Floods. Earthquakes. Wildfires. Are you ready for any surprise that Mother Nature may throw your way?

June is Disaster Preparedness Month and we hope that every homeowner and business owner has an emergency plan that takes into account everything from evacuating quickly in a fire to handling a loss of power for days on end. Getting ready now can save lives later.

As you create (or review) your emergency plans, one thing you won't have to worry about if you have a DaVinci Roofscapes designer roof is the durability of your roof overhead. Our Class A fire rated composite roofing is made to resist fire --- along with high winds (ASTM D3161) and impact (Class 4 Impact Rating). So, even if there's hail and flying debris coming down, your composite roof will help protect your home and loved ones. (See:Get Educated: Consumer Awareness Week is April 19 - 24)

Sustainable roofing from DaVinci does so much more than just add beauty to a home ... it serves as a security blanket. When high winds threaten your area and branches start to fall, your DaVinci imitation slate roof or composite shake roof stands up to Mother Nature. (See: Severe Weather Worries? Not With A DaVinci Roof!)

This month, make it a priority to prepare for the unexpected. And, if you live in a geographic area where the unexpected could result in roof hail damage, flying debris or wildfires, then help protect your home by making an investment in polymer roof tiles.

What are contractors and roofers saying about DaVinci Roofscapes polymer roofing materials? Read on ...

“DaVinci gives residents the look of cedar shake, but with a much longer life span. Also, the product is not combustible and provides better protection from fire than real cedar shake."
                                    Ken Bowman - Blue Ridge Roofing

 “Our installation team was very comfortable installing the tiles and the finished look is outstanding. I’ve been recommending this product to everyone I speak with because I believe it has long-term benefits for both residential and commercial projects.”

                                    Mark T. Clark Sr. - Tolberts Roofing

 “I’ve worked with the DaVinci product before in our area and felt the long-term value these polymer tiles would bring to the Animas Museum project would be ideal. Each tile has a refined cedar look, much like a machine-sawn shake shingle, so it blends in perfectly with our mountain setting. Plus, the tiles resist insects, fungus, algae, mold, cracking, fading and curling.”
                                    Tony Whittle - TL Roofing

“We’ve done numerous re-roofing jobs with slate and shake profile tiles from DaVinci Roofscapes. When we’re bidding on a job, we showcase these DaVinci products because they look great when properly installed, offer an excellent warranty and have a Class 4 impact rating which is very important in our area."

                                    Mark Bloyer - Bloyer Roofing

Read more about what roofing professional say about synthetic roofing material at Out of the Mouths of Contractors.

A Spanish home has strong Latin influences and fosters a connection to nature. Generally built with thick stucco walls and clay tiled roofs, the courtyards are enclosed to extend the home's living area and merge with the environment.

Tone down and neutral colors reminiscent of sand, wood and clay work well on this style of home. Wrought iron is a key element that is used for banisters, lighting fixtures and accents. Always choose color and design eleents that fit with the distinctive style rather than fighting it.

For more information on matching color and design to your style of home download FRESH Color Schemes for Your Home Exterior for FREE in the DaVinci Roofscapes Color Studio.

Warm clay and brown tones combine in an appealing color blend for this roof. The updated slate polymer tiles give a nod to the colors historically seen on a Spanish Mission-style of home.

The entranceway is decorated with colorful ceramic tiles that give character to the home and inspire the color scheme. If your home has a unique feature you will want to think about how you can best highlight that feature with the colors you select.

The exterior of a Spanish-style home was originally covered with stucco and this dictated the color. The stucco was a mixture of lime, sand, and water. The color of the stucco came from the aggregate. Lime was usually white and thus so were many of the original Spanish-style homes.

Any variation in color came from adding local pigments to the aggregate. The results were light tints of the colors found in the desert. In keeping with that tradition I chose Ivory Tower for the main color.

On Spanish-style homes the combination of trim pieces that surround the windows tend to be simple and flat. The trim is most often painted in brown, terracotta or another rich hue inspired by the desert.

In Spanish folklore it is said that painting the front door a shade of blue stops evil spirits from entering the home. This fun conversation starter, along with the fact that blue was perfect with the tiles around the entryway, made it my choice for this home’s front door.

