Roof replacement
Roof Replacement in Wixom, Michigan
Wixom's housing has one clear center of gravity: the single largest group of homes in the city, nearly a third of everything built here, went up in the 1970s. It sits inside a city where more than eighty percent of all housing predates the year 2000. Wixom is also unusual among the towns we work in because most of its housing is not a detached single-family house at all — more than half of the units in the city are in buildings of five or more units, condominium and apartment communities where an association often has a say in what goes on the roof. One building department covers every Wixom address, it says plainly that a re-roof needs a permit, and its own guidance is stricter than the state minimum: it tells homeowners every existing layer comes off. We pull the permit, tear off to the deck, install a complete Owens Corning system and register the warranty in your name.
Serving the City of Wixom in Oakland County, from the single-family streets around Loon Lake to the condominium and apartment communities that make up most of the city's housing.
Do I need a permit to replace my roof in Wixom?
Yes. The City of Wixom runs its own full-service building department — the Construction & Development Services Department at 49045 Pontiac Trail, open Monday through Thursday, 7:15 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (the department's page lists no Friday hours) — and the city hosts a residential re-roofing handout that walks through the permit process directly. It explains why a permit is required (so the department can inspect for potential hazards and unsafe construction), confirms that a homeowner is allowed to do the re-roof themselves, and states that the permit holder must call for a final roof inspection, with a mid-roof inspection possible as well; the building department can tell you if one applies to your job. We pull that permit under our license and insurance before the crew is scheduled, call for every inspection it requires, and handle the final sign-off ourselves. The City's guidance is also stricter than the bare code minimum on one point that matters to a lot of Wixom roofs: where the Michigan Residential Code allows a re-cover in limited cases, the City's handout says plainly that all existing layers must be removed. We treat that as the rule for every Wixom tear-off. If your home is part of a homeowners association, the City's own guidance recommends contacting it before making changes, and we do the same before the estimate is finalized.
32.9%
Of Wixom homes built in the 1970s — the largest single cohort in the city
82%
Of Wixom housing units built before 2000, per the Census Bureau
1983
Median year built in the City of Wixom
53.0%
Of Wixom housing units in buildings of five units or more
One city, one building department, a stricter-than-code answer on layers
Wixom is a single incorporated city, 9.36 square miles, settled in 1831 and incorporated as a village in 1957 and a city in 1958. Every address in the city is handled by the same office: the Construction & Development Services Department at City Hall, 49045 Pontiac Trail, reachable at (248) 624-0880. There is no roof-specific permit application — the department uses a general Building Permit Application alongside a handout titled "Roofing Requirements".
The City's residential re-roofing handout is unusually direct for a document of this kind. Beyond requiring the permit and the final inspection, it states that existing roof jacks and vents must be replaced if they are in poor condition, badly rusted or otherwise deteriorated, that ice barrier underlayment may be required, and that if your neighborhood has a homeowners association, the City advises contacting it before making any changes. It also notes that inspection requests made before 4 p.m. are handled the next business day, and that the contractor must provide roof access for the inspector.
| Era | Share of housing | What it means for a roof |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 or later | 1.4% | Original builder roof, still inside its first years |
| 2010–2019 | 4.3% | First tear-off window still some years out |
| 2000–2009 | 12.4% | First tear-off window opening now |
| 1990–1999 | 21.0% | At or near first-replacement age |
| 1980–1989 | 16.4% | Well past the age of an original roof |
| 1970–1979 | 32.9% | The largest cohort in the city |
| 1960–1969 | 6.4% | Deck condition checked at tear-off |
| 1950–1959 | 2.6% | Among the oldest homes in the city |
| Before 1950 | 2.6% | Oldest decks in the city |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 five-year estimates (tables B25034, B25035, B25024, B25003). The city holds 8,849 housing units; the median year built is 1983. Single-family detached homes are 35.1% of units, single-family attached (townhouse/condo style) 7.1%, buildings of 2–4 units 4.7%, buildings of 5 or more units 53.0%, and mobile homes about 0.1%. Of 8,720 occupied units, 42.5% are owner-occupied and 57.5% are renter-occupied.
