Many Creve Coeur homes have a flagpole, but not all of them stand in the ground. A bracket clamped to the fascia over a garage door, or to a porch column, lets the flag sit off the front of the house without a footing in the lawn. It is a common setup on the ranch and two-story houses around town, and it is easy to forget when a roof bid is written. When the old shingles come off, that bracket is sitting exactly where the drip edge, the gutter apron, and the first course of new metal have to go.
This page is for the homeowner who has a bracket like this and is comparing roofers. The question is simple: who takes the flagpole down, who keeps it safe, and when it goes back up. If the answer is not on paper before the first nail, the flag may end up leaning against the garage wall for a week, or the bracket may get knocked loose by a ladder and never reattached.
Where the bracket usually sits
Most fascia brackets are fastened through the fascia board into the rafter tails or the blocking behind it. Some are bolted through the soffit and into the rim. A few are screwed into the rake board on a gable end. Each of these locations is on the edge of the roof, which is the part of the job that gets handled most. The bracket can also be fastened right into the aluminum or vinyl fascia cover, so it moves when the cover does.
Look at the bracket before the crew comes. Check whether it is a single arm or a double arm, whether it has a collar that slides over a pole, and whether the pole is metal or fiberglass. Those details decide how the pole comes out. A pole that fits a collar can usually be lifted out in one piece. A pole screwed into a base bracket may need a second person to hold it while the fasteners come out.
Why it has to come off first
The tear-off starts at the eave and works up. The old drip edge is pried off, the old fascia cover may be removed, and the gutter is often unhooked so the crew can reach the rafter tails. A bracket that stays on the fascia will be in the way of the pry bar and the metal break. It may also catch the ladder hook, which is set on the fascia on most jobs to keep the ladder steady.
There is a second reason. Once the shingles are off, the deck edge and the rafter tails are exposed. A bracket still screwed into them will be loaded by the crew moving materials along the eave, and the fasteners that hold it may pull out. A bracket with a loose fastener is a safety problem on a roof and a leak point after the new drip edge is installed. Taking it off before the tear-off avoids both problems.
The flag itself is a separate item. Before the pole comes down, ask whether the flag should be taken off the halyard and folded for safekeeping. A halyard that is left hanging can slap against the new gutter or the new fascia cover in the wind, and a windy spring day in St. Louis can carry that noise through the whole neighborhood.
Who removes it
The bracket is an item outside the roof itself, but it is attached to the roof edge. That means the roof bid should name who takes it off. Some roofers will do it as part of the tear-off. Others will ask the homeowner to remove the pole and leave the bracket for the crew. Neither answer is wrong, but the quote should say which one it is.
If the roofer removes the bracket, ask whether it will be stored on the property, where, and who is responsible if it is damaged. If the homeowner removes the pole, ask whether the bracket will be left in place or removed, and whether it will be reinstalled with new fasteners after the new fascia goes on. A bracket reinstalled with the old screws into the old rafter tails is not a repair.
Keys Roofing can set the scope so the bracket is listed by name, with the fastening points noted and the reinstall shown in writing. The office number is (314) 220-2333 if you want to talk through a specific bracket before the bid is signed.
What to ask each roofer
- Does your bid include removing the flagpole and bracket, or does it leave them for me to handle?
- If you remove the bracket, where will it be stored, and who is responsible for it while it is off the house?
- Will the bracket be reinstalled after the new fascia goes on, and will it use new fasteners into solid wood?
- Who checks the reinstalled bracket before the crew leaves the site, and is that check written into the schedule?
- If the bracket is attached through the fascia cover, will the new cover be cut to take it, or will the bracket be moved to a new location?
Each answer should show up in the written scope. A line that says "flagpole handled" is not enough. The scope should say who removes it, where it waits, and when it goes back up. If a roofer cannot answer those three points, the bid has a gap at the eave, and that gap is the one that will cost you time on the day.
What to photograph before the tear-off
Take photos of the bracket before anything is moved. Get the bracket from the ground, from the eave, and from the side, so you can see how it is fastened. Photograph the pole collar, the base, and any hardware in a bag. Those photos are useful later if the bracket is damaged, or if the reinstall does not match what was there before.
Write down the measurements too. The distance from the bracket to the nearest corner of the house, the height above the gutter, and the diameter of the pole all help when the bracket is put back. A roofer who has to guess at where the bracket belongs will often place it a few inches off, and that few inches can leave a gap at the fascia that lets wind-driven rain in.
The day of the work
On the morning of the tear-off, the bracket should already be off the house or clearly marked as staying on until a set point. Ask the crew lead to tell you when the bracket is removed, and ask where it is kept. If the bracket is stored in the garage, make sure the garage door is clear of the path the crew will use for the shingle bundles. If it is stored in the yard, keep it away from the drop zone and the dumpster.
Once the new fascia and gutter are up, the bracket should go back in the same place it came from. Check that the pole is straight, that the collar is seated, and that the fasteners are tight without being driven so hard that the fascia splits. The flag can go back up after the crew has left and the site is clean, not before.
A flagpole is a small item on a roof job, but it is one that homeowners often remember. It is worth settling before the roofers arrive, and it is worth writing down in the bid so nobody has to guess on the morning of the tear-off.