Townhouse reroofs and gutter work in Gaithersburg (20878)

Kentlands was laid out from the late 1980s as a traditional town grid, with rowhouses, carriage homes and single-family houses close to the sidewalk. Lakelands followed nearby. The design guidelines asked for steeper pitches, dormers, front porches and a mix of materials, so a single block can include architectural shingles, cedar shakes, standing seam porch roofs and synthetic or natural slate.

That variety means more flashing per square foot than a typical subdivision roof. Dormers stacked close together, porch roofs tied into brick fronts, and parapets on some commercial-style rowhouses near Main Street all need careful detailing. When a Kentlands porch roof is rusting or leaking at the wall, we look at metal roof repair before suggesting full replacement.

Cedar shakes on Kentlands houses are now twenty to thirty years old in many spots, and the shaded sides near the lakes and greens stay damp long after a rain. We swap split and cupped shakes with straight-grain cedar, keep the spacing between them open, and check whether the guidelines allow a switch to a slate-look product when the whole slope is done.

Montgomery Village, Washingtonian Woods, Quince Orchard and the courts off Great Seneca Highway are full of 1970s to 1990s townhouses. Each unit's roof runs into its neighbor's over a masonry or drywall firewall, and the ridge is continuous across the building. A careless tear-off can leave a gap at the party line that leaks into both homes.

We strip only to the party line, lap new ice and water membrane a few inches past it onto the neighbor's deck where allowed, and weave the new shingles into theirs cleanly. When a whole building reroofs together, we plan it as one job with matched materials, the way our multifamily roofing work is set up.

• Clean cut line at each party wall
• Membrane lapped across the firewall seam
• Matching shingle line and color from the HOA list
• Ridge cap carried continuously across units

Nearly every neighborhood here has an architectural committee, and Kentlands has its own detailed guidelines. Committees usually want the manufacturer, shingle line, color name and a physical sample. Some require matching the original color across a whole building, while others allow a short approved list.

We gather that paperwork for you and wait for written approval before booking a crew. Building permits for houses inside the city of Gaithersburg go through the city, while homes in Montgomery Village and other unincorporated areas use the county permit office. We check the parcel first.

Many 1980s and 1990s townhouses still have their original 5-inch aluminum gutters with leaky seams and downspouts that dump water at the foundation. Gaithersburg's clay soils hold water, so that runoff ends up in basements and against slab edges.

On a reroof, we often replace gutters with 6-inch seamless gutters, add downspout extensions or tie into existing drains, and fix soft fascia while it's exposed. If the gutters are sound, gutter repair and resealing can carry them a few more years. Severe summer thunderstorms rolling down I-270 are a good test of whatever is up there.

We also look at where each downspout ends. On townhouse courts, a downspout often empties onto a shared walk or into the neighbor's patio, which turns into an ice sheet in January. Rerouting it a few feet costs little while the crew is already there.