[MassHistPres] Roofing for historic houses

Wed Sep 13 14:22:11 EDT 2006

Alexandra-

Sorry I missed this e-mail before - I was just cleaning out my old
e-mails and came across it.   I'm not sure if this response is too late
to be of help to you, but the info. may be useful to others on the list,
so I'll share some thoughts.

In short, yes, there's a lot of precedent for historic standing seam
metal roofing on houses in snow-bound climates of northeastern US, and
the Adirondacks specifically.

With the widespread availability of manufactured metal roofing in the
1800's and early 1900's, standing seam metal roofs became a roofing
material of choice in snow-bound northern regions, like the Adirondacks
and Maine.   Standing seam roofs were far more common on houses there
than in Eastern Mass. or southern New England.    As a practical matter,
steeply sloped standing seam metal roofs have a lower coefficient of
friction (are more slippery) and thus encourage snow and ice slide-off
from the roof, reducing the risk of structural overloading and roof
collapse, and also reduce the tendency of the roof to form large ice
dams (and reduce the risk of leakage from ice dams).  The most practical
vernacular examples in the Adirondacks minimize or eliminate valleys and
dormers, to further reduce the tendency for snow to accumulate on the
roof.  I have an article on "The Architecture of Winter: building
against the season" that briefly touches upon this - it will appear in
the forthcoming Nov./Dec. 2006 issue of ArchitectureBoston magazine.  

The National Park Service publication "Preservation Briefs" includes a
document on historic roofing that discusses traditional metal roofs.
It's online at http://www.cr.nps.gov/hps/TPS/briefs/brief04.htm
Standing seam and pressed metal shingle roofs were both common in the
19th and early 20th century - this NPS brief discusses them.

One of the aesthetic problems with contemporary standing seam galvalume
metal roofing on historic buildings is the ultra-bright colors and the
high-gloss finish of the coating.  Because of the color and high-gloss,
these roofs can seem to shout "car dealership" or "strip mall", rather
than  "historic house".  Traditional painted metal roofs tended to be
flat or semi-gloss look, not high-gloss.  And the common red color for
instance tended to be an earthen red, not candy apple red like most
galvalume roofs today. You could paint over a new metal roof in an
appropriate color and sheen level, but painting would beget an ongoing
maintenance issue you wouldn't have otherwise.   

While metal roofs were reasonably common on houses in the Adirondacks in
early 20th c., the bottom line is what's most appropriate for your
particular 1927 house.   If your research (archival or physical) shows
that it originally had a shingle roof, you may want to put a shingle
roof back.   You didn't mention whether the original shingle roof was
wood, asphalt, or metal shingles (all three were in use at that time).
With the better self-adhering membrane underlayments (such as "Ice and
water Shield" and similar products) that are available today, the
concealed underlayment can make a shingle roof much more reliable in
preventing leakage from ice dams than it would have been in 1927.  In
recent years, more manufacturers have come out with metal shingles - an
old idea that seems to have come back.   Some nice copper shingles are
available, which avoid the maintenance issue of repainting, but I don't
know whether that would be visually appropriate for your particular
house.  And if you are considering a wood shingle roof, an installation
that will allow air circulation and increased drying of the underside of
the wood shingles (a sheet drainage mat such as "cedar breather" or
similar products are an easy way to achieve this) will make wood
shingles more durable than if they were installed directly.  However,
you should always look at solar exposure when considering a wood shingle
roof - wood shingle roofs tend to be most durable when they get some
sun, but not too much.  If they face south and get no shade, but get
cooked in the sun all the time, UV damage tends to prematurely
deteriorate the wood shingles.  On a shaded north-facing roof slope,
where they never get any sun, wood shingles are really slow to dry out,
are more prone to rotting, and tend to get a lot of microbial and fungal
growth (e.g., algae, mold).  Water run-off from zinc and copper
flashings inhibits microbial growth, thus, strategic use of flashings
can limit microbial growth on wood shingle roofs.   In my experience,
wood shingle roofs with their ridge line along a north-south axis (with
east and west facing roofs) will fare better over the long term than the
similarly constructed roof with the ridge on an east-west axis (where
the north facing roof doesn't get enough sun to dry-out, and the
shingles rot, whereas and the south facing roof gets too much sun, and
the shingles crack and split.)

Good luck with your project.
-Matthew

Boston Society of Architects Historic Resources Committee
and
Winchester Historical Commission

Matthew B. Bronski, Assoc. AIA
Staff Engineer/Designer 
Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc.
41 Seyon Street
Building 1, Suite 500
Waltham, MA 02453
Direct Dial: 781 907 9264
Operator: 781 907 9000
Fax: 781 907 9009
E-mail: mbbronski at sgh.com 
Website: www.sgh.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu
[mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of Alexandra Lee
Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2006 10:36 AM
To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
Subject: [MassHistPres] Roofing for historic houses

Dear Colleagues,

At a family home in the Adirondacks, the group is considering a standing
seam metal roof on a beautiful shingle style house from the 1927 that
sits right on Lake Champlain.  The original roof I believe was shingle
and I am trying to research any examples of where the standing seam roof
might appear on a historic house.  It strikes me as an inappropriate
choice but a local preservationist has indicated that standing seam or
shingle would be an appropriate choice for this replacement roof.

Does anyone have any websites or links to images of an old shingle house
with a standing seam roof?  Or does anyone have opinions on the
preservation aspects of this choice?  Thank you.

Alexandra Lee

Director of Special Projects

Boston Society of Architects

52 Broad Street

Boston MA 02109

617-951-1433x225

617-951-0845 fax

alee at architects.org <mailto:alee at architects.org> 

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