the roof's watertight and the site's swept before anyone pulls in.
Noise matters more here than on almost any building we work on. Kettles, power fasteners and tear-off are all loud. So the crew lead keeps your director's cell number and stops when asked. No argument.
Older funeral homes in Kirkwood, Florissant and South City often have a built-up gravel roof on the back half. If there's already a recover on top of it, code won't allow another layer and it's a full tear-off. We'll show you the core photos before you ever see a price. More on that in tear-off vs. recover.
Common Questions
Can you work on the roof while a service is going on?
Quiet work, yes — inspection, measuring, hand cleanup. Loud work, no. We pause tear-off and power tools during visitations and services and restart when the lot clears. It adds a few hours to the job. It's worth it.
Why does the leak always seem to be near the prep room?
Because that's where the penetrations are. Exhaust fans, plumbing vents and makeup-air units cluster over that room, and curb flashing that's been baked and frozen for twenty years cracks at the corners. Condensation in the exhaust duct can drip too, and it looks exactly like a roof leak until we water-test it.
Do we need to replace the whole roof?
Often not. The pitched front may have years left while the flat back roof is done. We price them separately so you can fix the one that's failing now and plan for the other.
What warranty comes with the work?
The manufacturer's material warranty plus our lifetime workmanship warranty. We're an Owens Corning Platinum Preferred contractor, and the inspection and written scope are free.
Do you cover funeral homes in Illinois?
Yes. Our Edwardsville office covers Metro East — Belleville, O'Fallon, Collinsville and the towns around them.
Free Funeral Home Roof Evaluation
Tell us about the building and a dispatcher will call to set a time that works around your services.