Westport Coastal Residence

THE PROJECT

A roof shaped by the house.

At this Westport residence, slate roofing meets a succession of gables, dormers, chimneys and lower metal roofs. Maultz’s work brings the slate and architectural metalwork together across those changing forms.

A roof like this asks more of the installer than a broad, uninterrupted slope. Each change in direction introduces another edge, junction or cut. The work has to hold together at the scale of the whole house and at the smallest meeting of materials.

SLATE LAYOUT

Consistency through complexity.

The character of a slate roof comes from its individual pieces: their color, texture and arrangement in courses. Across this house, that pattern continues around dormers and through roof sections of different sizes.

For a homeowner considering slate, the layout deserves as much thought as the material selection. The courses must be resolved where slopes narrow, where a dormer interrupts the field and where one roof meets another. Those decisions determine how naturally the new work belongs to the architecture.

ARCHITECTURAL METALWORK

The curves matter, too.

The entry roof introduces a different kind of detail: standing seams running into a curved eave. Its shape calls for metalwork fitted to the building, with the panel layout carried through the hips and changing roof profile.

Our slate and sheet-metal capabilities belong together on projects like this. They allow the main roof, entry and porch areas to be considered as parts of the same architectural work, with careful attention to their connections.

BEHIND THE FINISH

The preparation is part of the roof.

The work progressed through roof preparation, underlayment and slate installation, with scaffold platforms providing access around the house. On a roof with this many separate sections, access and the sequence of installation are substantial parts of the job.

When planning a reroof, ask about more than the visible covering. How will the crew reach the work? How will the roof sections be coordinated? How will the slate and metal details meet? Those are the conversations that turn a material choice into a considered roofing project.

BUILT AROUND THE DETAILS

One home.
Many individual decisions.

This project brings together the parts of roofing that need to work in concert: slate coursing, dormers, valleys, chimney junctions and formed metal roofs. It is the kind of work where experience with both slate and sheet metal makes a practical difference.

If your home has a roof that is difficult to simplify into a standard installation, we would welcome the opportunity to look at it with you.