Tacoma Victorian Home Preserves its Historic Character with Award-Winning Custom Roof Replacement

It’s a fact of home ownership; roofs eventually need to be replaced.  But when the home is an 1889 Victorian located in the Pacific Northwest with its wet climate, it can be extra challenging.

This historic Victorian, located in Tacoma, features all the details and features for which the homes of this period are known.  There are multiple steep roof slopes and a curved turret.  Multiple roof ridges and gabled windows. Built-in recessed gutters and a bisected roof apron.  All of which call for intricate craftsmanship, advanced technical precision and strict preservation practices in replacing its roof in order to maintain the home’s original character.

To achieve this, the owners turned to locally-based Valentine Roofing.  

For the owners, creating a replacement roof that could hold up to the wet weather of the region, yet retain its Victorian character, was top priority.  Historic preservation was a must, including keeping the original siding and decorative trim.  

Installing the new roof included technically advanced challenges not normally encountered on a standard roof replacement, including working with intricate detailing, maintaining architectural authenticity and, in the case of the turret, hand-cutting of the individual tiles. In addition, the roof itself had a slope, or roof pitch, of 12/12 - one of the steepest standard residential roof pitches today - which is good for shedding rain and snow, but requiring specialized steep slope installation procedures and safety measures.  

According to Valentine Roofing, one of the biggest challenges in replacing this Victorian’s roof was the turret, which features both curved walls and a lower, independent bisected roof apron.  To accommodate this, each shingle course had to be individually cut and aligned to follow the turret’s round shape.  Additional rolls of underlayment were also needed to reinforce the number intersections of the shingles.

The original built-in gutters also presented a challenge.  Narrower by far than today’s standard gutters, their recessed design was an integral part of maintaining the historic character of the house.  This required hand-formed flashing and precise shingle integration to maintain the home’s historic profile.  Custom fascia cap metal was fabricated for the gadgets to protect the home while matching the architectural lines.

Valentine Roofing’s roof replacement of this historic Victorian home was so successful that it won the 2026 Excellence in Roofing Award from the Roofing Contractors Association of Washington (RCAW) - the second year in a row it has won this award.

You can find out more by visiting Valentine Roofing’s website https://www.valentineroof.com/wa.