Synthetic Slate Upgrades Historic Home
When Barbara Vetry moved into her house a few years ago, she had a goal. She wanted to bring back the historic beauty to the 1874 Italianate Victorian home. Starting from the top down, she started by investing in DaVinci Single-Width Slate roofing tiles.
However, many things had to fall into place before she was able to install her new roof.
First came the research. “I always knew that I wanted a slate roof for this house,” says Vetry. “While researching options, I came across DaVinci. It seemed like the perfect lightweight solution for this old house.”
Vetry’s historic home sits within the Hallowell Historic District in Hallowell, Maine. This is an area of 260 acres with 446 properties. Any significant changes to properties — such as siding and roofing — requires owners to submit a “Historic District Certificate of Appropriateness Form” to gain project and material approval.
Vetry met with the Hallowell Planning Board and made her case for the synthetic slate DaVinci roof. She highlighted the product’s authentic appearance, long lifespan, and resistance to both fire and impact. The Board saw the value in the DaVinci product and gave their approval to synthetic slate upgrades to the historic home.
Up on the Synthetic Slate Roof
Moving forward, Vetry hired the team at Roofers Elite out of Auburn, Maine, to do the extensive re-roofing work. They removed asphalt shingles and prepped the surface for the DaVinci product.
“The DaVinci slate product adds real character to a home,” says Cody McAllister with Roofers Elite LLC. “This is a high-end product that adds distinction to this historic home.”
Modeled from actual slate, DaVinci tiles have a natural non-repeating beauty and an authentic appearance. The composite tiles are made of pure virgin resins, UV and thermal stabilizers along with highly specialized fire retardant. The tiles are 12 inches wide and ½-inch thick. They can be installed at either 6-, 7-, 7-1/2- or 8-inch exposure.
Details Make the Difference
For this project, the roofing team handled all the roofing challenges easily. This includes the belvedere, a top area of the home with a 360-degree view of Hallowell.
“Roofers Elite was great to work with,” according to Vetry. “Their team worked diligently on this project, valued our property and came in on budget. Cody even helped convince my husband to go with the Slate Black color to enhance the other exterior colors of our house!
“In the future I’d like to clad the cupola in copper and add a copper weathervane. It’s difficult finding someone to do this work, but Cody is very supportive in helping with this. I look forward to a time when he can come back and install those items.”
Saluting History
While Vetry moves forward with the synthetic slate upgrades to her historic home, she always remembers the history of her house. Built by Samuel Huntington in 1874, the property was the first in Hallowell to have gas lighting, electricity and a telephone.
Known as the smallest city in Maine, with a population of just 2,381, Hallowell is just six miles in size. However, it’s teeming with history.
“This is a truly special town,” says Vetry. “Now I’m thrilled that my roof — and my entire home — complement the Hallowell Historic District in a beautiful way.”