Property transferrs p. B10
June 17, 2020
Homes
Powered by the Oak Park Area Association of Realtors
Old homes, new roofs Photo provided by the homeowner
NATURAL CHOICE: The owner of this Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home on Fair Oaks Avenue in Oak Park surmised that the roof was originally topped with cedar shingles and chose that material to complement the building’s historic Prairie-style design
Historic materials give new roofs old-world feel By LACEY SIKORA
W
Contributing Reporter
hen many of the historic homes in Oak Park and River Forest were built over 100 years ago, they were roofed with slate, wood or tile shingles. Asphalt roofing products gained popularity for the lower price and ease of install, and today, most homes in the area sport replacement asphalt roofs. Slate and wood roofs are typically more expensive than asphalt shingles. The website roofingcalc.com, which estimates roofing costs, reports that asphalt roofs can cost between $3.50 and $5.50 per square foot installed. Compare that with ranges of $6.50 to $12.50 to install a square foot of wood shingles and from $12.50 to $25 per
square foot of slate installed. While part of the expense is the material, labor for installation is also steep due to the time-consuming nature of installing the natural products. Despite the cost and the time involved, many old-house lovers find that retaining the architectural integrity of their homes makes it all worth it. In the 400 block of North Kenilworth Avenue, the E.E. Roberts-designed Simpson Dunlop house is getting a new slate roof courtesy of Ryan Restorations. Dan Ryan, a former Marine who has been working with historic roofs for over 20 years, says the home’s steeplypitched roof makes its installation a bit more challenging, but he notes this is the kind of work his team is trained to do. The 1896-era house had a slate roof when Ryan was brought in, but he notes that it was falling apart. He says of his inspection of the existing roof, “We could see the back side of the roof from the attic. The tar paper was gone.” A lot of preparation goes into replacing a slate roof. Ryan describes first creating custom box gutters and tying in the
gutter system to run under the tar paper and ice and water shield protections before the roofing can begin. When it comes to the slate itself, each tile of slate is 7.5 inches long, but each slate piece is 18 inches long, and Ryan says that the part of the shingle you don’t see when it is installed functions to keep water out. His workers set up a customized scaffolding system to carry the heavy material up to the roof and then use a human chain to pass them along for installation. Each slate is hand-nailed into place with two copper nails. On the Simpson-Dunlop house, each section of roof calls for 2,400 slates and 4,800 nails. All of this customization does not come cheap. “Slate and copper are expensive,” Ryan said. “Labor is expensive, and then you have insurance because there is risk with going up on a roof.” To Ryan, paying that higher cost is worth it for the high quality of the work that goes into installing a slate roof. See ROOFING on page B4
June 17, 2020 ■ Wednesday Journal/Forest Park Review
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