For the color azul (color blue in Spanish) I chose Suenos, a sun-washed blue whose name means “dreams.” This lighter blue shows up in the shadows of the alcove and feels cool and refreshing as people enter the home.

Finally step back and ask yourself, "Is Any Other Color Needed?"

With their colorful roofs and clean lines, a little color can go a long way on a Spanish-style home.

If additional colors are needed for your home, add them. Just always have a reason for the additional color. For example, adding color to call attention to the entrance or best features of your home is usually a good reason.

At this point you can congratulate yourself because you've covered all of the steps to come up with the perfect colors for your home.

Now that you know how to select a perfect color for a Spanish style home you can gain some additional tips on choosing color by looking at some of my guides for other styles:

Picking A Perfect Color Scheme For Your Colonial Style Home

Picking A Perfect Color Scheme For Your Ranch Style Home

Picking A Perfect Color Scheme For Your Bungalow Style Home

Or see all of the styles by downloading FRESH Color Schemes for Your Home Exterior.

The dream of earning a college diploma came true for this Virginia homeowner earlier this year. Now a second dream has become a reality for Ms. Delgado. She is the grand prize winner in the 2015 Shake It Up Color Contest. Please join me in sending her a big, colorful congratulations!!

I hope she enjoys remodeling her home and that her new look inspires you as you think about improvements for your own home. Below I give you the top down approach to creating Ms. Delgado's winning look.

When thinking about making improvements to the outside of a home, my approach is to create an cohesive look and I encourage you to do the same when making changes to your exterior. By thinking about the essential elements that create a home's overall appearance and style it will make the selection process for products and color easier.

Let's take a look at the thought process I used in picking colors and materials for this year's winner.  If you follow this same type of process you will be able to make your design decision like a pro.

The smaller size of this cute cottage style home coupled with the homeowner's desire for a rustic look make the DaVinci Multi-Width Shake a great fit. The tiles are the right size and the uneven rows offer a contrast to the straight, even lines of the siding. Almost any color available would have worked on this home. Keeping in mind that I would be looking for a barn red for the siding I chose rich Tahoe for the roof color.

Many times a home has other elements or fixed features that need to be taken into consideration when choosing the color scheme. These would be things like brick, stone or existing roofing. This home didn't have any other elements I needed to keep in mind as I moved forward developing the color scheme.

On an exterior red can go bright very quickly. To tame the color and fit with the rustic chic style requested I chose cottage red. It is a deep red with a touch of brown. This color will give the home a big personality without shouting out too loudly -- "I'm red!"

To show off the new Fypon trim and railings, I wanted white trim but a cool, bright white would be to stark a contrast. Cloud white is toned down just enough to work well with cottage red.

The missing front door on the porch was replaced with Therm-Tru Classic-Craft Canvas Collection door. I considered a door with a pretty doorlight but because this home has windows all across the front a solid door was a better choice.

For the front door I could have gone with a color not seen elsewhere on the home -- blue, green, or teal could work -- but I liked the way it looked to continue the brown down to the front door. To find the right paint color I looked at the tones in the roof and then found a rich, medium brown that blended with the shingle colors. This color in a glossy finish will draw attention to the homes entryway.

To help you to follow these steps and add value and curb appeal to your home, I put together two ebooks --FRESH Color For Your Home Exterior and FRESH Home Exterior Colors: 5-Steps To Finding The Perfect Hues For Your Home.  GET COPIES OF BOTH EBOOKS FREE from DaVinci Roofscapes.

See the 2014 Color Contest Winner for another example of how to select color and products for a winning exterior look.

After more than two decades, the cedar roofing on Jim and Janice Steinlage's home had become faded and was simply worn out. Eager to get the same cedar shake roof look for their Kansas home but with a longer lifespan, Jim Steinlage hit the Internet to research his options. That's where he discovered DaVinci Roofscapes.

After deciding to invest in composite shake roofing, the couple's next hurdle was their homeowner's association.

"The most challenging part about this process was getting our HOA to approve our synthetic shake selection since we were the first in our community to request this type of polymer roofing," says Steinlage. "After getting them materials and details on quality references, we were happy that the approval went through within three weeks.

