# Clark Colonial Slate & Copper Project

> A variegated Vermont slate field with soldered copper details on a colonial on Clark. A look at project file 1103 from Donovan Roofing & Construction.

Canonical: https://donovanrc.com/projects/clark-colonial/

![Finished variegated slate roof on a St. Louis colonial home](/wp-content/uploads/donovan/photos/slate/clark-colonial-finished.webp)

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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

The colonial on Clark

![Finished variegated slate slope with dormers on a St. Louis colonial](/wp-content/uploads/donovan/photos/slate/clark-variegated-slate-slope.webp)

How the work moved

## The work, in five acts.

Act 01

### 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.

Act 02

### 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.

Act 03

### 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.

Act 04

### 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.

Act 05

### 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.

![Finished variegated slate slope with dormers on a St. Louis colonial](/wp-content/uploads/donovan/photos/slate/clark-variegated-slate-slope.webp)

![Overhead of the dormers and copper-topped bay window under new variegated slate](/wp-content/uploads/donovan/photos/slate/clark-dormers-copper-bay.webp)

![Front facade of the colonial beneath its finished slate roof](/wp-content/uploads/donovan/photos/slate/clark-front-facade.webp)

![Slate courses meeting the copper drip edge at the rake](/wp-content/uploads/donovan/photos/slate/clark-rake-copper-detail.webp)

![Straight-down view of the full variegated slate roof plan](/wp-content/uploads/donovan/photos/slate/clark-roof-plan-overhead.webp)

![Elevated view of the rear slopes and dormers in variegated slate](/wp-content/uploads/donovan/photos/slate/clark-rear-elevated.webp)

![Side profile of the colonial's full variegated slate field](/wp-content/uploads/donovan/photos/slate/clark-slate-field-profile.webp)

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.

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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

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