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The Roof Age Map of the Quad Cities
Ironbridge Roofing Co. ·
At a Glance
- Davenport median build year 1966. Seven in ten homes predate 1980
- Rock Island is older still, with close to nine in ten pre 1980
- Eldridge is the outlier, with a median build year around 2001
- An asphalt roof lasts twenty to thirty years. Do the arithmetic
Roof Age Is Housing Age
There is no public register of roof ages. There is a very good public register of house ages, and for roofing purposes the second one tells you most of what you need.
A house built in 1966 that still stands has been roofed two or three times. A house built in 2001 has probably been roofed once, or is about to be. Neither of those is a guess. It is arithmetic against the service life of asphalt, which is twenty to thirty years in this climate.
What the Numbers Say
These come from the American Community Survey, the Census Bureau's rolling five year estimates. They are free, they are public and anybody can check them.
| Place | Homes | Median built | Pre 1980 | Median value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Davenport, IA | 47,170 | 1966 | 70% | $162,900 |
| Moline, IL | 19,604 | 1957 | 82% | $141,900 |
| Rock Island, IL | 17,262 | 1952 | 86% | $118,400 |
| Bettendorf, IA | 16,709 | 1979 | 51% | $295,600 |
| Clinton, IA | 12,360 | 1954 | 82% | $115,400 |
| Muscatine, IA | 10,490 | 1962 | 73% | $146,900 |
| East Moline, IL | 8,935 | 1967 | 72% | $135,300 |
| Silvis, IL | 4,538 | 1974 | 56% | $161,300 |
| Geneseo, IL | 3,223 | 1962 | 70% | $196,400 |
| Eldridge, IA | 2,746 | 2001 | 22% | $329,400 |
| Milan, IL | 2,610 | 1968 | 81% | $120,300 |
| Colona, IL | 2,342 | 1968 | 71% | $152,100 |
| DeWitt, IA | 2,254 | 1975 | 60% | $223,100 |
| Camanche, IA | 1,942 | 1972 | 73% | $175,300 |
Two things jump out. The Illinois side is markedly older than the Iowa side, and Eldridge is a completely different town from a roofing point of view than anywhere else in Scott County.
What It Means If You Live Here
If your house is in Rock Island or Moline and nobody has told you when the roof was done, the odds are strong that it is at or past the age where it should be inspected every year.
If you are in Eldridge or the newer parts of Bettendorf, you are probably approaching a first replacement, which is the best position to be in. Sound decking, modern flashing, and a free hand to choose a better material than the builder did.
Either way, Lesson 8 shows you how to find your actual roof age in about ten minutes using public permit records.
Why We Published This
Because the alternative version of this page is a roofer telling you that roofs in your area are old and you should call. This way you can check the claim yourself, against the source, and decide what it means for your house.
The full table for every town we serve is on the roof age report.
Want Somebody to Look at Yours
No sales call. A roofer looks at the roof and tells you what it needs.