What the City controls, and what the state code controls
The permit and the final inspection are the City's. The roof itself is built to the Michigan Residential Code, which sets the ice barrier and tear-off rules that matter most on a Wixom roof: ice barrier underlayment is required in Michigan, extending from the eave edge to at least 24 inches inside the exterior wall line, and a full tear-off is required once a roof already carries two layers of any roof covering. On top of that code floor, the City's own re-roofing guidance tells Wixom homeowners that all existing layers must be removed on a re-roof, which is the standard we build every Wixom job to regardless of what the code minimum would otherwise allow.
Replacing roof jacks and vents that are in poor condition is not optional under the City's handout, and we treat every plumbing stack and exhaust vent on a Wixom roof the same way: if it is rusted, cracked or deteriorated, it is replaced as part of the job rather than reused under a new shingle.
A 1970s city, and what more than half its roofs are not
Wixom's housing leans older and leans attached. Nearly a third of everything in the city — the largest single cohort by a wide margin — was built in the 1970s, and about 82 percent of all housing in Wixom predates the year 2000. Whatever is on those roofs now, the City's standard is that all existing layers come off at replacement.
What makes Wixom different from most of the towns we work in is what the rest of that housing looks like. Single-family detached homes are only about 35 percent of the city's units. Another 7 percent are attached single-family, townhouse-style construction, and a full 53 percent — more than half the city — are in buildings of five units or more: condominium and apartment communities. Roofing one of those buildings is frequently an association decision as much as an individual homeowner's, and the City's own guidance recognizes that directly by recommending homeowners contact their HOA before making changes.
On older houses, a tear-off is the only way to see the deck, the attic ventilation and the eave ice barrier. Under the City's standard, every layer comes off, every time.
Condominium and association roofs
Where a condominium association is responsible for the roof, or where an HOA has to approve a homeowner's material and color before the work starts, the City's own handout tells residents to make that contact before changing anything. We do the same: we read the association's guidelines before the estimate is written and give the association the manufacturer's product sheet, the exact color name and a sample board, rather than a photograph, so the decision is made on the real material. We do not guess what an association allows; we supply what it needs and work to its answer.
Wixom's neighborhoods and lakes
The City of Wixom's own residential neighborhoods map shows three lakes — Loon Lake, Twin Sun Lake and Gallager Lake — along with the single-family subdivisions built around and apart from them. Around Loon Lake sit the Cliffs on Loon Lake, the Trails of Loon Lake, Loon Lake Woodlands, Loon Lake Little Farms, Highgate on the Lake, Highgate on the Green, the Courts of Highgate and Palmer Lake Estates. Elsewhere in the city are Indian Wells, Indian Springs, Wexford Mews, Wexford Woods, Maple Run, Wildwood, Smokler Wixom, Castlewood, Cameron Woods, Hickory Hill, Quail Hollow, Millstream Estates, Norton Creek, Birch Park, Charms Ravine, Terra Cove and Hillsborough. Newer development includes Hamlet Village, The Shire of Hamlet Village, Maple Forest, Maple Forest Courtyards, Nature Cove, Wixom Meadows, Cliffs North, and the Tribute community, with its Anthem, Colonial, Heritage, Legacy and Liberty sections. The city's parks include Gilbert Willis Park, Gunnar Mettala Park and Wixom Habitat Park, alongside Hickory Hills Golf Course.
The Ford Wixom Assembly Plant operated in the city from 1957 to 2007. We will not guess the age or construction of your house from a subdivision name alone — we read the roof itself, and where an association is involved, we read its guidelines before the estimate is written.
