Roofing in Newton Centre and Chestnut Hill

Why do chimneys take so much of the roof work on older Newton Centre houses?

A brick chimney crosses the roof plane, so it needs flashing on all four sides: a base flashing that tucks under the shingles or slate, and counter-flashing set into the masonry above it. The mortar around the counter-flashing breaks down with age and freezing, the joint opens, and water follows the chimney inside the house.

The check is simple in principle. A roofer looks at the flashing, the mortar joints, the crown at the top of the chimney and the cricket, the small ridge that diverts water on the uphill side. Any one of those can be the entry point, and the stain on the ceiling is rarely directly below it.

The chimney flashing page explains the repair, and the flashing repair page covers valleys and wall joints, which fail for related reasons.

What do slate and metal cladding mean for a Chestnut Hill repair?

The Charles Noyes House on Chestnut Street, built in 1914, has roof slate and metal cladding over the eaves. That combination is worth noting because it shows two materials with different needs on one house. Slate is long-lived but brittle underfoot, and metal cladding depends on its seams and fasteners.

A roofer working on a roof like this has to avoid breaking slate while reaching the problem. Experienced crews use ladders or hooks that spread weight, and they carry replacement slate of the right size. Published guides give slate a life of 75 to 100 years or more, and they put replacement cost well above asphalt, so a repair that keeps sound slate often makes more sense than a replacement.

The slate guide goes through how to decide, including the cost figures the guides publish and where they disagree.

Roof shape matters as much as material. Stick-style and Craftsman houses have projecting eaves, brackets and gable ends, and every one of those edges needs drip edge, flashing and sound fascia boards. A roofer checking a repair should look at the edges, since water that runs off a worn eave can rot the board behind the gutter while the field looks fine.

What does a Newton permit ask of a Chestnut Hill roofer?

A full roof replacement in Newton needs a building permit, and one aggregator describes the city's Building Department as stricter than the standard model code. That is a hint to start early, not a measure of anything specific. Anything beyond that, such as fees and review times, should come from the department itself.

Massachusetts issues no roofing licence. Contractors doing work on homes register as Home Improvement Contractors with the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, and the building permit for roof work is normally pulled by the holder of a Construction Supervisor Licence issued by the Board of Building Regulations and Standards.

A house on the Chestnut Hill side of the line may be in Brookline or Boston rather than Newton, which changes the permit office. Confirm your town before you start. The permit guide lists the questions.