Historic Roof Restoration in Covington, LA
Old Covington's list of contributing buildings was re-sorted in the city's 2017 survey. A restoration here starts by finding out where your house landed, and by keeping the roof features that decide it.
When the Division of St. John was added to the National Register in 1982, the rule for sorting buildings was simple: built by 1930, it counted; built later, it was an "intrusion." The nomination does not appear to have asked whether an older house still looked like itself. The city's survey, with fieldwork conducted in November 2017 and a report issued in April 2018, revisited the district with that question in mind, and the answer shifted many houses in both directions.
For a homeowner planning a new roof, that matters more than the 1982 count. We work out of Mandeville, about 10 minutes from downtown Covington, and we start every historic roof restoration in the district by checking the address's status with the city.
Old Covington's Contributing List, Re-Sorted
The 1982 nomination never wrote down a period of significance. Because it labeled post-1930 buildings as intrusions, later reviewers assumed 1930 was the cutoff. The 2017 survey recommended running the period from 1813, the year the Division of St. John was planned, to 1967, fifty years before the fieldwork. Of the 71 buildings it found from between 1931 and 1970, it recommended 40 as contributing.
The survey also assessed integrity, which the 1982 nomination had not. Comparing its findings with the old list, it recommended moving 31 buildings from noncontributing to contributing and 32 from contributing to noncontributing, because they no longer kept enough of their historic character. Another 31 had been demolished since the listing. In all, it counted about 160 contributing buildings in the district, fewer than the 1982 figure.
Two cautions. These are a survey's recommendations to the city, and we have not confirmed that the National Register nomination was amended to match. And the survey recorded each building from the public right-of-way, with at least two photos and notes on materials, condition, and alterations, then handed the data to the city. So the first call goes to the city, to ask how your address is classified today. The Historic District Commission still reviews exterior changes there before the building permit is issued; that part has not changed.
How a Roof Job Can Tip a House Out of Contributing
The survey spelled out its test: alterations visible from the street affect integrity, and design, materials, and workmanship are the qualities most often worn away. On many houses, the roof is one of the biggest surfaces seen from the street, so it carries a lot of that weight.
One of the survey's own examples is a house from around 1925 that lost a dormer, gained a new door opening and had its porch changed. The historians found its front so altered that it could no longer be placed in any architectural style, and they recommended it as noncontributing. On the other side of the ledger, a 1930-era bungalow with replaced siding and porch parts stayed contributing because the overall look of its front held, and a 1913 commercial building stayed contributing through decades of tenants, its roofline and main entrance still in place.
On the roof, that means dormers that leak get reflashed and their cheeks repaired, not removed to simplify the roof. Pitch, ridge height, hips and gables, eave depth and porch roofs go back as they were. Where a house had a material visible from the street, we treat a switch to something else as a question for the commission, since materials are among the qualities the survey says visible alterations wear away.
Before tear-off, we document the roof: drone images of every slope and close photos of the dormers, eaves, and porch roofs. That record shows the commission what is there now, and it shows you later that the roof went back the way it came off.
Keeping an Old Metal Roof Painted
Where an older Covington house still has a metal roof, the city's design manual is specific about keeping it. It asks for three things:
Keep the paint on:
The manual calls for metal roofs and cornices to be kept painted to prevent rust. Bare or chalking spots on the pans, seams, and fastener heads are where that upkeep has slipped.
Use an iron-oxide, oil-base paint:
That is the type the manual names as appropriate on historic metal, so it is the type to look for on any repaint quote.
Skip asphalt and aluminum coatings:
The manual says asphalt-based paints and aluminum paints should not be used on historic metals. Those are the black and silver roof coatings sold as quick fixes, and they have no place on a district roof.
Where a metal roof is past saving, the replacement profile and finish become a commission question, and our photos of the existing panels, seams, and edge details go with it. Seeing the old roof in the file makes it easier to judge how close a new profile comes.
Covington Survey and Status Questions
Our Old Covington house went up after World War II. Could it count as contributing?
Under the 1982 framing, it would have been an intrusion. The 2017 survey recommended a period running to 1967, so a postwar house that kept its character may have been recommended as contributing. The city can tell you how it is treated now.
The front dormer leaks every heavy rain. Can it come off when we reroof?
We would advise against it. A removed dormer was one of the alterations that led to a noncontributing recommendation in the survey. Rebuilt step and counterflashing, new cheek work, and a sound saddle can often stop that leak while keeping the dormer.
Our house was listed as contributing in 1982. Can we assume it still is?
No. The survey recommended removing 32 buildings from that list after visible alterations were made. Ask the city before planning around the old status.
We live in the Division of Spring. Is our roof under district review?
The survey recommended that the city consider making the Division of Spring a local historic district with its own design standards. We have not confirmed that it was adopted, so check with the city before assuming either way.
How is a reroof in the district priced?
Our published $13,000–$23,000 range is for a standard asphalt reroof of a 2,000–2,500 sq ft home, and district work can run above it. Each district roof, asphalt or metal, gets its own quote once we have measured it and the city has confirmed the house's status.
Who submits the roofing information to the Historic District Commission?
We prepare it and submit it for you: the roof photos and the written scope with each product and color named. You sign wherever the form calls for the owner; we go over the package with you before it goes in, and the decision stays with the commission.
Check the Address, Then the Roof
Call 225-396-8122 with your Old Covington address. The estimate is free, the consultation requires no deposit, and the written estimate with photos is returned within 2–5 business days. A Covington house outside the district needs no commission review, so its work is an ordinary roof repair in Covington or roof replacement in Covington, like the rest of our roofing in Covington.
137 Girod Street, Suite 3, Mandeville, LA 70448