"We were the first in our community to get simulated shake roofing, but we're betting we won't be the last!"

What was the easiest part of the re-roofing process for the Steinlages? "Selecting the shake roofing materials that were perfect for our home," reports Steinlage. "The selections and quality available from DaVinci were great, and we chose a Bellaforté Shake in the Tahoe-VariBlend to match the color of our home and our landscaping.

"Everyone thinks the fake cedar shake on the roof looks awesome. We've told several people that this product looks great, is of great quality and has a terrific long-term warranty that means this is the last roof we'll ever put on our home!"

Have you ever wondered what a color expert would tell you if you asked the question, "What order should I go in when selecting exterior colors for my home?"

According to Kate Smith, DaVinci Roofscapes' color expert, the correct order is roof, siding, windows, front door, trim then garage door. Unless the home is brick or stone, the largest fixed feature is probably the roof, so you will want to start there. 

Interested in learning more? Are you a professional in need of a continuing education credit? Jump over to AEC Daily's website to take our course, The FRESH Approach to Choosing Exterior Colors. It is free and available online 24/7.

Happy Friday, Architects! 

June 12th is World Wind Day ... but if you happen to live in certain sections of Wichita, Kansas, you would have sworn they should have celebrated this occasion on April 3rd.

That's the day when severe winds reaching up to 100 mph roared through neighborhoods causing massive damage. One of those areas hard hit was The Moorings community. Dozens of homes with concrete tile roofing materials were completely destroyed.

Then there were the homes with DaVinci Roofscapes polymer roofing products that minimal or no damage at all. Why? Because our composite roofing materials are manufactured to stand up to Mother Nature.

DaVinci synthetic roofing materials have passed the following tests:

• Class 4 Impact Rating (UL 2218 Impact)
• Class A Fire Rating (Fire Test ASTM E 108)
• 110 MPH Sustained wind test (ASTM D3161 - same as UL 997 Wind Uplift)
• TAS-100
• TAS-125

And have achieved the following:

• Miami Dade Code Approval
• Florida Building Code Approval
• ICC-ES (ESR-2119)
• Texas Department of Insurance Approval

What does all of this mean? It means our products have achieved top approvals and ratings to help keep your property (and what's under the roof) safe. Please review the testing results for our Slate and Shake as well as Bellaforté products for details on each test passed and approval received.

Having a DaVinci roof overhead means you've gone the extra mile to increase the odds that your home or business will be there after severe weather has passed. Find out more about our impressive lightweight roofing systems at DaVinci Roof Tiles: Engineered to Withstand Hurricane Force Winds.

At DaVinci Roofscapes we fly the American flag proudly on June 14th --- Flag Day --- and every other day of the year. That's because we're a Made in America company.

Every one of our imitation slate tiles and simulated shake roofing pieces are made in Lenexa, Kansas at our company headquarters. For 16 years we've hired American workers and remained dedicated to keeping the manufacturing of our polymer roofing products contained completely in the United States.

What does that mean to you? Faster service and delivery of our composite roofing products --- when you need them and where you need them. Flexibility for us to work with you quickly to design a custom color or support a challenging roofing installation project. Focus on your specific color needs by using Made in America resins to manufacture our 50 different colors of lightweight roofing materials.

“We’re extremely proud that all of our products are made in the United States and that we support our economy by providing jobs for hard working folks around the country,” says Ray Rosewall, president and CEO at DaVinci Roofscapes. “We’re part of the multiplier effect because our ‘Made in America’ commitment also means we purchase from suppliers located only in the United States. So, with every roofing tile we sell we’re helping our economy to expand in many, many ways.”

You're getting ready to install a DaVinci Roofscapes designer roof and you have a question that you can't easily find the answer to on our website. What do you do? Call the experts in our Tech Department!

Tim, Eric and Tyler have decades of roofing experience to share with you. Whether you're looking for cold weather installation tips or have a question about the green roofing materials you're installing, they're available to support you.

Get to know our top three key polymer roofing guys. Here's a fast introduction!

Tim Gentry - Vice President of Technical Services
Tim has 40+ years of roofing experience, including cedar, asphalt, tile and slate roofing. Before joining DaVinci, he owned his own roofing company. Tim has been with DaVinci since our company started and has in-depth knowledge of engineered polymers, steep slope roofing and the composite roofing market.

