Victorian roof repair and rambler reroofs in Kensington (20895)

The oldest part of Kensington grew up around the railroad station in the 1890s, and many of those houses still have wraparound porches, corner towers and tall, steep roofs. Some wear slate, some painted wood shingles, and many have standing seam or flat-seam metal on the porches. Each of these materials needs a roofer who will repair it rather than reach for the nearest substitute.

Because this core is under local historic review, changes you can see from the street, like switching materials or altering a porch roof, may need approval before work starts. Repairs in kind usually move faster. We help you find out what applies to your address, prepare photos and material samples if a submission is needed, and pull the county permit for full replacements.

Turret caps and conical roofs are hard to reach and easy to neglect. When the cap flashing or the finial loosens, water runs straight down the center post into the room below. We rebuild these with copper or matching metal, cutting each piece to the curve.

Most Victorian porch roofs here are low-slope metal, painted many times over. Small rust spots and open seams can be cleaned, soldered or sealed and repainted for a modest cost. When the metal is rusted through in several places, or the decking underneath has gone soft, we replace the panels with new standing seam or a membrane depending on the slope.

The wall where the porch roof meets the house is where most porch leaks start. We open the siding just enough to install proper step and counter flashing, then close it up so the paint lines match. Our porch roof repair work covers posts and beam ends that have taken water too.

Away from the station, Kensington looks quite different. Neighborhoods built after the war along and around Connecticut Avenue are lined with brick ramblers and one-and-a-half story Capes, many on their second or third roof. These roofs fail in predictable ways: curled tabs on the south slopes, cracked pipe boots and leaks around the chimney.

Cape Cods often have hot, poorly vented upper floors because the knee walls and short attics leave little room for air to move. During a reroof we can add soffit intake and a ridge vent, and our attic ventilation page explains how that keeps shingles from cooking. Most ramblers take a single day to reroof once the material is on site.

Two existing layers mean a full tear-off, not a third layer. We check the decking under every sheet we remove and replace any soft boards before the underlayment goes down.

Kensington sits close to Rock Creek Park, and old oaks, maples and poplars cover most of the town. Leaf loads in fall are heavy enough that open gutters fill in a single week, and the overflow soaks porch ceilings and basement walls. On the most shaded houses, gutter guards cut down on cleaning trips, and larger 6-inch gutters handle storm water better than the old 5-inch runs.

Heavy shade also keeps north slopes damp, which grows moss on shingles and wood. We clean it gently and talk through trimming branches before the next reroof.