Architect Tips for Specifying Composite Roofing Tiles on Historic Projects


Crumbling slate on a 100-year-old faculty. Hail-pocked cedar shakes on historic church buildings. Fixing wrongly positioned asphalt on an outdated county courthouse. If you happen to’re within the place of choosing roofing for a historic venture, you’re among the many rising variety of architects discovering that composite roofing tiles are the answer.

When the 1886 pink brick administration constructing in Owantonna, Minnesota, wanted a brand new roof, the town introduced in Adsit Structure and Planning to deal with the problem. Previous asphalt shingles wanted to be eliminated. Caretakers of the historic construction, which is on the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations, wished to protect the historical past of the complicated.

“We wished to deliver again the prominence of the unique slate roof,” says architect Mark Gunstad with Adsit. “We particularly wished a composite roof. Our feeling is that it’ll have a protracted lifespan. From our search, we decided that DaVinci merchandise present probably the most real looking search for a composite roof.

“The European coloration mix and look of the tiles performed a significant function within the choice. As well as, DaVinci has turret packages accessible, which was crucial. After that, we have been on the lookout for a product that’s simple to put in. Above all, price was an element. DaVinci hits all of the marks.

“Our firm does quite a lot of work with historic constructions. That is our first time working with the DaVinci product. Nonetheless, it received’t be our final. We’re excited to specify these artificial roofing tiles on different initiatives sooner or later.”

Lightweight material and a cohesive, traditional slate look lead architects to specify composite roofing for this project. Light-weight Composite Roofing Tiles

Whereas look, set up ease and coloration availability are all good causes to specify composite roofing tiles for historic initiatives, there are extra. The light-weight nature of the product makes it a lovely asset.

At R.J.O. Intermediate Faculty in Kings Park, New York — house to the Kings Park Heritage Museum — the unique slate tile roof on the varsity had began to crumble in recent times. Worse than that, tiles have been sliding off and crashing beneath, inflicting the 100-year-old slate roof to change into a security hazard. As well as, the burden of the pure slate additionally precipitated areas of the roof to sag.

“All these elements mixed, and we knew it was time to switch this roof,” says Superintendent of Faculties, Dr. Timothy T. Eagen with Kings Park Central Faculty District in New York. “We wished to duplicate the distinctive roof. However to complicate this example, the unique constructing had been prolonged just a few occasions over time. Every time a barely completely different slate roof sample and coloration was used. Now we would have liked a unified look that mimicked the historic slate.”

The college district turned to H2M architects + engineers out of Melville, New York, for help. The crew there advisable DaVinci Multi-Width Slate as a substitute historic roofing materials.

The light-weight nature of the composite roofing tiles, in comparison with heavy actual slate, helped instantly clear up one drawback. The product’s Class A fireplace and Class 4 impression resistance provided different options. Above all, the composite roofing tiles resist chipping, cracking and breaking.

As soon as the product and colours have been chosen and accepted by the varsity district, there was another hurdle. A presentation was made to the State Historic Preservation Workplace. The assessment crew there was equally impressed with the standard and authenticity of the DaVinci historic roofing materials. They gave the composite roofing their quick approval.

Shaking Up Historic Roofing Materials

As in style as artificial slate is as a historic roofing materials, composite shake has additionally made inroads in lots of historic initiatives.

Church buildings beforehand with actual cedar shakes throughout the nation have transitioned to composite cedar shakes. Together with their genuine look, the congregations recognize composite shakes for his or her fire-resistant, low-maintenance and impact-resistant advantages.

“As a result of the DaVinci product seemed so genuine to actual cedar shakes and had a greater fireplace ranking than wooden shingles, the committee made the choice for the primary time ever to permit polymer roofing tiles on a construction in our metropolis.”

We’re each amazed and happy that these man-made roofing tiles may have such a constructive and exquisite impression on our facility. The brand new polymer shakes look virtually equivalent to the older picket ones, however these will final a lot longer.”

Fire-resistant, low-maintenance and impact-resistant lead architects to specify this composite roofing. Sacred Coronary heart Ukrainian Catholic Church Case Research in Johnson Metropolis, New York – based in 1977

The sturdiness and great thing about this roof actually spoke to the church members. The composite roofing solutions so many challenges for this venture. We have been eradicating outdated wooden shingles, steel and different roofing merchandise. As we tackled the steepness of the steeple, the light-weight nature of the polymer roofing actually helped us.”

  • Nick Paschke, President of Paschke Brothers Building

St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church Case Research in Kronborg, Nebraska – based in 1899

 For extra insights on architects , hearken to the podcast “Methods to Get Composite Roofing Accredited on Historic Tasks” on RoofersCoffeeShop.com. And, to view different historic roofing materials initiatives, go to “DaVinci Roofing Tops Off Historic Tasks.”