Wixom's storm record: wind, trees and occasional hail nearby
Here is what NOAA's Storm Events Database records at and immediately around Wixom in recent years.
| Date | Location | Event | What was recorded |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 24, 2021 | White Lake (about 10 miles north) | EF1 tornado, 100 mph peak | Shingle and roof damage, a garage door completely blown off |
| July 24, 2021 | Walled Lake | 61-knot thunderstorm wind | Large oak trees reported down on residential homes |
| July 7, 2021 | Novi | 50–56 knot thunderstorm wind | Multiple large trees uprooted; wires down across I-275 near Grand River |
| Sept 14, 2021 | New Hudson (about 4 miles west) | 0.88-inch hail | — |
| June 16, 2022 | Novi | 56-knot thunderstorm wind | Numerous trees blown down, snapped and uprooted in and around Novi Town Center |
| Aug 3, 2022 | Novi | 54-knot thunderstorm wind | Multiple trees down |
| July 20, 2023 | Northville (about 7 miles SE) | 1.00-inch hail | — |
| June 25, 2023 | Commerce | 56-knot thunderstorm wind | Numerous trees down |
| June 5, 2024 | Plymouth Twp (about 11 miles SE) | EF1 tornado | Touched down near Schoolcraft/Eckles Rd, tracked northeast past I-96 |
| Aug 27, 2024 | Novi and Kensington Park | 56-knot thunderstorm wind | Multiple trees down; gusts of 40–65 mph hit much of the region with this system |
| June 24, 2025 | Wixom (Oakland County Int'l / Wixom-Spencer Airport) | 1.00-inch hail | Same-day 56-knot thunderstorm wind in Novi uprooted two large spruce trees |
| July 12, 2025 | New Hudson | 56-knot thunderstorm wind | Several large trees uprooted and snapped in half |
Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database. 56 knots is approximately 64 mph and 61 knots is approximately 70 mph.
No tornado has touched down inside Wixom city limits in this record — the nearest were White Lake in 2021 and Plymouth Township in 2024. Hail larger than one inch has not been recorded at Wixom either; nearby reports were 1.00 inch at Northville (about 7 miles southeast) and 0.88 inch at New Hudson. What the record does show is a repeating pattern of straight-line thunderstorm wind of roughly 50 to 60 knots in Novi, Walled Lake, Commerce and New Hudson, all around Wixom, with large trees — oaks and spruces by name in several reports — coming down on homes. The June 24, 2025 hail report at Wixom's own airport, at one inch, is the only confirmed hail event recorded in the city itself.
The practical read for a Wixom roof is the same one that applies across this part of Oakland County: plan for wind and for limbs coming down through mature tree canopy, and treat an inch of hail as a real but occasional event rather than a yearly certainty. Owens Corning Duration shingles carry a 130 mph wind resistance limited warranty as standard and a 160 mph enhanced warranty when the full component set — including starter shingles at both the eaves and the rakes — goes on as one system.
Working in Wixom: access, trees and multi-unit roofs
The City of Wixom requires a separate Tree Permit Application for tree work, which tells you something about how the city thinks about its canopy — and that same canopy is the thing coming down on roofs in the NOAA record above, in Walled Lake and Novi by name. Where mature trees overhang a roof we are replacing, trimming limbs away from the work area is a conversation worth having before the tear-off starts, not after a branch lands on new shingles.
Because more than half of Wixom's housing sits in buildings of five units or more, a meaningful share of our Wixom work involves coordinating with a condominium association or property manager rather than a single homeowner — confirming who holds decision-making authority for the roof, whose name the permit and warranty are registered in, and how access and parking are managed for a multi-unit building during a tear-off. We settle all of that before the crew is scheduled.
We are a Howell company, and Wixom is about a half-hour along the I-96 corridor east of our office.
The Owens Corning system we register in Wixom
On Top Roofing is an Owens Corning Platinum Preferred Contractor — the top tier of the Owens Corning contractor network in the company's own words, and the only tier that can register its best system warranty. Every Wixom replacement is registered under a Platinum Protection Roofing Limited Warranty: limited lifetime coverage on materials with a 50-year non-prorated period, limited lifetime workmanship non-prorated for the first 25 years, 130 mph wind resistance as standard and 160 mph enhanced, and 25-year algae resistance with Owens Corning hip and ridge. It transfers once to a buyer within 60 days of a sale.
The warranty requires the whole system rather than just the shingle: Duration shingles with SureNail Technology, Owens Corning or approved synthetic underlayment, Owens Corning hip and ridge, Owens Corning self-adhered ice and water barrier, starter at the eaves and the rakes, and VentSure balanced ventilation — plus new flashings and new drip edge throughout. We install all of it as standard on every Wixom roof, whether it is a 1970s ranch near Loon Lake or a condominium building off Pontiac Trail. Our credentials behind it: Owens Corning Platinum Preferred, BBB A+ accredited, HAAG Certified inspectors.
