As the new owners of a 137-year old home in Mt. Airy, Pa., the Nasratullah family knew the original terra cotta roof had to go. They hesitated, not wanting to give up the historic look of the roof, but it was in bad shape. That’s when they learned about synthetic roofing materials.
“A very good friend has composite roofing tiles installed at his home and he highly recommended his roofer and the product,” says Ahsan Nasratullah. “We selected the Sonora blend of terracotta and clay colors to replicate the original tiles that were still on the roof.”
Installation of the DaVinci Roofscapes® synthetic slate tile went smoothly for the team at Bennett Construction. They started by stripping away the original historic roof and then moved on to installing the DaVinci product, working on a roof turrets and adding copper accents.
“The roof sub-structure needed some special attention, but after that installing the DaVinci tile was a breeze,” says Rich Bennett with Bennett Construction. “Our team was able to tackle the challenges and bring the home back to its former glory. This home now represents the perfect combination of old world construction and modern materials.”
In Mill Mountain, Va. the Dye family also relied on synthetic slate tiles to replicate the look of the original red Mediterranean tile roof on their 1929 Italianate-style stone home.
“We did an extensive amount of research on roofing materials and searched for a realistic and durable slate product,” says homeowner Nancy Dye. “The result is a DaVinci Roofscapes Multi-Width Slate roof that we love.
“We brightened up the home’s exterior by selecting the Vineyard blend of eight different colors — dark and medium tan, light and medium gray, light and dark violet, dark stone and dark amber. This color combination fits the era of the home and complements our cobblestone driveway and sidewalk, the stone exterior of the house and our copper gutters and snow guards.”
To improve the look of her 1860 home, which sits on land deeded to the original property owner by William Penn, Irene Darocha replaced worn-out cedar shingles with synthetic slate tiles.
“They return the original historic look to the home, but because they’re made out of polymer they won’t be as much trouble as the previous roof,” says Darocha, who resides in West Chester, Pa. “This product looks authentic to the original house, but resists rot, impact, fire and insects, so it’s virtually maintenance-free.”
Darocha chose to create a custom blend of colors for the DaVinci composite roof, combining the Milano blend of dark purple plus light, medium and dark gray slate tiles with black tiles.
“I wanted the black added in to the roof so it would gain more attention,” says Darocha. “The unique mixture of the five color shades looks terrific and very historically accurate on the structure. I wanted those specific colors so they could complement the natural shading in the original serpentine stone exterior of the home that came from a local quarry 148 years ago when the original structure was built more than 150 years ago.”
The experienced team members at DaVinci Roofscapes develop and manufacture industry-leading polymer slate and shake roofing systems with an authentic look and superior performance. DaVinci leads the industry in the greatest selection of colors, tile thickness and tile width variety. The company’s reliable products have a limited lifetime warranty and are 100 percent recyclable. All DaVinci high-performing roofing products are proudly made in America where the company is a member of the National Association of Home Builders, the National Association of Roofing Contractors, the Cool Roof Rating Council and the U.S. Green Building Council. For information call 1-800-328-4624 or visit www.davinciroofscapes.com.