The home was built in 1924, sits on a block of similar-vintage Mediterranean Revivals, and had been re-roofed exactly once since construction — in the 1960s, with asphalt. The current owners purchased it in 2023 with the intention of returning every element to its original specification, starting with the roof.
We were retained in early 2024 and closed the project in late 2025.
The salvage
Beneath the 1960s asphalt, we found roughly 70% of the original Vermont slate still in place, used as a substrate. Some had been broken during the asphalt installation; some had been displaced; some was intact and reusable.
We pulled every piece. Sorted on tarps in the yard. Cataloged for grade and color. Eighty-six percent passed our reuse criteria. Fourteen percent was set aside for landscape gravel — the owner's idea, and a good one.
The fourteen percent that needed sourcing
Vermont slate from the 1920s was quarried from one of three then-active quarries. Two of those quarries still operate. The matching slate came from the second of them; the color call was made by holding a fresh slate against a salvaged piece in shaded daylight. The fresh material was a shade lighter; we expected it to weather into match within five years.
The detailing
- Hip and ridge: original lead-coated copper, salvaged and reset
- Valleys: new copper, matching the originals' profile
- Flashings at chimneys and dormers: new copper, hand-formed to match the originals' lines
- Underlayment: full Polyglass system; no original underlayment remained
- Deck: re-nailed; original 1x8 board sheathing was overlaid with 1/2" plywood per current code
What took the most care
The compound hip at the entry tower. Three slate slopes met at a single peak, with the original 1924 lead-coated copper finial still attached. We removed the finial, cleaned it, and reset it on the new copper hip caps. The finial is original. Everything beneath it is new.
What we left alone
The chimney brickwork. The original masonry was sound; we coordinated a separate brick repointing scope rather than tear anything down. Coordination cost us about four weeks of schedule but produced a chimney that looks like 1924 because it is 1924.
Total project arc
- Discovery: 4 weeks
- Inspection and salvage planning: 3 weeks
- Slate sorting and reuse cataloging: 6 weeks
- Deck repair, re-nailing, underlayment: 5 weeks
- Field installation: 14 weeks
- Chimney coordination and closeout: 4 weeks
Total: about 9 months, with significant overlap of phases.
Why this matters
These homes are the architectural backbone of pre-Depression Tampa. Returning one to its original roof specification preserves something that cannot be remanufactured — including the patina that the 1924 slate has carried for a hundred years. The owner is the seventh owner of the house. The slate is on its second installation. We hope the third is in 2125.
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