An EPDM roof in Chevy Chase is often a shared roof: who signs for it?
EPDM is the rubber sheet used on flat and low-slope roofs. Where Chevy Chase has those roofs, the first question is usually not the material but the owner: one household, a board of unit owners or a landlord. The Census Bureau counts homes by building size and by owner or renter, and that cut shows where each case sits.
The count
How many occupied Chevy Chase homes sit in buildings of 20 or more units, and who lives in them?
Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates (2020 to 2024), table B25032, tenure by units in structure. Small places carry wide margins, so read every figure as "about".
| Census place | Occupied homes | In detached houses | Owners in 20+ unit buildings | Renters in 20+ unit buildings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Town of Chevy Chase | 990 | 990 | 0 | 0 |
| Chevy Chase (unincorporated area) | 3,716 | 2,632 | 137 | 609 |
| Village of Friendship Heights | 2,580 | 60 | 863 | 1,577 |
Census Reporter labels both the Town and the unincorporated area "Chevy Chase, MD", so check the geography ID before quoting either. The counts say nothing about roof shape. Our reading: a rubber membrane is a live question for the buildings in the last two columns and for flat-roofed parts of houses, not for the typical pitched roof.
Who signs
Which person or body orders the roof for each kind of Chevy Chase building?
One household, detached house
All 990 occupied homes counted in the Town are detached, and 2,632 of the 3,716 in the unincorporated area. The owner decides, after the office for the address on the Chevy Chase page. A flat porch, addition or garage roof is the usual EPDM question, and its height wording is on the TPO page.
Unit owners in a condominium or cooperative
About 863 owner-occupied homes in Friendship Heights are in buildings of 20 or more units. The county's municipalities page tells any property in a Common Ownership Community to contact its Association about compliance, so the board is the first call. The Census does not say which of these buildings are condominiums or cooperatives.
Stop here until the board names its processTenants of a landlord or manager
About 1,577 renter-occupied homes in Friendship Heights and 609 in the unincorporated area sit in large buildings. The roof decision belongs to whoever holds the building, so a tenant's useful step is to report leaks in writing.
Offices, shops and mixed buildings
Not in these tables. Montgomery Planning describes the Friendship Heights area as home to several large retailers and a number of offices, so a commercial owner starts from the building's records, not from a house checklist.
The planning calendar
Where does the Friendship Heights sector plan stand, and does it reach a roof?
Dates from Montgomery Planning's own pages, checked 12 October 2026.
- 1998
The current Friendship Heights Sector Plan is approved and adopted. Zoning still follows it, according to the urban design study page.
- March 2024
Staff present draft findings of the Urban Design Study to the Planning Board. A study proposes no zoning change.
- Fall 2024
Montgomery Planning starts the sector plan update.
- 16 July 2026
The Working Draft goes to the Planning Board and is designated the Public Hearing Draft.
- 10 and 14 September 2026
The two parts of the public hearing. The plan page showed no later step when we checked.
The pages we read set no rule for re-covering an existing roof
The plan page lists land use, zoning, housing and the environment as its subjects. The climate appendix mentions cool roofs once, as one hoped-for heat measure in redevelopment. The full draft text would not open in full, so it is not read here. For the county rule on roof reflectance, see EPDM roofs in Bethesda.
What the word means
What does a board or landlord need on paper to know a roof is EPDM?
EPDM is the thermoset, rubber single-ply membrane, unlike TPO and PVC, whose seams are fused with heat. The 2021 International Building Code lists it by a material standard, ASTM D4637. A data sheet or bid that names the standard, the layers above the deck and the way the seams are joined and checked can be compared line by line; a bid that says only "rubber roof" cannot.
- Ask for the standard on the data sheet.
- Ask for the layers listed from deck to sheet.
- Ask how seams and edges are finished and inspected.
- The full checklist is in the flat roof guide.
Questions
Short answers on who decides an EPDM roof here
Can the Census tell me whether my Chevy Chase building has a flat roof?
No. It counts homes by building size and by owner or renter. Roof shape is not in the table, so the counts only point to where flat roofs are likelier.
Why are there no big buildings in the Town of Chevy Chase figures?
Every occupied home counted there is a detached house: 928 owner-occupied and 62 rented. Large buildings appear in the unincorporated area and in Friendship Heights.
Who is the first call for a condominium roof in Friendship Heights?
The association or its manager. The county's municipalities page says properties in a Common Ownership Community should contact the Association, and it lists the Village as county permit only.
Does the sector plan update change what roof a building may have?
Nothing we read says so. The plan sets zoning and land use recommendations, and the update was at the public hearing stage when we checked.
Are the figures here the same as the ones on the Chevy Chase page?
They come from a different cut of the same survey. The hub prints year built and share by 50-unit buildings; this page splits the large buildings by who lives in them.
Which Census geography is the Village of Friendship Heights?
The Census place called Friendship Heights Village, with 2,960 housing units and 2,580 occupied ones. A Village boundary and a Census boundary can differ, so ask the Village office.
Other Chevy Chase roofing here: metal roofs in Chevy Chase and TPO roofs in Chevy Chase. A larger Montgomery County apartment area is on EPDM roofs in Silver Spring, and the wider view of membranes is the flat roof guide.
Sources checked 12 October 2026: Census Reporter, ACS 2024 5-year, tables B25032 and B25024; county municipalities page; Montgomery Planning, Friendship Heights; sector plan page; urban design study page; sector plan climate appendix.
Talk through the next step
Tell us who holds the roof and what is on it now
Say whether the roof belongs to one household, an association or a landlord, and what covers it today. We will help you work out who needs to sign before a membrane is chosen.
9220 Topaz St, Fairfax, VA 22031
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