Built-up roofing, or tar and gravel, is the century-old system still protecting The Colony buildings that were roofed before single-ply existed, and still a legitimate choice for the right structure.
BUR builds a roof in redundant layers: alternating bitumen and reinforcing felts topped with gravel that shields the assembly from UV and traffic. Existing BUR in The Colony often earns maintenance and restoration over replacement, since the mass and redundancy that made it heavy also made it durable.
We install and service built-up roofing (bur) across The Colony and the surrounding DFW communities. That includes free written estimates, documented inspections, and honest guidance on whether this system actually fits your home and budget.
How The Colony changes the math
Built-Up Roofing (BUR) behaves differently on The Colony roofs than the brochure version suggests. Housing this far out is less uniform than the inner suburbs: age, pitch, and construction quality vary house to house, so the material fit does too. On those buildings, material fashion matters less than what the roof does all day. Equipment traffic, ponding zones, and the tenant below drive the membrane decision.
City paperwork in The Colony is ours to carry: permit filed, inspection booked, final documentation in your folder. Hail is the tax every DFW roof eventually pays. Single-ply shows bruise fractures that a chalk circle will not catch, and instrument surveys find what walking the roof misses. Nearby Denton and Lewisville see the same crews and the same spec; the install you would get has local addresses attached. The next step costs nothing: a documented inspection and a straight answer on whether this system fits.
THE SYSTEM
Built-Up Roofing (BUR), up close.
Flat / low-slope membrane. Single-ply and built-up systems chosen by what the roof actually does all day.
PUBLIC RECORD
The local record behind Built-Up Roofing (BUR) in The Colony
How a roof system holds up in The Colony depends on the storms it has to take and the houses it sits on. Here is what the public record shows.
26
Hail days, 1 in.+ since 2006
13
Golf-ball-size hail days
3.5 in.
Largest stone on record
2001
Median year homes built
Hail near The Colony
NOAA's Storm Events Database lists 26 days since 2006 with hail one inch or larger reported within 5 miles of The Colony. On 13 of those days, the stones were golf ball size or bigger. Hail that size was reported in 13 of the last 20 years. The largest stones on record nearby measured 3.5 inches (teacup size) on June 11, 2023. The most recent report: 2-inch hail on June 2, 2026.
June 11, 2023: 3.5-inch hail (teacup size)
April 13, 2019: 2.75-inch hail (baseball size)
June 6, 2018: 2.75-inch hail (baseball size)
June 2, 2026: 2-inch hail (hen egg size)
September 25, 2024: 2-inch hail (hen egg size)
How old The Colony homes are
The median home in The Colony was built in 2001. A large share of the city's 19,388 housing units are now old enough that original roofs are coming due, while 29% were built in 2010 or later.
Sources: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database (hail reports since 2006 within 5 miles of The Colony); U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates. Data pulled September 2026.
Common questions about built-up roofing (bur) in The Colony
My The Colony building has tar-and-gravel. Replace it?
Not automatically. Sound BUR restores and maintains well; its redundancy is real. A moisture survey tells you whether the assembly beneath the gravel is dry, and that answer decides.
Why did BUR fall out of fashion?
Weight, installation labor, and odor during application. Single-ply installs faster and lighter. Neither of those points makes an existing sound BUR roof bad.
Do you install this on shops and outbuildings near The Colony?
Yes. Barns, workshops, and outbuildings are first-class projects out here, not afterthoughts, and the material conversation (usually metal-forward) covers them alongside the house.
How often does hail hit The Colony?
NOAA's Storm Events Database lists 26 days since 2006 with hail one inch or larger reported within 5 miles of The Colony, including 13 days with golf ball size stones or bigger. Hail that size was reported in 13 of the last 20 years. The most recent report was 2-inch hail on June 2, 2026.
How old are most homes in The Colony?
The median home in The Colony was built in 2001, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey. 21% of the city's housing units predate 1980 and 29% were built in 2010 or later. Many homes here are reaching the age when original roofs come due.
