A roofing contractor in a very old village

Waterford is widely cited as the oldest continuously incorporated village in the United States, and the building stock reflects that history.

Many houses here are older than the neighbourhoods around them, and they have been altered, extended and re-roofed repeatedly over a very long time. What that means practically is that you rarely find a simple roof. You find a roof that is the sum of several decisions made across a couple of centuries.

Original chimneys are the norm, as are rooflines that have been added to more than once.

What we do most in Waterford

• Replacements on older village homes
• Chimney and wall flashing on original masonry
• Gutter and fascia work, often with rot behind the gutter line
• Repairs at junctions between sections built at different times
• Ice dam repairs at the eaves

Fascia, gutters and what is behind them

On a house of real age, the gutter is frequently the least of the problem.

What we find is that water has been getting behind the gutter for years, usually because there is no drip edge or the existing one has failed, and the fascia behind it has gone soft. The hangers then lose their grip, the gutter sags, and more water gets behind it. By the time anyone calls, there is carpentry to do before there is any gutter to hang.

We deal with the wood first. Re-hanging a gutter on rotten fascia is work you will pay for twice. See gutter repair and installation.

Canal-side and low-lying properties

Waterford sits where the Mohawk meets the canal system, and low-lying older properties tend to carry more moisture through the structure than houses on higher, drier ground.

That makes attic ventilation more important, because moisture that cannot escape condenses on the underside of the deck and rots it from beneath. Where we find damp sheathing with no obvious leak above it, that is generally the cause.

Old buildings, unknown layers

On a building that has been re-roofed repeatedly over a very long time, nobody really knows what is under the top layer until it comes off. We have found board sheathing, several generations of covering, and repairs made with whatever was to hand at the time.

That uncertainty is the honest part of quoting an old house. We give you a decking rate up front so the arithmetic is clear if we find soft wood, and we photograph what is underneath so you can see what you have been living with.

Around Waterford

We cover the Village of Waterford, the Northside, the Peebles Island area and the Town of Waterford.

Neighborhoods we cover

• Village of Waterford
• Northside
• Peebles Island area
• Town of Waterford