Michael Haight is a DaVinci convert. The president of Larry Haight's Residential Roofing out of Redmond, Washington recently installed his first DaVinci simulated shake roofing system ... and he firmly believes it won't be his last one.

The recent Mill Creek, Washington re-roofing project provided Larry Haight's Residential Roofing the opportunity to install DaVinci Roofscapes synthetic cedar shake roofing tiles to replace worn-out natural cedar shakes.

"Many homeowners in our area are tired of the continued maintenance involved with real cedar shake roofs," says Haight. "This was the same situation with our Mill Creek customer. They wanted to keep the cedar shake look without going back to real cedar roofing."

Haight and his team have specialized in residential roofing for more than 29 years, so they've dealt with cedar roofing issues in the past. "As with many other homeowners, this particular homeowner decided to replace their roof because the old material was worn out and they didn't want any leaks.," says Haight. "At the same time they decided to install eight new skylights and new gutters. This was a dream project working with the realistic-looking DaVinci Multi-Width Shake polymer roofing tiles."

DaVinci Multi-Width Shake displays the texture of natural cedar shake with a deep-grained surface. Available in 9", 8", 7", 6" and 4" widths along with a virtually limitless color palette, the multi-width fake shake product features both wavy and straight grains throughout the blend for an authentic appearance. Multiple widths of the 5/8" profile on the shake alternative tiles help create a more natural, non-repeating appearance that can be laid in either a straight or staggered pattern.

For their roof, the Mill Creek homeowners chose to modify the standard DaVinci Tahoe blend to create a custom color blend that includes dark, medium dark, medium light and light Tahoe colors. The earthy combination complements the home's brick exterior and tree-covered setting.

According to the non-profit organization, The Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau, the longevity of a roof depends on many things: the grade and quality of the product used, the quality of the application, climate, salt-water proximity, exposure and maintenance. The bureau estimates the live span for natural cedar roofs is approximately 30+ years if well maintained. With no maintenance requirements, synthetic shake roofs from DaVinci are backed by a 50-year limited warranty.   

"This particular roofing project has generated a lot of leads for our company," says Haight. "I think we've got a win-win situation going here for homeowners in our area. Between the impressive warranty that comes with the DaVinci product and our company's lifetime workmanship warranty on all re-roof and gutter installs, the combination brings peace-of-mind to our customers."

Each DaVinci eco friendly roof shingle is lightweight, impervious to freeze/thaw cycles, impact resistant, maintenance free, color fade resistant, Class A fire rated (with specified underlayments), UL 2218 Class 4 impact rated, and wind resistant to 110 mph. All DaVinci plastic roofing materials resist water absorption, which eliminates freeze-thaw issues and allows for installation in most weather conditions.

See Four Shake Profiles - What's the Difference?for detailed information on DaVinci simulated shake roofing options.     

Have you heard? DaVinci Roofscapes makes it so easy to add color to your roof, it's like having crayons for your home!

A quick visit to the online DaVinci Color Studio puts "roofing crayons" at your fingertips. Here you can see the 49 unique colors available for DaVinci polymer roof tiles, view standard color blend options plus make up your own personal signature roofing color blend.

The Color Designer tool allows you to customize your synthetic roof color palette with two, three, four or even five colors (depending on the profile you select)! Just click and play until you create the roof color blend that you think will look best on your home. And, if you're "color challenged" we have national color expert Kate Smith's two color guidebooks available for free downloading on this site too!

As the television commercials often say, "but wait ... there's more!" At the DaVinci Color Studio you can ask Kate personal color questions about your roof, watch a video on composite roof color selections and even learn how you can request a custom "just for me" color be created for your DaVinci luxury roof!

Don't Let Color Be Confusing  ... it all starts with a quest for color and a visit to the DaVinci Color Studio ... so get started!

The challenge of opening a restaurant is to make sure that the food and service are great on the inside ... and that the building's outside is inviting and appealing.

At Captain George's Seafood Restaurant in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, the owners got both inside and outside elements right. The 400-seat buffet-style restaurant features mouthwatering seafood options enclosed by a structure built to withstand severe weather while having a welcoming design.