While Tim plays a key role aiding in the design and technical processes of DaVinci tiles, he also manages all of our product testing and certifications, works on the Product Development Team, conducts installation training, meets with contractors, and heads up warranty and customer satisfaction inquiries.
 

Eric Salvesen - Central Technical Services Manager

Eric brings a wealth of hands-on building industry experience with him to our company. After putting himself through college as a roofer, Eric spent several years on the distribution side of the business. He supports our internal staff along with contractors, distributors, architects, developers and homeowners in the central portion of the United States. (see On the Road with DaVinci's Eric Salvesen)

You'll see Eric at sales/installation trainings and demos, jobsites and presentations for design engineers, architects and consultants. He's here to help you solve your roofing challenges and to provide insights on when, where and how to best use DaVinci synthetic roofing material.
 

Tyler Storfa - Western Technical Services Manager

Tyler joined the DaVinci team in 2013 after spending 10 years as a technical rep in the field showcasing proper tile installation procedures to contractors, architects and building officials. He has experience in roofing product testing, underlayments and snow retention systems for roofs.

As a technical support representative for DaVinci, Tyler assists with unique and unusual details of installation projects, finding permanent solutions to roofing issues and dealing with cost effectiveness issues. His chief goal is to "take the mystery out of our polymer roofing materials" so that contractors and distributors understand and feel comfortable with DaVinci lightweight roofing solutions.

"In the 11+ years I've been installing DaVinci polymer roofing, we've never had one of their roofs totaled by hail," says Mike Heiland, president of Heiland Roofing and Exteriors in Wichita, Kansas.

That's a pretty bold statement for a roof ... and for the roofer.

"Kansas is known for severe weather and regular hail storms," says Heiland, a DaVinci Masterpiece Contractor program member. "The peace of mind that comes with an impact-resistant roof of the quality made by DaVinci is dramatic for homeowners."

In April of this year, a microburst went through a Wichita neighborhood that had a large number of concrete tiles on their roofs plus three DaVinci composite roofs installed by Heiland.

"The majority of concrete tiles sustained very serious damage, with many others demolished," says Heiland. "Of the three DaVinci roofs we installed, one home had zero damage. Another home had one missing ridge cap. The third home needed approximately 10-feet of ridge replaced. That's absolutely nothing compared to the devastation that all the other homes in that neighborhood experienced.

"Now my customers are elated with their decision to invest in DaVinci composite roofing ... and their neighbors are fighting with insurance adjusters. Many of them see that the DaVinci products held up exceptionally well ... and we're already getting calls from them about replacing their roofs with a worry-free DaVinci roof!"

See also: Hail No Match for DaVinci Roofscapes Polymer Roof Tilesand Oklahoma Homeowners Get Insurance Discounts with DaVinci Roofscapes Impact-Resistant Roofs.

As the color expert for DaVinci Roofscapes I have had the opportunity to give hundreds of roof color recommendations. Most homeowners and contractors prefer the authentic colors and natural textures of quarried slate, hand-split cedar or machine-sawn shakes that DaVinci offers. With 50 standard colors available, I rarely find that I need to suggest custom color polymer roofing tiles. Still there are times when a custom color or blend is the perfect solution. Here are three times a custom color would be the best choice:

Matching An Existing Color

When you are trying to match an existing or unique color customizing your roofing is often the best answer. Jupiter Ocean Grande condo community in Jupiter, Florida needed a roof that matched the original color of their metal roof that had begun to rust and fade within just a few years of installation. Now the condo is topped with the same color as the original roof but with polymer Bellaforté Slate tiles that will stand up to the salt-laden air, wind, and rain of the Florida coast.

Replicating A Historic Roof Design

Older homes often used many colors arranged in patterns on their roofs. This another instance where creating a custom color or arrangement of colors can be your best choice.

When homeowners Carol and Ray Knoff were ready to replace the roof on their 111-year-old Queen Anne style home they knew exactly what they wanted. They wanted to recreate 300-year-old roof tile in a synthetic roofing material. 

