Writes every bid and files the commission applications.
Historic roofs · Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Old roofs, repaired the way they were built
Slate, cedar and copper work for houses in Portsmouth's historic districts and the Seacoast towns around it. We prepare what your commission asks to see, then make the new work match the old.
Historic districts
Working with your historic district commission
In Portsmouth that is the city's Historic District Commission, with the Planning Department handling applications. Whether your roof needs a hearing, a shorter staff review or neither depends on the house and the work, so we ask first.
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Step 1: Ask the city which review applies
Before we draw anything, we call the Planning Department with your address and the scope. They tell us whether the commission hears it or staff can act on it. We write the answer down for you.
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Step 2: Walk the roof and take a sample
We photograph every slope, measure, and take one slate, shingle or copper sample from a place where it won't open a leak. It goes into the file and into the matching.
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Step 3: Prepare the application
A drawing of what is there, a drawing of what we will install, the sample, photographs, and a line on each detail: ridge, hips, valleys, flashings, gutters. You sign it; we assemble it.
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Step 4: Come to the hearing with you
If the commission hears it, one of us comes. We answer questions about material and method; you answer the ones about the house.
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Step 5: Start when the approval is in your hands
If the commission asks for a change, we price it in writing and revise the bid. The commission decides, so we never promise an outcome.
Material matching
A new slate should sit beside an old one without a seam
Patches that show are usually a matching problem, not a workmanship one. We hold the old sample against new and salvaged stock in daylight, dry and wet, and settle four things before anything is ordered.
Color and how it weathers
Slate from different quarries ages to different colors. We match what yours will look like in ten summers, not on the day it is laid.
Size and thickness
Old roofs often graduate from wide, thick slates at the eaves to narrow, thin ones at the ridge. We keep the graduation.
Exposure and pattern
How much of each slate shows, and the courses it makes, give a roof its texture. We measure it from your roof and copy it.
Fasteners
Copper or stainless steel nails, set by hand. A slate that outlives its nail is the usual reason a good roof fails.
What we roof
Slate, cedar and copper, by one crew
Three materials, three trades, one crew that learned each. The pages below say what we do with each and what to ask of anyone who bids it.
Copper detail
Where the water meets the stone is a copper job
On an old house the roof is only as good as its edges: the valley beside a chimney, the gutter set into a cornice, the cap on a cupola. We form and solder these by hand in copper, and fit them to the drawing you gave the commission.
Valleys, step flashing and chimney saddles
Half-round and built-in gutters, and their downspouts
Cupola caps, finials and ridge details
Replacement of failed lead-coated or galvanized flashing
The family firm
Four of the ten you may meet
Despina takes the call and writes the bid. Yannis, Elias and Mei lead the work, and each of them is at your house before the job starts.
Yannis Katsaros
Master slater
Leads slate repair and new roofs, and cuts the matching slate.
Elias Gaither
Copper and sheet metal lead
Forms and solders flashings, gutters and caps.
Mei Jiang
Cedar and carpentry lead
Matches shingle cut and exposure, and repairs the deck beneath.
Before you sign
What you can check on paper
Ask for any of these before the visit. The insurance certificate can go straight to your architect or your commission file.
Insurance
General liability
Carrier named on the certificate · Policy 000000
Pays for damage to your property that our work causes.
Workers' compensation
Carrier named on the certificate · Policy 000000
Covers our own people on your roof.
In writing
The bid
Each detail priced as its own line
The contract
Scope, materials, schedule and warranty terms
Any change
Priced and signed before the work
Notes from clients
What owners and architects say about the paperwork and the work
“We were nervous about the commission hearing. Despina brought the slate sample, the photographs and the drawing, sat beside us, and answered the one question we could not.”
Philip R.Homeowner, brick Federal-style house
“Their detail drawings of the copper valleys and the cupola cap came back on my sheet size. My client's file needed no redrawing.”
Leona W.Architect
“They matched the old cedar's width and exposure, and told me which courses were worth saving. The bid listed each one.”
Gregory H.Homeowner, shingled house, New Castle
Sample reviews.
Where we work
Portsmouth and the Seacoast towns around it
Most of our work is within half an hour of the shop. Tell us your town and we will tell you whether we come.
Rockingham County, New Hampshire
- Portsmouth
- New Castle
- Rye
- Newington
- Greenland
- North Hampton
- Hampton
- Stratham
- Exeter
- Newmarket
Strafford County, New Hampshire
- Dover
- Madbury
York County, Maine
- Kittery
- Eliot
- York
We don't take jobs west of Epping or north of York, Maine.
Questions
The first things old-house owners ask
Does my roof need the Historic District Commission?
It depends on the house, the district and the work. The Planning Department can tell you from your address and a description. We call them with you before we draw anything.
Can you repair the slate instead of replacing it?
Often. A slate roof usually fails at the nails and flashings long before the stone is done. If most slates are sound, we reset them and replace the ones that slipped or cracked, and say so in the bid.
Why a bid and not a price list?
No two old roofs are alike. Pitch, towers, valleys, flashing and what is under the old slate all move the number, so we price your roof after we have been on it.
Do you carry insurance?
Yes. We carry general liability and workers' compensation, and we send the certificate to you or your architect on request.
If my insurer is involved, what do you do?
We inspect, photograph and write an itemized estimate you can share. You decide whether to file, you deal with your insurer, and the deductible stays with you.
How do I start?
Fill in the short form or call the office. We book a visit, go over the roof with you, and send a written bid afterward.
Ask for a bid
Send us the address and a photo of the roof
One of us replies in office hours. We bid each roof after a visit, so there is no price to quote from a form.