The 12,100-square-foot on the North Carolina Outer Banks is protected by an impact-resistant shake alternative roof from DaVinci Roofscapes. Tested to withstand hurricane-force weather conditions, the polymer roofing tiles also resist fire, rot, moisture and insects.

“We sleep better at night knowing that the roof on this restaurant was a smart investment to protect our business,” says Sherry Pitsilides, co-owner of Captain George’s Seafood Restaurant. “With the unpredictable weather we see on the coast, we wanted to make sure to have a roof that would safeguard our guests, employees and business if conditions got bad. The 50-year warranty on the product brings us peace-of-mind and a good night’s sleep at the end of a busy day.”

Up the coast in Hazlet, New Jersey, Yesterday's Restaurant received a new DaVinci slate alternative roof in 2010 after a late-night fire destroyed the family-owned southern Italian and American cuisine restaurant.

“I picked out the slate gray Bellaforté roof because it had the look I was going for that matched up with the stone and stucco siding features we added to the building after the renovation,” says Vinny Spalliero, owner of the Bayshore community restaurant. “The polymer roof is a nice, durable product and the fire resistant benefit gives us all added peace-of-mind.

“What really clicked for us was that the DaVinci roofing products are backed by a 50-year limited warranty. That means that these tiles will hold up perfectly through the next generation of our family that operates this restaurant.”

For more details on the re-launch of Yesterday's Restaurant visit Family-Owned Businesses Work Together in Fire Aftermath.

As I come up on my 10th Anniversary here at DaVinci, I no longer feel like I am talking about anything new. For years I have been discussing color blends, impact ratings, installation details and everything else that goes into selling our polymer slate and shake roof tiles. A few years ago somebody (oddly I remember the saying, but can't remember who said it) told me, "What's new to you, is new to them (your customers), but also what's old to you is new to them." This resonated with me, and so for the 4th week where I discuss common objections (click here to read week 1, week 2 or week 3), I wanted to touch on our history within the category of composite roofing. 

When we started developing this product in the mid 1990s, we decided to use injection molding techniques using one of the most stable types of materials: An Engineered Polyethylene (polymer) Resin System. At that time lightweight roofing tiles comprised of a variety of materials, but made to look like slate, wasn't anything new. Products made of fiber cement and other materials had been around for years, and some had met success and others...not so much.  According to Tim Gentry, VP of Technical Services and a developer of the DaVinci Slate and Shake products, "That knowledge [of other product's successes and failures] along with new technologies allowed us to create the highly engineered polymer system and the unique injection molding color system we use today." 

So when people ask, which they do, how long the product has been on the market and what it is made of, I feel good about discussing our history which dates back more than 15 years, and how the quality of our process and our polymers has allowed us to expand from one product line to seven in under a decade, and we that have roofs up in all 50 States, Canada and some pretty exciting international projects to boot. 

Click here to go to our free, online continuing education course which goes even more in-depth on the composition, testing methods and features and benefits of our polymer roof systems.

Click here to read Tim Gentry's blog on the history of synthetic slate roof shingles. 

Happy Friday, Architects!

Ah, February. It may be the shortest month of the year, but it's long on special celebrations.

There's no other month that is dedicated to grapefruit, potato lovers and candy (or, our personal favorite, "Return Your Shopping Cart to the Supermarket" Month). But, if celebrating a month of canned food, umbrellas and chocolate is too much for you to take, then we suggest you select a few specialty days, like February 4, which is Homemade Soup Day or February 15, which is National Sea Monkey Day.

Sure, you can mark more traditional occasions like Super Bowl Sunday on the 2nd, Valentine's Day on the 14th or even the start of the XXII Olympics on February 7. However, wouldn't you have more fun offering a pat on the back to your local weather person on February 5th for National Weather Forecaster's Day or even dedicating yourself to National Pancake Week starting on the 14th?

If all else fails, make sure to circle February 11th in red on your calendar. That's National Inventor's Day ... and at DaVinci, we'll be celebrating the creation of our plastic slate and shake shingles on that day (and on the 22nd, which is National Margarita Day!).

