| Estimating and Design Consultant |
Location: | Job Type: |
| Corey Balliet | Northumberland, PA | Residential Roof Replacement, Standing Seam Metal |
Project Overview
The stone section of this Northumberland, Pennsylvania home was built around 1792, with a wooden addition added in the early 1900s. A standing seam metal roof has covered it for generations. Nobody knows exactly how long it has been there, though it was already in place when the previous owner bought the property in the early 1960s. The current homeowners have lived there since 1984.
For years, the answer to any leaks had been a fresh coat of paint. It stopped working. The homeowner came to us with a straightforward question: can this roof be saved through painting and repair, or does it need to be replaced? He wanted an honest assessment from someone who understood what it means to work on a structure that has stood for more than two centuries.
Both valleys where the stone section and the wooden addition meet were leaking. The roof had been painted several times over the years, twice in the last seven or eight alone, and painters had come back more than once to re-coat the valleys specifically. Each time, the leaking stopped for a couple of months and then returned, sometimes surfacing at a different point along the same valley.
That migration was our biggest clue. When a leak moves, it points to a roof system at the end of its service life. Our inspection, including a full attic inspection, confirmed water damage to the wood sheathing beneath both valleys and to one of the rafters.
The homeowner's priority was preserving the historical character of the house wherever possible, including the original attic rafters in the stone section. He also needed the work scheduled between mid-May and the last week of August so he could be home during the project while school was out.
Corey (the Estimating and Design consultant for this project) let the homeowner know that painting and patching would buy him a few months at a time while the damage underneath worsened. We recommended full replacement with a new standing seam metal roof—the same system the house had worn for generations—and presented the estimate on site during the inspection.
What the project included:
We installed gutter straps under the new metal roof, since strapping gutters on top of a standing seam roof means penetrating the panels, which can create a future leak. Learned from numerous times working on historic buildings over the years!
The homeowner got a watertight roof, a sound structure underneath it, and a finished product that looks like it belongs on a 1792 stone house. The leaking valleys are gone. The compromised sheathing was replaced rather than covered over, the original rafter was reinforced instead of removed, and nothing stored in the attic was damaged during tear-off. Both parts of the house—the 1792 stone section and the early-1900s addition—are back under one continuous, properly detailed standing seam roof.
The homeowner had this to say:
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“Everything about my experience with Equity Roofing was A+. They took on the difficult project of replacing an old standing seam roof with new standing seam. From the initial visit, throughout the phases of the work, and right up to the final clean-up, I was kept informed about what they were doing and why. My many questions were answered promptly, clearly, and in detail. Workmanship was excellent. And the workers on all the crews were friendly and respectful of the historic nature of the structure. The final product — a new standing seam roof — was just what I had hoped for. I highly recommend Equity Roofing without hesitation.” |
Ready to protect your home with the same level of care?
Contact Equity Roofing today for a free inspection and estimate.