Roof Repair in Germantown, Philadelphia

What do the old stone houses on Germantown Avenue mean for a roof?

A stone house is usually built with a pitched roof over thick walls, and the joint where the roof meets the wall is the place to look first. Chimneys and the valleys are where water tends to get behind the covering.

A roofer checks those joints from the roof and then from inside the attic, where a dark stain on the underside of the roof deck shows the water's path before the ceiling does. Replacing the covering over a bad joint without fixing the joint wastes the money.

Where does historic review fit into a Germantown job?

The Commission's Roofs Guideline favors work that is inconspicuous from the public right-of-way, and its staff reports treat slate replacement as something to consider only where deterioration requires it. A roof that shows from the avenue gets closer scrutiny than one hidden behind a parapet or a rear slope.

Confirm the status of the address before the job is priced. The Commission confirms it for the property, and a permit may wait on the review if the work is visible from the street.

What do the Victorian twins and large detached homes need?

The twins and larger houses have pitched roofs with gutters, dormers and porch roofs, and each of those is a seam that needs to hold. Attic ventilation affects how the roof deck handles moisture, and that is checked when a leak is traced.

A large detached home can have several roof sections at different heights. The repair plan covers all of them, so a leak fixed on one section does not move to the next.

What do the Victorian twins in Germantown need from a roof repair?

Victorian twins in Germantown have steeply pitched roofs with dormers, valleys and decorative gables. Each of those is a joint, and the seams where a dormer cheek meets the slope are a frequent entry point. A roofer checks the flashing at each dormer and the valley beside it before turning to the field of the roof.

Decorative trim and gable details hold water when the paint has failed and the wood has started to soften. Water that gets behind a trim board can run down the wall for a long time before it shows on the inside, so the trim is checked from a ladder or from the roof edge during a repair.

The gutters on twins of this age often sit on old brackets. Resetting them, checking the outlets and making sure the downspouts discharge away from the wall is part of the same visit, and it prevents the staining that the next storm would otherwise leave on the brick.