Slate, cedar and copper roofing in Bethesda (20814)

Edgemoor, Battery Park and East Bethesda grew up from the 1910s through the 1940s, and many original houses still stand: brick and stucco colonials, Tudor revivals and Cape Cods with steep front gables. A good number still wear Pennsylvania or Buckingham slate, often with copper valleys that have outlasted two or three owners. Huntington Terrace adds smaller bungalows and a few Sears kit homes.

Slate on these houses usually outlives its fasteners. Iron nails rust through, slates slide out, and the gap lets water reach the felt beneath. We replace individual pieces with salvaged slate of the same color and size, hold them with copper nails or slate hooks, and check the valleys while we're up there. Our slate repair page covers the methods in more depth.

We also look hard at the snow guards. Older slate roofs over front walks often had rows of copper or bronze guards that have since bent or pulled loose, and a slab of sliding snow off a steep slate roof can tear a gutter clean off the fascia.

Bethesda sees steady infill construction, and a neighbor's excavation, crane picks or scaffolding can send debris onto your roof. We photograph the condition of your slate, gutters and flashing before the project next door starts, so if pieces crack you have dated evidence to show the builder.

New houses here usually go up with architectural shingles, synthetic slate or standing seam metal over porches. Where an owner wants the look of the older street without the weight, synthetic slate is a common choice, though we only install it after checking the manufacturer's slope and underlayment rules against that particular roof.

Wood shakes turn up on some 1940s and 1950s colonials and Cape Cods in neighborhoods like Wood Acres and Bannockburn. Under heavy oak and tulip poplar shade, the shakes stay damp, grow moss and split along the grain. We replace damaged shakes with straight-grain western red cedar, keep the keyway spacing correct, and clear the valleys so leaves don't dam water.

Copper gutters, bay roofs and dormer cheeks are common on the better-built older homes. Copper rarely wears out from weather; it fails at soldered seams and where expansion has split a long run. We resolder seams, add expansion joints, and replace sections in 16 or 20 ounce copper to suit what's already on the house. Tall brick stacks get their own attention through our chimney flashing repair work.

Bethesda is unincorporated, so roof replacements generally go through the county permit office. A few small municipalities just east of Wisconsin Avenue, toward Chevy Chase, add their own rules, and we check the boundary for addresses near that line.

Parking near the Bethesda Metro, Woodmont Triangle and the side streets off Old Georgetown Road is tight. We schedule dumpster drops early, use a small trailer where a roll-off won't fit, and keep slate and copper stacked on the property instead of the sidewalk.