Roofing Services in West Chester, PA

West Chester Borough: Slate, Copper, and Pre-1940 Construction

The borough is not like the townships. Out in Springfield or Newtown Township, most of what we do is residential re-roofing: tear off asphalt shingles that are 25 years old, inspect the decking, put on new material. The borough is different. Pre-1940 construction dominates the historic district: stone colonials, brick Federals, Victorian houses with rooflines that took a week to frame. Slate that was quarried and installed a century ago and has another 50 years left in it — or slate that’s been failing since Nixon was president. Copper valleys and copper flashing at chimneys and dormers. And too often, a house where someone replaced the copper with galvanized steel 30 years ago and now has rust staining down the stonework under every valley.

Pennsylvania black slate from the quarries around Bangor and Slatington is some of the best roofing material ever produced. If your slate has been assessed and the majority is sound, do not let anyone talk you into a full tear-off and asphalt replacement. A contractor who recommends full slate removal without a thorough slate-by-slate inspection isn’t doing his job. Whether your slate is worth keeping: delamination (the terminal condition — pages peeling off a book), the sound test (tap with your knuckle: ring vs. thud), and sliding slates that usually mean corroded copper nails, not failed slate. Less than 20% failing: repair. More than 30%: replacement is realistic.

On copper: if it’s there, keep it. Properly installed copper flashing from 1920 has probably outlasted four or five asphalt shingle replacements. Standard architectural shingle replacement in Chester County runs $11,000 to $15,500. Historic borough properties with slate conversions, copper work, or extensive masonry flashing: $18,000 to $25,000. Some of the larger estates on the north side go higher.