Need assistance picking out colors before we order.

Jordan Brody
Philadelphia, PA

Product:DaVinci Slate

******************************************************************************************************************************************

Dear Mr. Brody,

I have looked at the pictures of the church in Philadelphia, PA and have these recommendations:

The DaVinci Multi-width Slate is an excellent solution to replace the roof on this style and age building.

The current roof appears to blend with the stone rather than standing out in high contrast. I recommend that you continue with the same balance of values and colors.

In the photographs the stones appear to be light brown with warm red undertones. The grout between the stones appears to be a mid-tone gray. Taking those two factors into consideration I recommend that you go with an overall blend that is a few steps darker than the stone and at least as dark if not darker in value than the grout.

You do not want the pattern on the roof to compete with the texture of the stone for visual attention. Make sure that the overall blend of colors appears darker than the stone and also appears to have less pattern. You can do this by choosing tile colors that are closer in value and allow the VariBlend-blend technology to give the roof color variations that are more subtle and natural.

The two blends of colors that I'd like you to look at are: 

Medium and Dark Tahoe- leans more brown

Medium, Medium Dark and Dark Mountain- leans more gray

I believe either will work beautifully. If the building is as it appears on my screen I prefer the Mountain blend but the best way to know for certain is to look at your sample on site.

I hope this explanation and recommendations are helpful. I'll look forward to seeing this classic church with its new roof.

Sincerely,

Kate Smith
DaVinci Roofscapes Color Expert

Looking for some great tips for installing DaVinci polymer roofing tiles? People always ask me for tried-and-true hints for better installation. So, here are a few key points to keep in mind:

#1 - Install snowguards during the roof installation rather than retrofitting them later. It's easier to get snowguards in place when the DaVinci roof  tiles are initially installed than going back in a year or two and fitting them in place.

#2 - Be careful with your chalk lines. Blue chalk is probably the better choice over red or black (red chalk will almost certainly permanently stain our tiles). When it says "permanent chalk" on the bottle, you should believe it. And the big hint when installing DaVinci composite roofing tiles in a staggered application is to snap lines on the underlayment and then lay the tips of the tiles to those lines rather than marking the synthetic roofing materials.

#3 - Try using a rake tile on gable ends when installing the Bellaforté Shake products. It makes these luxury roof tiles easier to install because you don't need to be too concerned with how precise your cuts are on the gable end --- the rake tile covers up all the cuts. And, if you install the rake tile with the optional screw in the butt of the tile (on the fascia side) you will definitely enhance wind performance.

#4 - Avoid wasteful tile cuts for valleys by finding the correct angle and then cutting your polymer tiles with a circular saw. Then use all the accurate valley cuts and use the leftovers to finish the hips.

#5 - Nail DaVinci steep slope roofing tiles with copper, stainless steel, or hot-dipped galvanized nails during installation. The reason for this recommendation is that we expect our synthetic roofing tiles to last for a very long time (yes, a 50-year roof is what we hope every project achieves!) and we don’t want the fasteners to rust, become ineffective, and be the mode of failure of the Class A Fired Rated roofing system.

For more "Tips from Tim" visit Solving Roof Issues with Tim Gentry Part Oneand Top Installation Tips from Our Tech Guru!

The team at Complete Flashings, Inc. in Bensenville, Illinois has noticed a growing trend in their marketplace --- homeowners are moving away from real cedar shake and heavy slate tiles and embracing polymer roof tiles from DaVinci.

“We did one reroof project recently in Wheaton where the homeowner loved their original cedar shake roof but not the dry, brittle look it acquired as it aged on the house,” says Mark Rosal of Complete Flashings, Inc. “Their roof was old and definitely needed to be replaced. When we suggested the Bellaforté Shake in the Espresso color they were very excited because it meets all their needs for both the authentic look of cedar plus the ability to stay ‘fresh looking’ for many years.

“We’ve installed several other synthetic DaVinci roof products on homes in our area during the past few years and every homeowner has been exceptionally pleased. We see these polymer roofs as a real ‘player’ in the future as homeowners are looking for unique roofing options that give them long-term low-maintenance and peace-of-mind from potential storm damage.”