The Knoffs chose to work with DaVinci Roofscapes and were not disappointed. “The DaVinci team worked with us to develop a color combination of Midnight Gray and Cottage Red for our Bellaforté Slate polymer tiles that really ‘pops’ and gives a positive first impression of our home while helping define the roof lines and architectural style,” says Knoff.''

Another example of how DaVinci slate was used to create a historic look is the Darocha's home. This homeowner selected DaVinci’s Single-Width Slate polymer tiles to complement the historic look of her home. She created a custom blend of colors for the roof, combining the European-VariBlend of dark purple plus light, medium and dark gray slate tiles with black tiles.

“I wanted the black added in to the roof so it would gain more attention,” says Darocha. “The unique mixture of the five color shades looks terrific and very historically accurate on the structure.”

Creating A Roof That Is You-nique

Inspired by their love of warm earth-tone colors and touches of safari-themed items found inside their home, Jack and Angie Craig transformed the outside of their colonial-style house with stand-out paint colors and a custom-color roof design created by DaVinci Roofscapes and Epic Exteriors.

The four earthy colors of polymer roofing tiles were staggered on the Craig's roof to create an inspiring pattern. By using a custom blend of Light Clay, Medium Light Autumn, Medium Autumn and Black, the homeowners were able to make an exterior design statement with their roof that reflected their personalities.

Is A Custom Color Right For You?

Are you thinking about a custom color for your home or building? See more examples of custom color roofing solutions and the answer to some of the most frequently asked questions about creating custom color roofing.

Don't panic! Even though it's International Panic Day, remain calm and we'll explain how to make roofing decisions easier with the wide variety of composite roofing options from DaVinci Roofscapes.

While selecting a new designer roof can seem overwhelming with all the options in the marketplace, it's easy to make DaVinci your one-stop location for composite shake and imitation slate roofing tiles. Here's a fast overview of our full product offering:

DaVinci Multi-Width Slate: Our multi-width profile is available in 12", 10", 9", 7" and 6" widths with 1/2" tile thickness at butt and 1/8" thickness at tip.

DaVinci Single-Width Slate: Available in 12" tile widths, the 1/2" tile thickness of this slate is twice the thickness of other synthetic slate tiles. Our VariBlend technology is used when creating this tile to form slightly varying shades from tile to tile for an authentic slate look.

Bellaforté Slate: A high performance, interlocking shingle that has superior wind resistance. Bellaforté tiles are 12" in width with 1/2" tile thickness at butt and 3/8" thickness at tip.

DaVinci Multi-Width Shake: Available in 9", 8", 7", 6" and 4" widths that can be installed in a non-repeating fashion in either a straight or staggered pattern. A deep 5/8" profile has both wavy and straight grains throughout the blend to create enviable shadow lines.

DaVinci Single-Width Shake: 9" shake alternative tiles resemble hand-split cedar shake roofing. The 5/8" profile deepens shadow lines replicate real cedar roofing.

Bellaforté Shake: The 12" tile width with multiple profiles simulates a multi-width, staggered rough hewn wood shake. And, at 1" average tile thickness, Bellaforté Shake designer roof tiles are reminiscent of natural jumbo shakes.

Fancy Shake: With a clean, smooth look replicating machine-sawn shake, these 7/16" thick shake shingles provide a polished beauty for your roof. Available in 12", 7" and 5" widths with bundles arriving at the job site pre-sorted by color and size, eliminating on-site sorting and guesswork.

Need more details on polymer roof tiles? See Multi-Width or Single-Width, Slate or Shake…

National Recycling Month is a great time to think about the pros and cons of recycling as it relates to composite roofing.

On the "con side" would be manufacturers that use recycled products to create their roof shingles. You won't find that at DaVinci Roofscapes. Our composite slate and synthetic shake roof tiles are made from 100% virgin polymer resins ... and there's nothing recycled in there! This provides you with dependable beauty throughout each tile.

Another "pro" on the DaVinci checklist is that we offer a jobsite recycling program. Unused lightweight tiles and scrap material can be shipped back to our Kansas manufacturing plant where we'll use them to recycle into starter tiles for projects. (see Reduce Jobsite Waste with DaVinci Roofscapes)

At DaVinci, our green roofing options extend to how we operate our facility every day. That's because, as part of our daily manufacturing operations, there are usually a certain amount of scrap materials. We don't trash those products, we recycle them -- more than 300,000 pounds of polymer roofing tile scraps are recycled each year into starter tiles. (see Happy Earth Day!)

