Architectural shingle roofs and skylight work in Vienna (22180)

The original Vienna houses near Church Street and the W&OD Trail are mostly brick or frame ramblers and Cape Cods from the 1950s and 1960s. Their roofs are simple, but many have been overlaid at least once, and their attics were built with little thought for airflow.

When we reroof one of these homes, we strip both layers, fix any soft decking, and install architectural shingles over synthetic underlayment with ice and water membrane at the eaves. We add soffit intake if the house has none and finish with a shingle-over ridge vent. The result looks sharper from the street and runs cooler in summer.

Many of these ramblers also have a low-slope roof over a back porch or a converted carport that was finished with roll roofing decades ago. That roofing cracks along its laps and leaks into the room below. We replace it with a fully adhered membrane, flash it into the house wall and slope it toward a gutter so water stops pooling at the threshold.

The large new homes going up around Vienna often have steep roofs, several valleys, shed dormers and low-slope sections over front porches or rear decks. They also tend to have skylights, sometimes three or four on a single slope. Those skylights are one of the first places we see leaks, usually at the head flashing or from a failed seal in the glass.

Builders under schedule pressure sometimes skip the step flashing kit that comes with the skylight and rely on sealant instead. We pull the surrounding shingles, install the manufacturer's flashing kit with an underlayment collar, and replace the unit if the glass has fogged. Our skylight repair crew carries common curb sizes on the truck.

Shed dormers on these houses deserve the same attention. Their sidewalls are tall, the roof above them is often shallow, and the siding sometimes sits right on the shingles with no gap. We pull the siding back, install step flashing and a kickout, and leave a clearance so the trim can dry out after rain.

• Drips at the top corners of a skylight shaft
• Fog or condensation trapped between the panes
• Stains on drywall below a shed dormer
• Shingles curling at the edge of a porch roof

For most homes here, a laminated architectural shingle with algae resistance is the sensible choice. Vienna's mature trees shade a lot of roofs, and the dark streaks that show up on north slopes are algae feeding on limestone filler. Copper or zinc granules in algae-resistant shingles slow that down.

On newer homes with steep front gables, some owners want the look of a heavier designer shingle or even standing seam metal on porch roofs and bay windows. We walk you through samples on your driveway in daylight, since colors look different in the sun than on a screen.

Vienna is a town inside Fairfax County, and permits for roofing can involve the town as well as the county. We confirm requirements before starting a full replacement. Streets near Vienna Elementary and the Maple Avenue shops get busy at school drop-off, so we time deliveries around that.

Our crews reach Vienna from both offices, and the town is close to McLean, Oakton and Tysons. When a summer storm drops a limb, call (202) 771-7443 at any hour.