In business for 13 years, Complete Flashings, Inc. recently became part of the DaVinci Masterpiece Contractor Program. “The introduction of the affordable Bellaforté product line has opened the door for new business for us in our area,” says Rosal, whose company services all of Illinois. “We’re aggressively promoting the product line and have several pending projects that we’re excited to get started!”

Our homes provide a haven to satisfy a craving for a space to think and a place to renew. Having all five senses bombarded continuously has created a deep craving within for silence and an environment that conveys harmony and calm. There is sense of silence and quiet in deep gray, muted plum and smokey teal. There is an elegance to colors that have been toned way down so that what remains is the essence of the color rather than the chroma.

Any color family is fair game for your exterior when you long for the look of quiet elegance. If I suggested purple as the main color for a home many people would probably cringe. That is because what often springs into their head something that looks like grape soda or Barney.

Tone purple way down to just this side of gray and you have a completely different color. Sherwin-Williams Color of the Year SW 6263 Exclusive Plum is a grayed purple that shows just how beautiful purple can be. A color like this has a more personalized look then gray and pairs wonderfully with gold, bronze or brown. It also provides a wonderful ground color.

Take It From The Top Down

DaVinci Roofscapes slate tiles always add instant elegance to a home but you might want to consider blends that include tones of red, purple, violet or green mixed with grays or browns to add a touch of subtle color starting at the top of the home. Going with a great roof is an especially good trick for adding appeal to a home that doesn't have many architectural details. 

Elegant Alternatives To Black

Give your front door the royal treatment. Instead of gray and black and try deep purple or plum instead. Quixotic Plum, an understated purple, gives instant personality to a neutral scheme. (image http://www.vivaciouslyvintage.com/)

Another option for front door, shutters or accents that can be even more elegant than black is to go with a deep complex neutral. Two of my current favorite colors that fall in this category and are on trend -- Sherwin-Williams Sealskin and Benjamin Moore Flint.

Quiet Elegance Palette

Other current neutrals are close to familiar neutrals but just slightly more interesting when you take a closer look. These are colors that are not so straight forward but rather have subtle nuances. This makes them more eye-catching and gives them the ability to play as a backdrop to just about any accent color, blend well with a wide mix of materials and play nicely together as a stand alone color story.

These trend colors have a quieter elegance but can still create a show-stopping scheme. Here are a couple of examples.

Here a muted mauve melds into the surroundings and barely whispers that it's in the purple family. For a look of understated elegance follow Lynne Rutter's lead by selecting colors of similar value and intensity. Lynne chose "a scheme using a muted split-complementary palette of mauve, green-grey, ochre, and rose, with hints of purple and peridot, and of course, some well-placed gold leaf. (image Lynne Ruitters)

Soft blue against a scheme pulled from the colors in the stone creates a quiet palette against the lush green that just invites you to come out and enjoy. (image Golightly Landscape Architecture)

As part of this trend even complementary schemes have a less intense feel. The blue-green main color gently contrasts with the red-orange tones of the stone and wood-tones. (image Martha O'Hara Interiors)

Who Else Is Talking About This Trend

Sherwin-Williams 2014 Color Trends Palette "Curiosity" Includes Many Of These Colors

You can also see a range of colored neutrals in the Pittsburgh Paint 2014 Color Trends Report that have these same qualities.

Rather than asking you to push your color boundaries, this trend allows you to wrap your home in timeless, toned down hues. So if your spirit seeks solitude and your design sense seeks an upscale, elegant look this trend will satisfy both.

For additional information on 2014 color trends, visit A Simple Guide to Exterior Color Trends 2014 | Take A New Look At Blue. Stay tuned over the next few weeks to see more 2014 color trends!

From Mohawk Avenue elementary school in New Jersey to the Sara Bea Learning Center at Notre Dame, DaVinci Roofscapes polymer roofs can be found on school campuses across the country.