Ventilation on Wixom's 1970s housing
Where an attic is vented by gable louvers alone, that is not a balanced ventilation system — it is two holes at opposite ends of an attic with nothing managing intake and exhaust together. A balanced system exhausts at the ridge and takes in at the soffit in roughly equal measure. On those houses we seal the gable vents, run a continuous ridge vent, and set a baffle in every rafter bay so soffit intake is not buried under blown insulation. The payoff is a cooler attic in summer and less of the freeze-thaw cycling at the eaves that drives ice dams in a Michigan winter.
Colors for Wixom houses
Wixom's 1970s single-family homes sit well under Estate Gray, Slatestone Gray or Onyx Black. The 1980s and 1990s houses that fill out the rest of the city's single-family stock take Driftwood, Teak or Brownwood comfortably. On homes near Loon Lake, Twin Sun Lake and Gallager Lake with cedar or stained siding, Sand Dune and Aged Copper read well against the tree line. We bring full-size samples to the estimate and look at them against your siding, in daylight, at the house — and where an association has to approve the choice, that same sample goes to the association.
Storm damage, insurance and what we will and will not claim
After a wind event in Wixom the pattern in the NOAA record is consistent: limbs across a roof plane, lifted or creased shingles on the windward slope, and torn flashing where a branch came down across a valley. We inspect and photograph it, document what we find in writing, and give you a clear read on whether it is a repair, a partial or a full replacement.
Where an insurance claim is involved, we document the damage thoroughly, provide the photographs and the written scope, and talk to your adjuster about what we found on the roof. We do not file your claim for you and we do not represent you against your insurer — that is your relationship. What we will do is make sure the adjuster sees what we saw, in writing, with dates and photographs attached. Our inspectors are HAAG Certified, a credential focused on identifying and documenting storm damage.
Wixom neighborhoods where we replace roofs
From our yard at 5896 Sterling Dr in Howell, Wixom is about a half-hour east along the I-96 corridor. We replace roofs across the whole city — the established single-family subdivisions, the condominium and apartment communities that make up most of Wixom's housing, and the single-family streets around Loon Lake, Twin Sun Lake and Gallager Lake.
- Pontiac Trail
- Loon Lake
- Twin Sun Lake
- Gallager Lake
- Cliffs on Loon Lake
- Trails of Loon Lake
- Loon Lake Woodlands
- Loon Lake Little Farms
- Highgate on the Lake
- Highgate on the Green
- Courts of Highgate
- Palmer Lake Estates
- Indian Wells
- Indian Springs
- Wexford Mews
- Wexford Woods
- Maple Run
- Wildwood
- Smokler Wixom
- Castlewood
- Cameron Woods
- Hickory Hill
- Quail Hollow
- Millstream Estates
- Norton Creek
- Birch Park
- Charms Ravine
- Terra Cove
- Hillsborough
- Hamlet Village
- The Shire of Hamlet Village
- Maple Forest
- Maple Forest Courtyards
- Nature Cove
- Wixom Meadows
- Cliffs North
- Tribute
- Gilbert Willis Park
- Gunnar Mettala Park
- Wixom Habitat Park
- Hickory Hills Golf Course
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a permit to replace my roof in Wixom?
How many layers of shingles does Wixom allow before a tear-off is required?
What does the City's handout say about roof vents and jacks?
My home is in a condominium or HOA community. Do I still need to go through the City?
Is Wixom a hail town?
Has a tornado hit Wixom?
What kind of storm damage is most common in Wixom?
My house was built in the 1970s and already has two layers. What are my options?
My house was built in 1998 and the roof still looks fine. Is it time?
What warranty comes with a Wixom roof replacement?
Nearby towns we serve
Related services
Free estimate
Get a free roof replacement estimate in Wixom
No pressure, no obligation. A member of our team will follow up with you within one business day.
Call (810) 588-3933