This month, we encourage you to do your part to recycle. And, we want you to know that we're doing our part too!

Landmark Roofing's customer, a homeowner located in British Columbia, spent years researching the perfect roof for his home. He landed on installing an environmentally friendly, Multi-Width Slate roof by DaVinci Roofscapes. The manufactured slate tiles we make are safe for rainwater harvesting, are 100% recyclable, and come with a lifetime warranty. From the sounds of it, this new roof is turning some heads and creating some buzz with the neighbors as they keep stopping by and getting a lesson on polymer roof tiles! 

DaVinci Masterpiece Contractor Program Member
Landmark Roofing, Ltd.
604.888.9451

What would be the best color?

Alan
Bellevue, WA
Product: Bellaforté

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

Dear Mr. Mitchel,

For your home I am recommending that you use roofing that is brown to blend with the warm tones in your brick and be similar to the look you have now. Tahoe-VariBlend will be lighter and closer to the look of new shakes. Mountain-VariBlend is darker, more gray and will be closer to the current color.

Your current roof looks like a single-width shake and that would be a good choice for a replacement. To give the roof a slightly different look you could change to the Multi-Width product or Bellaforté Shake.

Alternately, you could successfully use the Slate profile in a brown tone or change to one in the gray color family.

The key for your home is that the roof cannot compete with the pattern in your brick. For this reason a blend with tiles from different color families would not be the best choice. Instead use a roof that is more of a single color with any changes in color looking like the subtle variations you would find in any natural material. This is where the VariBlend technology shines in giving you that look within the range of tiles.

I realize this is not giving a single choice but you have many DaVinci Roofscapes options that would work wonderfully on your home. Just follow the guidelines and pick the color you like best.

Sincerely,

Kate Smith
DaVinci Roofscapes Color Expert

Two key words describe roofer Rob Capkovic: Passionate and Busy.

A DaVinci Roofscapes Masterpiece Contractor program member, Rob is owner of Capkovic Brothers Roofing, Inc. out of St. Louis. Started in 2002, his company employs 10 roofers who are in constant motion installing roofs throughout the metro St. Louis area.

"Repairing roof hail damage keeps us very busy throughout the year," says Capkovic. "We're also busy with normal replacement projects and we're absolutely passionate about bringing the industry's leading products to our customers at compelling value."

One of the roofing products Capkovic feels strongly about is polymer roofing from DaVinci. "The composite roofing from DaVinci looks beautiful and holds up to so many different kinds of weather conditions," says Capkovic. "We've done almost a dozen roofs on homes plus a country club and a church --- they all have imitation slate shingles on them.

"We've found the DaVinci lightweight roofing tiles are very 'installer friendly.' Most recently we've been involved with the roofing of a spectacular new home in the Turkey Ridge community. The homeowners first had us install the synthetic shake product on a pavilion on their property and then we roofed their new home with composite shake. These folks made the right decision with DaVinci --- it's a product that adds curb appeal to the home with a terrific lifetime limited materials warranty."

For more contractor insights on lightweight roofing materials, see Profile: Turner Morris Roof Systems and DaVinci Masterpiece Contractor Profile: McRay Roofing.

For the past four years Aaron Adams has seen hundreds of DaVinci Roofscapes projects firsthand. In his role as Central Region Manager for DaVinci, Aaron routinely travels from Texas to Wisconsin to New Mexico (and all states in between!) to support the needs of polymer roofing customers for DaVinci.

Q: In your travels, what do you see as the "mood" of roofers during the past few months?
A: Overall the mood is positive. The demand for good installation crews is up, which is a good indicator of the market being on the rise.

Q: Bad weather has kicked in early this year in your region. How are DaVinci synthetic shake and slate alternative roofs holding up?

A: Omaha, Oklahoma City and the Dallas/Fort Worth areas have all seen significant storms so far this season. Fortunately all our DaVinci Masterpiece Contractor program members have reports that the DaVinci sustainable roofing tiles they have previously installed have weathered the storms well. Now those same roofers are selling even more of our lightweight roofing systems to homes that need new roofs after those storms.

