Kittatinny Roofing

Why roofs fail

Quarry slate, cement shingle, copper worth keeping. Half the decisions on a roof around here are about what to save rather than what to replace.

Slate does not fail the way shingle fails. On old housing it gives out where two centuries meet. On a row, you can reach some of these points and not others.
Garage Point 1: the ridge 1 Point 2: the field of the covering 2 Point 3: the valleys 3 Point 4: flashing at a shared wall 4 Point 5: a penetration 5 Point 6: the overhang 6
  1. 1 The ridge. The highest course, and on slate the one most often reset by hand.
  2. 2 The field. Quarry slate on the old houses, asphalt on everything since. Two very different clocks.
  3. 3 Valleys. Where leaf litter settles, and where a slate roof usually ends its life.
  4. 4 Wall flashing. The party wall of a row or twin, rising through a roof two houses share.
  5. 5 Penetrations. Holes cut on purpose. When access is awkward they get sealed instead of rebuilt.
  6. 6 The overhang. Where meltwater from a warm attic reaches cold framing and stops.

The six

What the valley leaves on a roof

The slate on the older roofs here came from quarries a short drive up the road, and a great deal of it is reaching the end of its century at the same time. The cement shingle that followed it is failing on its own schedule. Behind the steep front slope sits a shallow rear section with a different covering and most of the leaks. The copper that outlived two roofs is worth keeping. Meltwater stops at the cold overhang and freezes there. And on a row, there is often nowhere to stand a ladder. Half of those are decisions about what to keep.

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