Our New Roof

Last year, we had a record breaking wind storm roll through our neighborhood. My friend who works as a local meteorologist said they clocked winds of 110mph in my area, and here I thought we moved away from tornado alley when we relocated to Utah. While tornadoes don’t typically occur here, the wind storm did some significant damage to our home… which actually ended up working out rather well for us, if I’m being honest. Our previous roof was original to the home, which was built in the mid 90s. Being 25-30 years old, we moved in knowing we’d need to replace it sooner rather than later. Our home inspector guesstimated in one to two years time, we’d need to budget for a full replacement. A couple years after moving in, the wind storm hit our house. I spent an entire day picking up shingles from our yard and cul-de-sac… I had piles of shingles that were ripped from our roof. Immediately after the storm, we reported it to our home insurance, the adjuster came out, assessed the damage, and luckily they were able to cover the majority of the cost for a new roof. Again, it kind of felt like we won the lottery because the roof needed replaced anyway. As promised, I’m sharing that entire journey in a big blog post! Click through for some crazy before and after images, a couple home insurance tips, to learn more about the roof tiles we selected, and why we eventually landed on a Bartile roof. 

First things first… the before images. Our existing roof had basic gray shingles that had faded with time. They looked fine, but it certainly wasn’t the roof I would’ve chosen. The most concerning part of the our old roof was the fact that it was failing, in terms of function. We’ve never replaced the roof on any of our previous homes, and it felt like a daunting and expensive endeavor. Here is a better look our existing shingles…

The designer in me really wanted our new roof to look more dimensional. Our Georgian Colonial needed something a bit more elevated to match the exterior (or at least what I envision it to look like someday). I wasn’t sure how much more expensive architectural shingles or roof tile would cost, as opposed to basic shingles, but I priced out lots of options and discovered the difference really wasn’t that crazy. Having a check from our insurance company certainly helped, and I was able to find an amazing local company who checked all of my boxes (price, aesthetic, quality material, positive reviews, insured professional installation, made locally, etc).

In terms of design, I spent a LOT of time looking at samples, browsing through architecture books, and hashing out a plan for our entire exterior (that I’ll eventually share, because it has a long way to go). I landed on Bartile’s New England Slate roof tile in the dark charcoal / black color. They have quite a few options, but I photographed four… pictured above in their showroom. I also had to nail down trim pieces and the overall pattern or layout. Since I was taking the traditional route for our colonial, I had our roof tile installed in a running bond pattern, instead of random (which would make more sense for a cedar shake style). Check out Emmett below for scale, holding a couple tiles…they’re pretty big.

The most difficult part of the process was waiting. The wind storm happened in the fall of 2020, and living in Utah, we had to wait all winter (thanks to snowy weather) to safely have our roof installed. We just hoped that our existing roof would make it through another winter- especially with missing shingles (a couple areas were tarped, just in case). Once spring arrived, our tile was delivered, the roofers showed up, and it took about a week from start to finish. That actually felt pretty fast to me, as our house is larger and the roof pitch is pretty intense. The installation team was great- super friendly and they cleaned everything up after each work day. I was prepared for a huge mess, but that really wasn’t the case. They tore off our old roof, installed new underlayment & flashing, and installed the new tile. Want to see the before and after?

We’ve lived with our new roof for almost three months and I love it! I’m so happy with the aesthetic change, Emmett is thrilled with our utility bill (it’s much more efficient), and we don’t have to worry about it failing. The roof actually has a 75 year warranty- which is pretty unheard of… that’s a lifetime! It means one and done, when it comes to roof replacement.

During my roof tile research, I learned that Bartile has a batten system that allows airflow under the tile. It’s important for heat transfer, meaning it makes your home cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. You can expect to save 25% or better on your utility bills thanks to improved insulation. It also has 130 mph wind resistance and a class 4 hail rating, if weather is also a concern in your area.

We had enough overage and leftover tiles to have them installed on our shed. It really made our shed feel like it belonged next to our home, since both have that matching cohesive element. It was such a happy accident! Here is a photo I snapped during the installation…

The tile is made locally (only 5 minutes from our house), but they do roofs and send material everywhere! I also learned they’re a family-owned business that has been passed down from generation to generation… they’ve been in business over 80 years and really know what they’re doing! I would highly recommend. Here is what the finished shed roof looks like…

I have a LOT of design tips and layout & color suggestions to share with you, but I’ll try to work on a follow up post once I get images from Bartile (plus this post is getting long). I asked if they could send me samples to photograph for you. I wanted to put together some pairings for you, so you can see my top contenders, as well as other options to consider in terms of aesthetic. I definitely want to share a more design heavy post because they have so many beautiful options to consider. I actually really enjoyed learning about roofs, researching different looks, tile patterns & layouts, and really digging into how that enhances the architecture of a home. If you have a roof that needs replaced or you’re building a home, stay tuned for that post! These were just a few of the colors available in the New England Slate (the tile we landed on)…

They have a variety of sizes, finishes, and can even do custom colors. You can also choose the edge profile: split timber for a rustic look, a rough cut edge, a double barrel, or higher profile tile. The options were seriously plentiful, and again- I’ll tackle those design related items in a follow-up post because that was the part of the process. You should also check out Bartile’s Instagram page because there are some seriously gorgeous homes (and roofs) on their page. There are actually quite a few in our own neighborhood, so we had lots of great examples to check out in person!

Is our exterior transformation complete? Not even close (we have big plans for it), but the roof made a huge difference! We still have to replace the eaves, soffit, and gutters for the “roof phase” to be totally finished, but I’m thrilled with how things are coming together.

I’ll leave you with a good homeowners tip from Emmett… make sure your home insurance policy is for replacement value– not depreciated value. That’s the entire reason we were able to get a total replacement and our insurance check reflected that. Our neighbors also had significant roof damage, and their policy was for depreciated value, so the money they received from their insurance company was much much less than what we received. It didn’t even come close to covering their roof, which also had to be entirely replaced. Double check those policies!

Leave any roof or exterior questions you have for me in the comment section below! I promise to tackle as many follow up posts as needed because this felt like a BIG project that I knew little about before diving in. I’d be happy to share the info I discovered and design ideas if anyone is in the market for a new roof. I’m looking forward to sharing more exterior plans and projects with you. Our house is slowing, but surely transforming.