Project file 1103 · 2024
The colonial on Clark, in variegated slate.
A variegated slate field with dormers on a classic colonial. Vermont blend, 20-ounce soldered copper, four weeks course to course.
St. Louis, Missouri
A colonial keeps its lines simple and lets the roof carry the character. On Clark, the character is a variegated slate field, color sorted on the deck, running clean around the dormers and down to the eaves.
The spec sheet reads familiar for our slate work: a Vermont variegated blend, 20-ounce copper bent on our brake and soldered on the shop bench, four weeks with a crew of four plus the foreman. The difference is in the dormers — a colonial gives the roof more edges, and edges are where slate work shows its hand.
On film
How the work moved
The work, in five acts.
Walk the roof.
We read the deck before we priced a thing — every slope from above, the rafters from the attic. What the colonial needed went down on paper first, so the owner knew the scope before we asked for a signature.
Prep the deck.
Old field off, softened boards replaced, the rest re-nailed tight. Slate-rated underlayment went down the same day each section opened, so the house stayed dried-in every night of the job. No overnight tarps.
Sort the slate.
Vermont quarries grade slate in eight color families. We pulled the blend against the roof in three light conditions and sorted it by hand on the deck, so no two neighboring slates repeat. The mix reads random from the street because it wasn't.
Detail the dormers.
Every cheek, valley, and break got 20-ounce copper, bent on our brake and soldered on the bench, carried up in one piece. The bright finish browns in about eighteen months and reaches verdigris in twelve to fifteen years.
Final walk.
Flashings re-bedded, valleys re-inspected, magnet sweep across the lawn. The walk-around ended with the warranty folder — one hundred years on the material, lifetime on the craft — and a labeled bag of spare slates from the same pallet.
From the foreman
“Sort it right on the deck and the roof looks like nobody sorted it at all.”
Donovan crew foreman, project 1103
Bring us in
Your roof has its own story to tell.
What homeowners are saying
“Justin did a great job of communicating and was on the job site a lot.”
Gerald K. · Google
“Nick Mirth did an excellent job throughout the process our insurance claim!”
Tim C. · Google
“Great experience, very knowledgeable and customer friendly. I would highly Recommend.”
Kathy O. · Google