Authentic Composite Slate Roof Elevates Showpiece Home
Jaw-dropping. That’s the best word to describe the initial reaction to David Greenstein’s Prairie-style home. Who could miss the more than 100 roof lines on the “village” design of this magnificent property? And now, with its authentic composite slate roof by DaVinci, the homeowner believes his house finally has the roof it was always meant to have.
Dream Home
This remarkable Stamford, Connecticut home was designed by Taliesin graduate John Gillis. He was a disciple of the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. It shows in the modern home design. Adjoining rooms surround a courtyard that opens to a pool, fountain and private lake.
On the interior there are 5 bedrooms, an eat-in gourmet kitchen and a refrigerated wine cellar with room for 2,300 bottles. A 25-foot cathedral ceiling with geometric pattern of birch beams repeats throughout the main floor. Large-format French rose limestone tile floors, wide-plank Brazilian cherry floors and 12-zone, in-floor radiant heat are just some of the many features of this home.
The original owners never even got to live in the home. Fortunately for the Greensteins, they’ve had the joy of living there for the past 13 years. Now it’s time for an impressive upgrade. The Greensteins are investing in a new low-maintenance composite slate roof.
Troublesome Copper Roof
The original roof was a maintenance nightmare. It was a copper shingle roof from France. Rubber-infused with cork, the tiles were made to look like scalloped fish scales. The creative idea was that the copper was supposed to weather and turn green over the years. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. Most of them went black.
“The under tile was peeling up and flapping in the wind,” says Greenstein. “We tried to change many of them. Then a microburst ripped up hundreds of the tiles. Our first thought was to replace them, but the company in France had gone out of business.”
About this time Greenstein became resigned to finding an alternative roof product. He believed standing seam copper and metal were too modern looking. Natural slate was too heavy. Then he met the team from Gunner Roofing and the magic started to happen.
The Dream Team
During their first meeting together, Greenstein and Andrew Prchal, President of Gunner Roofing, spoke about many things. The priority for Prchal was determining if Greenstein had contacted his insurance company.
“I educated David on the insurance claim process,” says Prchal. “I told him that insurance may or may not provide coverage from the storm claim. We worked hand in hand on the insurance claim. There were several late night phone calls discussing next steps and updates. We ultimately got the claim approved. Now we refer to each other as the ‘dream team.’”
“Andrew is my savior,” says Greenstein. “He opened my eyes to insurance. We got 100% from the insurance company for the storm damage which made an enormous difference. Having a roofing company that works that hard to help their customers made a huge impact on me.”
Investing in Authentic Composite Slate
With the funds available for the new roof, Greenstein followed Prchal’s next piece of advice. Invest in DaVinci Roofscapes. The homeowner had already been researching the authentic composite slate roofing product and liked what he saw.
“The color variations in the composite slate really impressed us,” says Greenstein. “The quality of each piece of slate looks authentic. Marry that with the impact and fire resistant ratings, and it’s a winner. I really believe this product is what the original architect wanted this home to look like in the long run.
“With the DaVinci materials there are no more issues. Now we have a showpiece home … a masterpiece. A roofing product that will last for a lifetime that adds dramatic curb appeal to this house.”
Creating the Masterpiece
After Greenstein made the decision to invest in the DaVinci Single-Width Slate in Slate Gray, there was just one thing left to do — install the product. With more than 103 roof facets, that wasn’t the easiest thing to do.
“This is not your typical home,” says Prchal, a DaVinci Masterpiece Contractor. “It is extremely cut up and the architectural design really requires a product that can match its quality. We knew that DaVinci would provide on both the aesthetics and quality that a house of this caliber deserves.
“One of our biggest challenges was navigating the property lines. We had to ensure debris was cleaned up as well as product carefully loaded on the roofs. Our crew worked tirelessly for more than a month. They maintained our high standards of safety while creating a true masterpiece.”
The Gunner Roofing team added copper work and Alpine SnowGuards to the roof during the installation. The craftsmanship of every element shines through in the final product.
“I’m blown away by the combination of DaVinci’s product and the Gunner Roofing service,” says Greenstein. “The attention to detail, superior work ethic of the team, and the product quality. The exterior of this home has never looked better than it does right now!”
Award-Winning Project
The completion of the complicated roof work on the Greenstein project earned Gunner Roofing a 2023 DaVinci Masterpiece Contractor Project of the Year Award.
The award is presented to just a handful of roofers nationwide each year. Qualifications are excellence of installation work, outstanding visual impact and ability of the roofing work to transform the look of a home. The job completed by the team from Gunner Roofing reaches above and beyond the award’s requirements to place them in the spotlight for this show home.