“Dozens of schools nationwide have selected DaVinci’s low-maintenance polymer roof tiles due to their aesthetic appeal and 50-year limited warranty,” says Ray Rosewall, president and CEO of DaVinci Roofscapes. “The long-lasting slate and shake tile shingles we manufacture can be found on the roofs at Willard Elementary School in Ridgewood, New Jersey, the dormitories at St. Joseph University in Philadelphia and on the Trinity Pawling School in Pawling, New York.

“These dependable Class A Fire Rated roofs are especially popular at colleges and universities for new construction projects like dormitories and classroom buildings. You’ll find fire-resistant DaVinci roofs on structures at Princeton College, Colorado State University, Southeast Missouri State University, Mount St. Mary’s and the College of New Jersey.”

At the State University of New York (SUNY) campus in Canton, New York, there are eight buildings that create the Smith and Mohawk Residences which house 850 students. Each dormitory features a mansard roof of DaVinci Slate roofing tiles in the European Blend color that reaches from the top of the buildings down more than four stories to the lawn below.

And, at the Mohawk Avenue School in New Jersey, 100-year old slate tiles had to be replaced after years of service. “We specialize in authentic historic design roofing work and this project totally fit our capabilities,” says Boyd with CM Boyd Authentic Design, the team that installed 198 squares of DaVinci tiles in the European blend color. “I knew as soon as we replaced that roof it would completely transform the look of the school. The authenticity of the polymer roofing tiles we used is one of the best advances I’ve witnessed in this industry.”

For more details on schools with DaVinci synthetic slate and shake roofing overhead, visit "Fighting Irish" Fan of DaVinci Polymer Slate Roof, School House Roofsand From the Architect's Corner - Specifying DaVinci On a College or University.

The great thing about this blog is that we can regularly feature projects so that we almost always have a project to point to when somebody calls and says, "Do you have any examples of ____________ (fill in the blank) that you can show me?". So we can definitely check the next four Featured Projects off the list - a historic clock tower, a residential project using the very colorful Vineyard Blend, a roof in Oklahoma that needs to stand up to the highest wind and impact standards, and a Bellaforté Shake roof that was a natural cedar shake tear off project. 

Featured Project - Vail, CO

Click here to read how this luxury roof tile has transformed the Vail Village skyline. 

Featured Project - Des Moines, IA

Click here to read about this project and the phases it took to complete the job. 

Featured Project - Greenwood Village, CO

Click here to read about this natural shake tear off and re-roof project in Colorado. 

Featured Project - Oklahoma

Click here to read about this impact resistant roof in Oklahoma. 

To see more of our projects, visit our media room and browse through our project profiles.

Happy Friday, Architects! 

For some, there might be something magical about the icicles dangling from the eaves of a snow-clad house like something out of a children's book. However, while icicles might look attractive to some, they clearly indicate that something bad is happening under the snow.

According to roofing experts, icicles are a harmful byproduct of an 'ice dam' on the roof or eaves. Ultimately, these ice dams can cause several problems including:

• rotted roofs
• ruined insulation
• peeling paint
• mold
• moisture on the inner walls

Ice dams develop when the temperature in the attic is much warmer than the outside temperature caused by improper roof ventilation and inadequate insulation. When the roofing tile, like synthetic slate roof tile, on the top is warm, it will melt snow, but as it reaches the eaves which are cold, the water from the melting snow will freeze in the gutters and cause an ice dam and icicles.

Ice dams can cause serious damage to your roof and home, so you cannot ignore them. One way to prevent ice buildup is to keep your attic temperature close to the outside temperature as possible. Make sure you attic is properly ventilated and insulated.

For these and more roofing tips, please visit our blog.

When Paul Simon wrote and recorded his famous song "Slip Slidin' Away" in 1977 he wasn't thinking about snow on roofs --- but we are! That's why the experts at DaVinci Roofscapes always recommend that if you live in snow-prone areas that you talk with your contractor about having snow guards installed when installing one of our composite slate or synthetic shake roofs. The final decision to install snow guards rests with you, but we recommend you discuss the need on your home with your contractor.

While snow tends to slide off all roofs, it's more likely to slide off metal, natural slate, glazed tile and polymer tiles (like our DaVinci roofs). Why is that? Because our DaVinci imitation slate and shake alternative roofing products have smooth surfaces and don't absorb water. This means that snow and ice have no place to "grip" as they might on some other types of roofing products.

