Roofing in Leesburg, VA: who approves what, and what we do
Leesburg is the Loudoun County seat, and a roof here can involve two governments, a historic board and an association. This page lays out who does what, the houses we meet and the work Reston Roof takes on.
Is your address inside the Town?
Many people with a Leesburg mailing address live outside the Town. Lansdowne and Ashburn are unincorporated Loudoun, and so is Lucketts, the small hamlet on US 15 to the north. Purcellville, out west, is an incorporated town with its own historic district process. We look up the parcel before we quote, because the parcel, not the mailing city, decides which office applies.
Inside the Town, the people you deal with are split between the county and the Town, as the table below shows.
Who handles which part of a Leesburg roof
| Question | Who handles it |
|---|---|
| Building permits, plan review and inspections | Loudoun County Department of Building and Development, 1 Harrison Street SE, 703-777-0220, with applications filed online through LandMARC |
| Zoning permits | Town of Leesburg Community Development, 222 Catoctin Circle SE, Suite 200, 703-771-2765 |
| Historic review in the Old and Historic District | Town preservation staff at 703-771-2773, and the Board of Architectural Review for larger changes |
| Association approval | Your HOA or architectural committee, which both the Town and the county tell owners to contact |
| A Lansdowne, Ashburn or Lucketts address | Loudoun County alone |
Town Hall at 25 West Market Street is not the permit counter, so do not start there. Neither the Town nor the county publishes a roof-specific permit rule that we could find. Virginia's building code exempts many house re-roofs from a building permit, yet decking replacement above 256 square feet, fire-rated townhouse decking and historic district work can change that. Loudoun's own published permit lists show full residential re-roofs, so we never assume none is needed. We confirm your exact scope with Loudoun first. Our Loudoun County roofing guide has more.
The Old and Historic District: call first
The Town created the district in 1963 and its boundaries began with an 1878 map. It sits on top of normal zoning as an overlay. The Town's design guidelines list standing-seam metal, slate, wood, asphalt shingles and tile as traditional roof materials. They call contemporary or modern metal systems inappropriate and say to match an original roof in composition, size, shape, color and texture when replacement is needed.
The Town's Certificate of Appropriateness page treats an in-kind roof replacement as a staff-level approval and sends material changes, such as shingles to metal, to the Board of Architectural Review. Its own FAQ reads less clearly, so call preservation staff before ordering anything. Our metal roofing page goes into the metal question in detail.
What the houses tell us
The Census Bureau's 2024 estimates put the median Leesburg home at 1993, and only about 10 percent of units predate 1970. About 43 percent are detached houses and 29 percent are attached. About 24 percent sit in buildings of five or more units.
Exeter has 399 houses and 430 townhouses from 1984 to 1999. Greenway Farm is mostly 1990s and early 2000s. Potomac Station began in 1997 on the east side of town, and Tavistock Farms in the southwest opened in the mid 1990s. A roof from that era can be near its replacement age, but materials vary, so the first step is looking at the roof.
Storms, snow and trees
On the morning of February 7, 2020 an EF-0 tornado crossed Leesburg on a 3.3 mile path with winds up to 85 miles per hour. News reports of the National Weather Service findings put the worst damage between Lawford Drive and Nickels Drive and along Governors Drive and Country Club Drive, and described large trees down and roofing and gutters in the streets of Exeter. No one was hurt.
For design, Loudoun posts a residential wind speed of 115 miles per hour and a ground snow load of 30 pounds per square foot. Those are code numbers, not forecasts. A 2007 canopy study put about 27 percent of the Town under trees. If a storm opens your roof, we tarp it and photograph the damage for your claim, and your electric utility, Dominion Energy or NOVEC depending on the address, handles downed lines.
Work we take on around Leesburg
- Roof replacement and repair on houses and townhouses.
- Chimney leak repair and flashing work.
- Emergency tarping after storms, with photos of the damage.
- Small repairs, and roofs on gazebos and other small structures.
- Some commercial roofs.
When a roof needs a membrane or metal, these pages explain the fit in Leesburg terms:
- TPO in Leesburg: welded white membrane for townhouse bump-outs and garage tops.
- EPDM in Leesburg: rubber for small roofs under trees.
- PVC in Leesburg: condo buildings and roofs under exhaust.
- Metal in Leesburg: houses outside the district, and what the guidelines say inside it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lansdowne part of the Town of Leesburg?
No. Lansdowne and Ashburn are census-designated places in unincorporated Loudoun County, and Lucketts is an unincorporated hamlet north of town. For those addresses Loudoun County handles both zoning and building permits, and the Town has no role. The parcel decides, not the mailing city, and we check the parcel before we quote.
Does the Town of Leesburg issue roofing permits?
No. The Town says all building permits within its limits come from the Loudoun County Department of Building and Development, which also reviews plans and inspects. The Town handles zoning permits and historic review. Neither office publishes a roof-replacement rule we could find, so Virginia's state code governs and your exact scope decides. We confirm with Loudoun and the Town before we start.
My house is in the Old and Historic District. Can I replace the shingles in kind without asking?
Do not assume so. The Town's Certificate of Appropriateness page says approval is needed for exterior alterations in the district, including in-kind replacement, and lists in-kind roof replacement as something staff can approve without a hearing. The Town's FAQ reads differently about in-kind maintenance. Call preservation staff at 703-771-2773 before work.
What did the February 2020 tornado do to Leesburg roofs?
Reports of the National Weather Service findings describe an EF-0 tornado with winds up to 85 miles per hour. Large trees came down in Greenway Farm, Linden Hill and Exeter, and in Exeter roofing, gutters and siding ended up in the streets. No one was hurt. If a storm hits your roof, we tarp it and photograph the damage for your claim.
Do you only do commercial flat roofs, or houses in Leesburg too?
Houses and townhouses are the core of our work: replacement and repair, chimney leaks, storm tarping and small repairs, plus gazebo and small structure roofs. We also take some commercial roofs. Membrane roofing goes on low-slope sections and metal roofing on houses. Roofs outside that scope are flagged on the first call.
Call about a Leesburg roof
Tell us your street, whether the house is in the Town or just has a Leesburg address, and what the roof is doing. We will start from there. Phone (571) 453-6515.
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