Q: What are some upcoming commercial projects in your region that will use composite roofing from DaVinci?

A: There are two great ones in Illinois I'm excited about. The Garlands is a long-term assisted living facility in Barrington that's going to have Single-Width Slate roof tiles in a custom blend. In Mettawa there's an equestrian training facility at Always Faithful Stables. They're also getting the Single-Width Slate roof shingles.

Q: If you had to pick a favorite DaVinci roofing project in your marketplace, which would it be?

A: Definitely the Dayton VA Church. I think that's a great example of how our imitation slate tiles can be used to restore the aesthetic integrity of a historic building. (See Contractors Go to Church with DaVinci Roofscapes)

April 2, 2015 brought a microburst to Wichita, Kansas that caused major devastation. To homeowner Donna Westhoff the storm felt more like a tornado. Here's her story:

"We didn't believe it was straight line winds because the 25-foot pine tree in our front yard was bending back and forth," says Westhoff. "Little did we know 29 power lines in front of our development were being broken off by those winds.

"To our joy and surprise, the new DaVinci Roofscapes synthetic shake roof, installed in December of 2014 by Heiland Roofing, had only one end cap gone from the winds. Many of our development neighbors had major shingle loss and some had structural roof damage.

"Within the last year our development added DaVinci as an approved shingle. Thanks goodness. Prior that they had only allowed wood cedar shakes, tile or concrete shingles. Most, if not all, of our neighbor's roofs consisted of these materials. Our DaVinci shingles survived the storm and were perfect except for one!

"We had replaced a 15-year old concrete shingle roof after years of leaking problems, and were we ever glad! We have a beautiful roof, but more importantly we have peace of mind.

"Not only did our contractor install our new roof in less than three days, but our DaVinci composite shake shingles came through and held up when we needed them most. The shingles are beautiful and durable and we would recommend them to anyone."

Learn more about the luxury roofs installed by Heiland Roofing at Featured Project of the Year - Heiland Roofing & Exteriors.

Home renovations can be a bit like magic. One day you're living with an outdated kitchen with aging appliances, and weeks later that space is transformed into an inviting kitchen area with new cabinets, sinks and appliances.

A re-roofing project can have similar positive results for your home ... especially if your cedar shake roof is splitting, curling or insect-infested.

DaVinci Roofscapes to the rescue! Our synthetic shake roofing materials are carefully crafted using virgin resins to guarantee a sustainable roofing product. And, they come with a lifetime warranty, so you know you're gaining long-term peace of mind when investing in our composite shake shingles.

Need proof? Just read what one Minnesota homeowner had to say about his roofing transformation project.

"I wanted something that looked like real wood shakes but performed better," says homeowner Thomas Meyers of Prior Lake, Minn. "I was tired of our older wood shakes deteriorating with different weather conditions. Plus, mold would accumulate on the wood shakes and the shakes were fading. Overall, dealing with this roof was a huge headache.

"After doing research on DaVinci Roofscapes and discussing the product with our contractor, we decided our best option was the Bellaforté Shake product that resists impact, wind, algae and mold.

"Overall our roof plays a major role in the architectural style of our home. Having a new roof that we won't have to worry about warping, mold or storm damage is terrific. I'd definitely recommend the roof to family and friends, and I believe the Bellaforté Shake product is a sensible long-term investment for our home."

Here's a bonus tip: Roof Replacement: Do Your Research Before You Buy!

Design Opportunity - This question doesn't come up often, but from time to time I am asked if our eco friendly roof tiles can be used when the homeowner will be collecting rainwater. I was asked this for the first time a few years ago while working with a client on a project in the US Virgin Islands. It would be a complete deal breaker if the rain water collected off the roof could not be used for irrigation, laundry, bathing and drinking. 

Design Solution - DaVinci Roofscapes' lightweight roofing materials are suitable systems to be used if you plan on collecting rainwater for your private use. Of course we recommend sticking to the recommendation that the EPA makes regarding the safe collection and use of harvested rainwater. Check out the picture of the finished roof from the above mentioned conversation. Not only a tool used to collect rain water for the homeowner, but a gorgeous, custom color to boot!