Building on history

By Emma Peterson. 

Learn how a historic roofing company is keeping history alive through restoration. 

Preserving historic buildings is a key part of keeping our communities’ pasts alive and remembered, but it can present some unique challenges to those working on restoration projects. In this AskARoofer Podcast episode, Bob Kraft of Wagner Roofing shared some of the intricacies of a historic restoration project with Lauren White and Megan Ellsworth. 

Bob is a project executive at Wagner Roofing, who are based in Hyattsville, Maryland. The company has just celebrated 110 years of service to their community! Bob explained a bit of their history, “There were three generations of Wagners before Dean Jagusch took over the company back in 2016. So yeah, we're a 100+ year company and specialize in historic restoration.” 

With so many years of experience, Bob and his crews have gotten very familiar with the specific needs of historic projects. He explained, “First and foremost, having a skilled workforce that can be able to perform that type of work is key.” Bob cited a lot of their success to the experience of their crews, as finding or teaching someone the specialized skills needed for historic roofs can take years.  

The other big factor that Bob brought up was materials. He explained, “A lot of these roofs are 100 plus years, but they're also 100 plus year-old buildings. So, over the years, buildings start to decay and then when you go and rip off the roof, you never really know what you're going to find back there in terms of substrate, whether it's lead paint, some of the asbestos, stuff like that.”  

And the material challenges aren’t limited to what you might find on the job site. Bob explained that sourcing the right roofing products for a historic restoration can be a challenge. He elaborated, “When we start we recognize what type of material they have, and we're obviously going to try to go back with and match it with new material if we can.” One of the ways they can match it is by repurposing the original top layer, whether it be copper or slate or something else, to keep the aesthetic and putting new underlayment and other technology to preserve the roof’s integrity. But sometimes they can’t reuse or use the exact same material because of things like budget limitations. When that happens, they use their expertise to suggest a more modern option. This is a bit of a balancing act, as Bob explained, “We do got to be a little bit careful on the historic side of things, making sure that we check those boxes. So, a little bit of a give-and-take there.” 

Read the transcript or Listen to the whole conversation for more details about historic restorations.