Replacing your roof is “like going to war with your house,” says
Jeffrey Fick, of Fick Brothers Roofing. You heard it here first: Dust,
debris, and noise will invade your life, and your landscaping will
likely get a bit, um, trampled.

Storing things in your attic? Those old baseball cards are probably
going to be covered in dust by the end of this thing. Think about it.
The homestead’s helmet, the lid that has protected you, your paint, your
plaster, your belongings, and your wiring through rain, snow, wind,
and sun, is going to be torn off, completely exposing your ceilings for
hours at a time. Once that lid is ripped off, the roofer may discover
rotted lumber or a myriad of other problems, adding unpredictability to
the situation (as well as mounting costs). No easy walk in the park,
this business of replacing your roof.

Thoroughly depressed? There is good news: With advances in the
roofing industry, there’s no time like the present to replace your
roof, especially if you’ve been balking at the pricetag to replace your
current slate roof with the same authentic slate.

Slate, the lovely-looking material on many older homes in the
Baltimore area, imparts a historic look, but is also expensive. With the
variety of shingles on the market, there are plenty of options for
replacing your natural slate roof with a material that looks like slate,
but costs less.

If your neighborhood has historic requirements, you will likely have
to stick with slate, although some communities have approved slate
look-alikes. If slate it is, there are high- and low-quality slates.
Poor quality slate breaks easily under pressure (such as being walked on
by your gutter-cleaning guy) and is readily affected by environmental
conditions. In the winter, it can absorb water, freeze, and crack, so
aim for the best slate you can fit into your budget, but figure on the
job costing $30,000 to $50,000 for an average-sized four-bedroom
Colonial, for instance.

Though slate can be cut to any thickness, it varies in color and
quality, depending on which quarry it was mined in and the location of
that quarry. According to Don Katzenberger of S&K Roofing, a
mid-range slate will run about $1,200 a “square” installed (roofing
materials are sold by the square, with one square equal to 100 square
feet), and depending on quality, slate roofs can last from 60-200 years.
However, even with high-quality slate, there is a likelihood of
cracking under the weight of a fallen tree branch, or from environmental
conditions. Katzenberger says his minimum for slate repairs is $600,
so maintenance of slate can be costly.

No community restrictions? This is where your choices really open up.

Traditional “three-tab” asphalt shingles are not expensive, but are
falling out of favor, according to Ted Marcopolus, of GAF Materials
Corp. Taking their place are fiberglass asphalt shingles, which can
mimic the woodshake look, and synthetic designer shingles that look like
slate. Composed of an inner core of fiberglass that holds the shingle
together, and an outer layer of asphalt that provides waterproofing,
these shingles are then covered in colored ceramic mineral granules. The
slate-like look of the product is obtained through the combination of
the granules, the layering and thickness of the shingle, and the style
in which the shingle is cut. Like slate, fiberglass asphalt shingles
come in a variety of thicknesses, with the higher-end shingles cut
thicker.

GAF Materials Corp., for instance, has a high-end line of fiberglass
asphalt shingles that range in cut and color. Their high-end Camelot
product has an irregular cut and special shadowing to look like slate,
while the Country Mansion is scalloped, offering a choice of looks for
your roof.

Another major supplier, CertainTeed Corporation, carries an asphalt
shingle line that ranges from their high-end Luxury Shingle to their
Traditional Shingle lines. Grand Manor, part of the Luxury Shingle line,
costs about $400 per square installed, according to Katzenberger,
while Landmark Premium, which is still in the Luxury line and has a
“great architectural look,” runs about $300 per square, an enormous
savings over natural slate. Fiberglass asphalt shingles can also
resemble wood.

But one of the newest and hottest products is Symphony, also from
CertainTeed. It looks and feels like a thin, lightweight, sturdy piece
of plastic, yet resembles slate even more closely than, well, some
slate. The result of years of research and testing, it’s made of an
“innovative composite material,” says Tim Seidl, of CertainTeed. To
obtain a look as close to slate as possible, the product engineer for
Symphony went into quarries and picked out three slates he thought were
perfect, and then created the model for Symphony.

“Symphony is a new product but becoming very popular,” says Wayne
Roland, president of Roland Slate, which is one of the few firms in the
area that has completed projects with it. Roland, which does a lot of
roofing work on the older housing stock in Baltimore’s top
neighborhoods, also frequently uses the Tapco Group’s Inspire, a
green-building-approved product made from recyclable resins, when
clients want the look of real slate without the cost.

Symphony carries a 75-year warranty, is light-weight, has extreme
storm durability, has high wind-lift resistance, is fire-proof, and
won’t crack when walked on or hit by falling tree limbs, says Roland.
With CertainTeed’s “proven track record,” Roland sees Symphony as a
future market leader, and it has another advantage: It is much lighter
than many other types of shingles—225 pounds per square versus 425
pounds for CertainTeed’s heretofore popular Grand Manor fiberglass
shingle. And that means it can be uesd on newer houses with the less
substantial joists that are common to modern construction.

Katzenberger says the cost for putting Symphony on a home is about
$750 a square, more than asphalt shingles, yet a considerable cost
savings from natural slate for a product that is the closest to
resembling slate.

Industry standards for shingles include that they be fireproof,
withstand certain wind strengths, and meet tear and nail-withdrawal
tests. Many manufacturers have their products certified by Underwriters
Laboratories, so keep an eye out for that.

Replacing your roof may be like going to war with your home, but once
the dust has settled and the noise of metal ladders, pounding hammers,
and power tools has subsided, you’ll eventually end up the winner. All
the inconvenience will pay off with a long-lasting, terrific-looking
new roof.