Old homes and structures.

[Woodsman]

Good suggestions above.

I would highly recommend getting a metal roof. With minimal care, it will last the rest of your life. My parents have cheap galvanized sheetmetal roofing on their house which was just nailed on. It dates to the 1940s and we just paint it about every ten or so years with aluminum paint and replace any loose nails with screws.

My parents got their first geothermal in this same house in 1990. That unit finally needed replacement this year. The newer units are more efficient and should last longer too. They run a wood add-on and any time it is below say 25 degrees they burn a little wood just because it feels good. A big part of the expense is the loop in your yard but this only has to be done once. There are also incentives from the government and sometimes your power company for going with geothermal.

With stone houses, the biggest enemy is water. It must have a good roof and water must be kept out of the walls so the cement work around the stones must be maintained. Snakes also like to go up through the walls if they are not totally solid and lounge around in the attic.

One tip I'd like to give is to keep the interior of the home somewhat historically correct. First, it is simply tasteful and, second, it can help with the homes value. The millwork can really set it apart too.

 

[D'Animal]

Looks like a great project.

 

[mudlover]

Awesome looking home, I sell some items that you may want to consider, dimpled plastic membrane waterproofing such as Platon brand, The builders Guide To Cold Climates book goes into detail about all sorts of topics. You can call me at 970 3967733.
The metal roofing is a great option, but will the look fit for a home of that era?
Good luck,
RG

 

[Woodsman]

Awesome looking home, I sell some items that you may want to consider, dimpled plastic membrane waterproofing such as Platon brand, The builders Guide To Cold Climates book goes into detail about all sorts of topics. You can call me at 970 3967733.
The metal roofing is a great option, but will the look fit for a home of that era?
Good luck,
RG

It is not unusual to see homes of that era in our area that are dilapidated and falling down with a standing seam metal roof intact although the steel roof will be completely rust colored. However, regardless whether one would agree with this choice, steel would still be considered the go-to roof in favor of cheaper asphalt shingles. Steel will also add more to the homes value than cedar shingles or asphalt shingles.

 

[kybishop]

I have looked at and researched a plethora (love that word since Three Amigos) of roofing options. Asphalt was never an option as far as looks and in keeping with the architecture.

As far as the composition products, not too many that were in the running. The metal 'shakes' as they like to call them are pretty tacky and out of scale for us. Just not real impressed with any of them.

The Certainteed fiberglass comp shingles can look pretty nice but still trying to look more like a shake. This home has the smaller 16" wood shingle with a 5" exposure. That is what looks to be on it originally as the first layer and what we put back on 35 years ago. Hard to find that size, most are 24" shingles and much thicker.

The concrete shingles I have seen and looked into. These look pretty nice but are just too brittle for me to be comfortable with. The ones I saw were a 7" exposure and that was all I saw at the time. Heavier than the small 16" wood shingles we have. This product is much like the hardy plank siding which I have liked well enough from what I have seen of it.

Enviroshake makes a really nice product but again more of a rough shake look than a milled shingle. It also costs about twice what the cedar wood shingles cost and it goes down similar to the wood. So cost wise it was out.

As far as the metal roof we would go back with if we did would be the actual standing seam and not the metal panels. This is where it is formed and seamed on the spot like they did originally with the metal roofs. These are not production panel roofing but raw metal and made to the roof. Pretty nice. Historically metal roofing was what a lot of the older homes eventually had as a replacement. I see a lot of older stone homes with these. They can look nice depending on the type and color.

So, after looking all around at every option available we came right back to wood shingles. We are in a very low fire risk area and the wood have been on the house for 200 years already. Yes they could potentially go up in flame quick, always a thought on that. The roof as is has been hit by lightning a couple times while we were sleeping. Filled the attic with some smoke and blew some shingles off but that's about it. It was a big enough bolt that it woke me and I saw flames arching over both sides of the house while I was on the second floor. Five massive thumps when it hit.

We have had this house in the family for 40 years and as you can see the family is extremely sensitive to preserving it's original architecture. That was the idea in adding the addition they did, having all the plumbing with the bathrooms and kitchen in the new construction. All the section with the redwood siding was what was added by my parents in the 70's. The old part has been changed very little. Some duct work run with minor things changed. Most all the original wood work is intact with the exception of one mantel that was stolen from the house prior to our owning it.

It is on the historic registry and has been for most of the time we have owned it. My parents purchased it in 1971 when I was 3 years old, it is where I grew up. It is mainly Shaker influence with the pegs and chair rails inside and the mill work is very much of the Shaker style.

My parents had the incentives from the Kentucky Historic Preservation at the time they were doing work in the 70's. I remember packing shingles up and helping with the roof that is on it now.

So, after running all around wood and metal, those are the two that we are back to. We have a local roofer that does the wood shingles and standing metal seam. He does both of these the old way, nothing modern really about the way he works other than the vehicle he drives to get there and some of his tools.

Thanks for all the input guys, different areas of interest and knowledge can yield some great ideas.

 

[BRUIN4]

Beautiful house, air seal it and insulate it right, make sure the limestone walls, wood walls and roof perform as they should. I rarely ventilate crawl spaces or roofs - sometimes the codes are wrong. Insulate under the crawl space slab, put a complete drainage plane/ air barrier on top of the roof sheathing ( like a peel and stick membrane) and then ventilating mesh under the wood shingles.

Use poluisocyanurate rigid insulation and XPS insulation under the slab and below grade. Outside I would excavate, seal the foundation wall and footing and install XPS against the wall. There is a lot of good proven building science info out there, now is your chance to do it right.

Look up Joe Lstiburek, Building Science Corporation and buy his book for the climate zone you are in - a great resource

You can get it to a point where you will use almost no energy to heat or cool it

 

[kybishop]

House is structurally sound. Just one area i need to jack up and replace from some termite damage. No sign of termites for years now.

Thanks for the info, I will check it out.

Kevin

 

[hammer1]

The millwork can really set it apart too.

This. I pay more for insurance because of the cost to replicate millwork in my house if something should happen.

Whats best about older homes, is the stuff you find while re-doing it. I found some old local police badges from the 20's, and an older staircase that was hidden in the brickwork on one chimney.

 

[kybishop]

When I was in high school I was helping a man restore an old family home. We were taking some stairs up in an out building, maybe the cooks quarters or something. Found an old still under the stairs at the landing.

It is fun to work with this old stuff.

 

[kybishop]

Forgot about this thread... I had another one going and let this one fade. Penn Marshall Stone House.

I have since started a blog on the old home and I am still plugging away at renovations.

Link to the blog I started in 2014; About the Penn Marshall Stone House.

 

[kybishop]

So, after running all around wood and metal, those are the two that we are back to. We have a local roofer that does the wood shingles and standing metal seam. He does both of these the old way, nothing modern really about the way he works other than the vehicle he drives to get there and some of his tools.

Thanks for all the input guys, different areas of interest and knowledge can yield some great ideas.

After all the running around I did end up going with the standing seam metal roof. I think it was the best option since we do have wood burning stoves and a wood burning fireplace. Peace of mind and easy to maintain. This was put on back in 2015 and I am happy with it. It also allows an option for mounting and attaching solar panels to the standing seam.

Roofing – The Penn Marshall Stone House

Posts about Roofing written by kybishop

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