So, when snow begins to melt from a warm attic underneath the roof, the snow blanket on top of the roof may slide off all at once. To help prevent this roof avalanche from occurring at your home, make certain to have snow guards installed when getting a new DaVinci roof.

There are a few different types of snow guards, some are rails and some are small pieces that stick up on the roof a few inches. All are intended to break the pattern of snow as it melts, helping to prevent sheets of snow and ice from coming down. Usually snow guards are installed on the lower eaves of roof, especially over walkways, decks and driveways where sliding snow might land on people or property.

To learn more about snow guards, visit What Are Snowguards and Why Are They Necessary?and Guarding Your Home.

If you’re thinking about replacing the roof on your home, make sure to invest as much time in finding a qualified roofing contractor as you do in selecting the right luxury roof for your house.

Locating the right roofing contractor may be easier than you think. Along with the traditional ways of locating installers, such as the Yellow Pages and searching businesses online, here are some fast and easy recommendations from the experts at DaVinci Roofscapes to help you find qualified installers in your area:

Tip #1– Talk with the manufacturer and find out if they have a list of installers who have installed their product. If you're installing a polymer slate or shake roof from DaVinci, you'll find that members of our DaVinci Masterpiece Contractors Program are even more familiar with our composite roof products. Make the "Locate a Contractor" button on the DaVinci website your first stop if you plan to have a lightweight roofing system made of durable simulate slate or shake roofing installed on your home.

Tip #2– Ask your local lumberyards, distribution centers and building product dealerships for recommendations on quality roofing installers in your area ... especially those that have experience installing green roof systems and imitation slate shingles. You can also ask architects and general contractors if they have a recommendation for a roofer they feel does exceptional work.

Tip #3– Visit a website like 1800contractor.com, Home Advisor or Angie’s List. Let them match you up with installers in your specific geographic area to receive installation quotes. And, make sure to check the Better Business Bureau and Chamber of Commerce for roofer listings in your area.

Tip #4– Ask family, friends and colleagues for recommendations of reputable roofers they’ve used in the past. Select those whose services have been stand-out top quality with your friends.

Tip #5 - Visit the National Roof Contractors Association (NRCA) website. In the "Consumers" section on the home page there's a "Find a Contractor" button where you can plug in your zip code to find an NRCA member roofer in your area. You'll also find other valuable information on this website regarding your roofing project.

Once you locate roofing contractors to interview, start by making sure the contractor is licensed and insured. Find out if the contractor warrants their work. Then, get a written bid for your project. Next, ask for references and then take the time to check them out. Finally, have a signed written contract outlining all aspects of the project.

Need more assistance? VisitWhy Choose a DaVinci Masterpiece Contractor?and How Do I Find a Contractor for Installation of My DaVinci Roof?

At DaVinci Roofscapes, we don't take it lightly when we proudly claim the title of "color leader in the polymer roofing industry." Not only do we offer 49 standard colors, but we allow you to custom create a designer roof blend using any of those colors.

To make your color selection experience easy, our popular online DaVinci Color Studio provides a Color Designer tool that allows you to click and see how different colors look together on our simulated slate and shake roofing products. You can create blends from two to five colors and keep trying different combinations until you find one that's right for your home. Best of all, you can then print out your color selections to share with family, friends and your roofing installer.

Not sure how to select color or looking for advice on the best color for your luxury roof? Then ask a professional --- Kate Smith, president and chief color maven at Sensational Color. You can send questions to Kate along with your home photos online and she'll respond with customized advice just for you.

The DaVinci Color Studio also provides tips for selecting color from the top down on your home along with a list of questions and answers to bring you "up to color speed" on selecting new 50-year roof for your home. And, if you'd like to make sure your home color selections complement the style of your house, just download the free "FRESH Color Schemes for Your Home Exterior" at our site. Here you'll find color guidance for seven different home styles, including Colonial, Ranch, Bungalow, Victorian, Spanish Mission, European and New American.

