Roofing in West Hartford, CT

Why do valleys, dormers and chimneys cause most West Hartford leaks?

A valley is the V where two roof slopes meet, and all the water from both slopes runs down it. On a gabled Tudor Revival house there may be several, plus a dormer on the upper floor and a chimney piercing the slope. Each of those joins is sealed with flashing, thin metal that is lapped under the shingles and over the masonry or siding.

Flashing does not last forever. It lifts, cracks at a seam or pulls from mortar as a house moves through freeze and thaw, and the leak that follows is usually a slow stain on a ceiling below a dormer or beside a chimney breast. Our flashing repair and chimney repair pages describe what a roofer checks at each of these spots.

Because those details are so numerous on a 1920s house, a leak often is not where the stain shows. Water can travel along a rafter before it drops. Describe what you see inside, tell the roofer which walls are exterior, and let them trace it from above.

What should a West Hartford homeowner ask before a full replacement?

Start with the permit. According to permit-guide listings, West Hartford requires a building permit for a roof replacement, and a full re-roof requires one under the 2022 Connecticut State Building Code in any case. Ask the roofer who applies for it, and confirm with the town building office. Minor repairs such as a few replaced shingles typically do not need one.

Next, ask what is on the roof now and what will go back. A 1920s house may have been re-covered, and asphalt shingles are limited to two layers (IRC R908.3). Ask whether the work will be a tear-off, how the roofer will handle the valleys and dormer joints, and whether the old flashing will be replaced rather than reused.

Finally, check registration. Connecticut issues no roofing licence, but contractors who do roofing on homes register as Home Improvement Contractors with the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection. Our guide to checking a roofer's registration walks through the CT eLicense lookup.

What does winter do to a steep Tudor Revival roof?

Steep pitches shed snow well, which is a point in their favor, but they also put snow where it cannot be seen from the street. A drift can slide off one slope and land on a lower roof, a porch or a dormer, and the load and the ice that follows are hard to spot until a ceiling shows a stain. West Hartford gets the same Hartford-area weather as everywhere else in the county, about 49 inches of snow in a year and January nights near 22 F.

Where a lower roof meets a taller wall, melting snow and ice collect in the corner and work under the shingles. Roofers call that a roof-to-wall junction, and on a cross-gabled house there may be four or five. If you find a stain in the corner of a ceiling after a thaw, that is the first place to point the roofer to.

A roof rake from the ground can take snow off a low roof. Do not go up a ladder onto a steep, icy surface, and do not hammer at ice near a dormer or valley, because that is how flashing gets bent. Read about heavy snow roof damage for the warning signs.

Is a West Hartford house old enough to count as historic?

Some are. The districts above are documented for their architecture, and a house built in 1915 or 1925 is a century old now. Whether a particular roof falls under any review is a question for the town, and it is worth asking before you pick materials. If you want a roofer who treats an older house with care, read about roofing for historic homes.