Ignoring Roof Material In Historic Neighborhood

Because historic districts cast a wary eye toward anything new you should at least consider sticking with the same type of material that s already on your roof.

Ignoring roof material in historic neighborhood.

The material already got approved once. You run into that all the time says lukis someone has not done a good enough survey of the existing conditions. Otherwise it wouldn t be there in the first place. Slate if you really want a roof that will outlast you and your budget is pretty high this is the material to consider.

While roofing projects can suffer when the specs are inconsistent with the desired material just as problematic is when they don t match the historic building. The truth is many of the materials covered in this series on roof options can be used to create a cool roof one that reflects or otherwise mitigates heat. Slate tile over 2 000 square feet of roof can cost over 80 000. Furthermore there is an urgency involved in repairing a leaky roof since such repair costs will quickly become prohibitive.

Of course you re paying for that quality. The most commonly found sloping roof materials are metal slate clay tile asphalt shingles wood shingles and wood shakes. For builders in timber rich north america wood shingles were the obvious choice for the earliest roofs and ultimately the most common roofing material for houses well into the 20th century. Metal roofs membrane systems white tile roofs like the one shown here and even living roofs can all be described as cool roofs.

It is always best to use a roofing material that was original to your house or one that mimics the original. A poor roof will permit the accelerated deterioration of historic building materials masonry wood plaster paint and will cause general disintegration of the basic structure. Try not to use different roofing materials. Because applications of substitute materials such as aluminum and vinyl siding can either destroy or conceal historic building material and features and in consequence result in the loss of a building s historic character they are not recommended by the national park service.

If your historic house never had a metal roof you should not install a metal roof on it. Roof materials in addition to the shape elements and details the materials used to cover sloping roofs are important to defining the character of a historic building. A poor roof will permit the accelerated deterioration of historic building materials masonry wood plaster paint and will cause general disintegration of the basic structure. Furthermore there is an urgency involved in repairing a leaky roof since such repair costs will quickly become prohibitive.