Most of what gets written about a roof replacement covers shingles, decking and flashing. The electric service mast is the piece that gets missed. On many Creve Coeur houses the power comes in on an overhead line to a weatherhead, which sits on top of a metal pipe called the mast. The mast rises past the roof surface, and the roofing system has to seal around it. When the roof comes off, that pipe has to be dealt with before anyone can strip the shingles near it. If nobody has planned for it, the crew stops on the first morning and the schedule slips.
Why the mast is a separate job
The mast carries the service conductors from the drop to your meter and panel. It is fastened to the house structure with straps, and on older houses it may run down an outside wall to a meter base. Where it passes through the roof, the roofing flashing wraps around it. Nobody on a roof crew should loosen the mast, cut the drop or pull the weatherhead. Those connections belong to the electric utility and to a licensed electrician, not to the roofing crew.
In much of St. Louis County the overhead service is maintained by Ameren Missouri. Confirm the utility for your address before the schedule is set. The answer decides who you call, how much notice the utility needs and how long a wait you should expect. Your electric bill or the utility's website will show the service provider for your account, and the roofer should know it before the proposal is signed.
What the disconnect involves
Stripping shingles around a live service is a shock and fall risk, and it is one reason the sequence matters. The usual order is that the utility disconnects the service at the drop or at the meter, the roofers do their work, the flashing around the mast is set and sealed, and then the utility reconnects. A licensed electrician may need to confirm the panel and the service entrance before power comes back on. Ask who places the disconnect request, how many days ahead it must be placed and whether the crew will be on the roof at the time the utility is scheduled to pull the service.
The request is the step most often left out. A roofer may assume the homeowner will make the call, and the homeowner may assume the roofer will. Put the name of the party responsible on the proposal, with the date the request will go in.
Where the flashing goes
A mast flashing is a collar, usually a metal flange with a sleeve that fits around the pipe, sealed into the shingle courses above and below it. The collar has to sit so that water running down the roof passes over it, not behind it. The upper shingle courses should overlap the collar, and the lower courses should lap over the flange. A bead of caulk alone is not a flashing. It may hold for a season and then open as the metal moves with temperature changes.
Ask the roofer to name the collar in the proposal and to show a photo of the detail before the shingles are laid around it. Keys Roofing puts a written scope with photos and measurements in the homeowner's hands, and the mast location and the flashing it needs should appear in that scope, not in a conversation at the ladder.
Creve Coeur specifics
Creve Coeur has a mix of older ranch and split-level houses and newer two-story builds, and the service entry lands in different places on each. On a split-level the mast often rises from the lower roof section, where a low slope or a short valley meets the main surface. That location changes how the flashing has to be sealed, because water collects differently in a valley than on a clean slope. If your house has the mast at a valley or a low section, say so when you ask for the proposal, so the crew prices the detail as the real job it is.
Freeze and thaw cycles here also work on the mast. Water that gets behind a loose collar in January freezes, expands and widens the gap by March. A mast that was never properly sealed will usually show a stain on the ceiling near the service entry before it shows anything at the roof, which is one reason to look at the attic side during a leak check. Ice that slides off the roof can also pull at a service drop if the drop is low, so note the drop height on the day of the inspection.
Questions for the written proposal
- Who calls the utility, and whose name is on the disconnect request?
- How many days before tear-off must that request be placed?
- Does the proposal include the reconnect, or is an electrician's panel check a separate bill?
- What flashing collar is used at the mast, and is it listed as its own line item?
- Where is the mast on the roof, and does the scope show that location on a photo or sketch?
- Who is responsible if the mast or the weatherhead is damaged during the tear-off?
Before the crew arrives
Walk the outside of the house with the proposal in hand. Find the weatherhead, the drop and the meter base. Note whether a separate line runs to a detached garage, a shed or an outbuilding, because that line may need its own coordination. Check whether any satellite, antenna or cable line is attached to the same mast, since those lines need their own disconnect. Tell the crew about any loose or leaning weatherhead, and ask them to photograph it before work starts.
If the homeowner's own electrician will be needed to confirm the panel, book that visit for the day the utility reconnects, not a week later. A roof that is sealed but has no power is a delay for the whole house, and it is simpler to schedule the electrician with the roofing dates than to chase them after the shingles are on.
The mast is a small part of a roof job, and it is easy to overlook on a quote that looks complete. If you are comparing bids, the question is not which one mentions the mast most often. The question is whether each bid names who disconnects the service, how the collar is sealed and where the request for the utility is placed. Call the office at (314) 220-2333 and ask those three things before you sign anything, then check the answers against the written proposal.