Start to finish, we know you'll be "over the roof" with our synthetic roof color offering AND our free DaVinci Color Studio services! And, if you need more color insights right now, just visit How Do I Choose the Right Composite Roofing Color for My Home?

New Year's Eve celebrations at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta had the popular theme of "Swing, Shag, Shuffle and Shake" during the early 1990s. The all-night event included music options to match the mood of every partygoer.

At DaVinci Roofscapes, we make every day a "roof party" with our synthetic shake roofing products. While these cedar shake roof alternatives don't dance, they're the talk of any house party when they sit on the roof overhead!

Made in the U.S.A. by experienced professionals, the full line of polymer shake roofing tiles at DaVinci add value and prestige to homes across America. DaVinci Multi-Width Shake shingles display the texture of natural cedar shake with a deep-grained surface. Available in 9", 8", 7", 6" and 4" widths along with a virtually limitless color palette, the multi-width fake shake product features both wavy and straight grains throughout the blend for an authentic appearance. Multiple widths of the 5/8" profile on the tiles help create a more natural, non-repeating appearance that can be laid in either a straight or staggered pattern.

Bellaforté composite shake roofing tiles feature a leading edge tab and a self-aligning ledge to help reduce the installation time for the products. A square of Bellaforté tiles (with 100 pieces per square) weighs just 190 pounds. This lower tile weight helps reduce installation time and transportation costs.

And, if you want to get fancy about your cedar shake alternative roof, look at DaVinci Fancy Shake polymer roof tiles. They provide a more refined cedar look when compared to traditional hand-split shake shingles. With the clean, smooth look of a machine-sawn shake, Fancy Shake is available in 12", 7" and 5" widths with a tile thickness of 7/16". Using multiple widths helps create a more natural, non-repeating appearance that can be laid at a straight or staggered pattern.

Finally, shake up your home with the single-width Valoré Shake product line. These lightweight roofing materials embrace the art and science of roofing to offer exceptional aesthetics and performance at a value-driven price point. Valoré Shake comes in a 9" tile width with a 5/8" profile to provide deep, attractive shadow lines.

All DaVinci designer roof tiles resist curling, cracking, fading, mold, algae, fungus and insects, making them ideal for installation in a wide variety of geographic areas. Plus, they are 100 percent recyclable and come with a 50-year limited warranty ... so party on!

For more information on our shake products, please visit Four Shake Profiles - What's the Difference?and Roof Check Recommended During Fire Prevention Week, October 6-12, 2013.

Specially-designated floors at several residences at the State University of New York (SUNY) provide unique living environments for students. At the all-freshman Smith Residence, you can live on a floor dedicated to automotive technology or gamer interests. At the Mohawk Residence there's an alcohol-free honors floor plus a special pet wing. And for both residences, there's reliable DaVinci sustainable roofing materials overhead.

The eight buildings that make up the Smith and Mohawk Residences in Canton, N.Y. were re-roofed in 2009 with DaVinci Multi-Width Slate synthetic roofing in a European blend of five colors --- light, medium and dark gray plus light and dark purple. This is a synthetic slate roof tile that the students see everyday --- from eye level!

The unique mansard polymer roofs reach from the top of the buildings down more than four stories to the lawn below. Originally built in 1968, the dormitories house 850 students and an assortment of pets.

"This was an almost straight vertical application that required us to use special scaffolding for installation," says Michael Lucey, president of Mid-State Industries, Ltd."The dormitories are surrounded by steep landscaping with minimal access, which posed many challenges to our team. Fortunately the DaVinci product is lightweight and installs easily. This made the application go quickly and effortlessly.”

Who made the decision on what slate alternative roofing products should be used on the student residences? The architectural team at C&S Companies in Syracuse, N. Y.

"We liked everything we saw about the DaVinci product,” says Jenny Schumaker, senior designer at C&S Companies. “The reinforced ribbing on the back of the product, combined with the product’s resistance to curling and insects were all positive aspects.

"Yet, our decision was really made when we learned of the different width varieties and colors available for the tiles. These factors, all combined with the guaranteed 50-year warranty, sold us on using synthetic tiles for the mansard of these residence halls.

