Specialty Roofing • Bucks County, PA
Historic Roof Restoration
Old stone farmhouses and historic homes need repair that respects the original build. Wrong materials ruin them.
- Period-correct materials and details
- Work that keeps historic review boards happy
- Structural and deck repair on original framing
- Documented, photographed process
New Hope • Solebury • Buckingham • Upper Makefield • Washington Crossing • Doylestown • Newtown
What this work looks like
On an older home the roof is part of what makes the house look right. Restoration keeps the material and fixes what actually failed, which is usually the metal and the mortar.
What this material does well
- Keeps the original material and the look of the house
- Often costs less than tearing off slate or tile
- Fixes the real failure instead of covering it
- Keeps the house eligible for the right look in a historic district
Where it actually fails
- Rusted valley and chimney metal
- Failed mortar and loose chimney crowns
- Old tar and caulk repairs hiding the real problem
- Broken or slipped slate and tile
- Box gutters and built-in gutters that have gone
How the roof gets checked
1. Work out what failed
Material or metal. That single answer changes the job from a tear-off into a restoration, or the other way around.
2. Inspect the masonry too
Chimneys leak through brick and mortar, not only around flashing. Sometimes the fix is masonry work, not roofing.
3. Undo the bad repairs
Tar smeared over a flashing joint hides a rusted metal problem. It has to come off to see the truth.
4. Rebuild the details in proper metal
Valleys, step flashing, chimney counterflashing and gutter linings, made to fit rather than bought off a shelf.
What changes the price
We do not post prices, because a roof nobody has looked at cannot be priced. These are the things that make the job bigger or smaller.
- • How much original material is broken or missing
- • Amount of metal that has to be fabricated
- • Masonry repairs at chimneys and walls
- • Historic district rules on visible materials
- • Access, height and how careful the work has to be
Questions homeowners ask
- Is restoration always cheaper than replacement?
- On slate and tile it often is, but not always. You should get both answers in writing so you can compare instead of being told there is one option.
- Can original material be reused?
- Sound slate and tile get salvaged and reused where possible. Cracked pieces cannot be saved.
- Will it match the rest of the roof?
- Close, not perfect. New material next to century-old material never matches exactly, and anybody promising it does is not being straight with you.
- Do you handle historic district approvals?
- Requirements differ by town. The roofer will tell you what your township asks for, and you should confirm the rules with them directly.
Straight talk: We do not name historic homes as our projects. A job only appears as ours when the owner confirms it and real photos exist.