Green tin shingle roof in Virginia

The antique metal shingles on this 1900s mansion, located on a residence in Virginia, crowns this structure in its dominance over the countryside. Any driver in this area would find it difficult to miss this imposing home.

In the spring of 2012, my crew took steps to preserve these antique shingles as part of the preparation for the new owners.

A common saying: “Prepping is the key.” As with any well-done restoration project, the cleaning, careful scrapping and primer application is important.

The design of the shingle reflects the vintage nature of the roof. Indeed, the design seems to add to the height of the already tall residence.

Parts of the shingle roof areas had begun to flake and rust. First, the crew members washed the roof with a power washer. Then they scraped any loose flakes that still remained on the surface areas.

Initial steps in the spring project

In compliance with the lead safety requirements, disposable tarps were placed at the base of roof edges to capture flakes during the washing and scraping portion of the project. The reason for this precaution is some of the roof flakes may contain old lead paint.

All contractors that work on or in pre-1978 buildings are required to obtain certification from the EPA that work will follow guidelines to contain lead contamination as much as possible.

Due to the rainy forecast for this time of year, we opted to use a primer that allowed an extended time period for the Wearcoat 66 coating to adhere properly.

Crew chief Lester is a hands-on manager. His 25 year plus experience of dealing with these products means a confidence in how to apply these tricky coatings.

The special tinted green is known as Restoration Green, a tint first applied on a 1990s “farm” on the Chesapeake Bay. The color green also comes in a more pastel tone as well as a darker version.

Since 2010, we have favored this tint in a Wearcoat formula since the formula avoids the chalking action found in the popular acrylics and elastomerics.

Porch work and other tidbits

On 1900s roofs, there is a lovely accent of a “ledge” across the bottom of a peaked roof. Sometimes the ledge becomes two “mini” ledges at the corner. Not on this stately residence. The two photos immediately below illustrate the before, then the primer, steps.

The project is ready to begin work on the porch. The porch standing seam roof was added at a later date after the original construciton.

On the porch we applied the fully reinforced system to protect the panels and blend the porch roof surface into the style of the residence. Because of the type of metal panels, we are having to add an extra step to insure good adhesion, compared to the more traditional standing seam metal panels.

The photos below illustrates the appearance of the shingles with primer and two coats of special tinted Wearcoat from Andek Corp. The sheen of this coating highlights the profile of this interesting design. This material, Wearcoat, will preserve the green tint; indeed, this formula even preserves the integrity of any organic tint ingrdients…a common problem with some coatings.

A photo below was taken at sunset on a cloudy day.

Because the house stood on a hill..

..our progress was monitored quite closely by the nearby residents.

A photo below shows the imposing residence while driving down the road into Flint Hill, VA.

“I have been wanting to let you know how incredibly pleased we are with the roof job. Your crew did a beautiful job and I have heard from some of the local community that it was quite a thing to watch evolve. Thank you and your crew so very much. This house is part of our soul and when we have quality work done to it, it makes us feel like we are truly reinvigorating the life of the house. Thanks again.”