“With the extensive visibility this project has on campus, it was important for us to find a roofing color palette that closely matched the other buildings. In addition, many of the steep roof elevations come down near grade and are susceptible to damage from students and maintenance equipment. We felt that the DaVinci product was the very best choice to offer durability and style to the vertical applications on the dormitories.”

For more information on this project, please visit Featured Project - Imitation Slate Shingles for SUNY Canton.

Historic preservation committees are something we often have to work with to get our polymer roofing products approved for use on designated homes, buildings or in certain neighborhoods all over the US. We can tell them that we have been installed on numerous historic projects, but the ultimate sales tool are our Project Profiles on these projects. 

Below are some profiles of some recent historic projects where the owners chose a DaVinci Slate or Shake roof system: 

Jacksonville, Oregon 

The Tahoe blend in DaVinci Shake was used on The First Presbyterian Church of Jacksonville 

Colorado Springs, Colorado 

The Union Printers Home in Colorado Springs went with the Villa blend in Valoré Slate. 

Roanoke, Virginia

A private residence in Roanoke went with the Vineyard blend in DaVinci Slate.

Dayton, Ohio

The chapel at the Dayton VA Medical Center was expertly installed in this unique pattern. 

Want more? Click here to read about more historic projects that have DaVinci roofs on them. 

Happy Friday, Architects! 

Problem: Philadelphia area homeowner John Mastronardo needed to replace the original slate roof on a 1920s English Tudor style home he purchased plus the home's garage, pool cabana and patio areas. The poor condition of the 80-year old slate, plus missing tiles made the roof replacement a top priority.

Solution: Cost-effective and long-lasting DaVinci Roofscapes Multi-Width polymer roofing tiles in a Castle Gray blend of light, medium and dark gray synthetic slate shingles.

Reasoning:  “We wanted to preserve the look and feel of the original roof along with the overall character of the home," says Mastronardo. "But, as with most people, I had a budget. The cost of a synthetic slate roof from DaVinci was much more affordable than using real slate.

“The more I learned about the synthetic DaVinci roofing tiles, the more I liked them. The product perfectly complements the stone, brick and stucco features of our home. As an added benefit, the product comes with a 50-year warranty. Even if the costs were equal, I’d still choose this DaVinci product because of all the inherent benefits of synthetic roofing tiles.

“From the street, you simply cannot tell that these are not real slate tiles. My neighbors stop me all the time to ask about the roof. They’re surprised to discover it’s a synthetic product. You can see the wheels turning in their minds. There are so many of my neighbors who have old slate roofs that need replacing. I’m quite certain we’ll see a growing number of these roofs in this neighborhood in the coming years.”

Two pairs of socks, check. Thermal underwear, check. Warm hat and gloves, check. DaVinci polymer roofing tiles, double check!

Despite frigid weather, roofers across the country can install DaVinci synthetic roofing tiles with confidence, even in the bone-chilling cold. By using extra jobsite caution, along with top-quality underlayments, an imitation slate or fake cedar shake DaVinci roof systems can be added twelve months a year.

Actually, DaVinci composite roofing can be installed in much colder temperatures than many other roofing products --- even in temperatures as cold as 20 degrees F. As opposed to asphalt shingles that are more sensitive to temperatures and can expand and contract, DaVinci plastic roofing materials are ready for cold weather application.

Despite shorter days and cold temperatures, designer roofs made of synthetic materials can be installed during the winter months. Here are some tips for your cold weather installations:

Tip #1 - Prior to installation in colder temperatures, make sure that the shingles have been stored flat and are only installed when they are flat.

Tip #2 - DaVinci's unique formula allows our composite shingles to remain flexible in colder weather. It's important that the shingles are laid at a very minimum 3/16”.

Tip #3 - If using a pneumatic roofing nail gun for plastic roofing materials installation, the pressure should not be set too high. You may wish to hand nail pieces in if you're having trouble with your gas air compressor.

For more insights into cold weather roofing, visit BRRRR! Can a DaVinci Roof Be Installed In Colder Weather??  and Things to Think About for Cold Weather and your Roof.