Historic
Restoration
Courthouses, churches, century estates. Documented, preserved, and put back better than the archives remember it.
Master of Historic Roofs·Slate & Clay
JUSTEN NEWTON
The Blue Collar Scholar
Lakewood, CO·Landmark roofs nationwide·239‑791‑0646
Historic roof restoration in Denver, CO
0
years on the steep slope
$0M+
portfolio of finished work
0+
landmark projects
№0
one standard on slate & clay
Serving Denver·Denver Metro & Front Range
Historic roofs in Denver
Denver's older ground is brick and slate under a lot of new paint — Capitol Hill's Victorians, Park Hill's century bungalows, the low brick lines of a Denver Square. Different silhouettes, same problem: the roof over them is the oldest thing on the house that nobody's looked at in thirty years.
The Front Range doesn't rot a roof, it hails it — one storm on a soft membrane and you're re-decking a section that had another eighty years left in it, if the hidden work underneath had been done right the first time. The same standard applies here as anywhere else Ludowici clay or quarried slate went up a century ago: match the tile, respect the headlap, and do the ugly work before the pretty part goes back on.
The Craft·Four Disciplines, One Standard
Historic
Ludowici
Clay Tile
Fired clay that outlives its warranty by a century. Matched, milled, and hung by hands that know every profile in the catalog.
Premium
Slate Roofing
Stone laid to shed water for a hundred years. Cut, hung, and headlapped like it has to prove it every day.
Asbestos
Abatement
The dangerous work nobody photographs. Brought down under negative air by certified crews — contained, cleared, and manifested — so the beautiful work can begin.
The Work·Three Restorations
Richardson
Residence
Custom Ludowici clay, hand-slushed with battered butts — 128 squares in a three-color blend, full insurance restoration in Denver. Completed with Precision Construction and Roofing.
Villas of
Capistrano
Full tear-off and re-deck — 2,500 squares of Boral Tejas España tile, battens and field reinstalled across the complex. Completed with Precision Construction and Roofing.
Texas
Residence
DaVinci slate in a black-and-grey blend — 396 squares total, custom copper-and-lead turret work on a full insurance replacement. Completed with Precision Construction and Roofing.
The Process·How a Landmark Roof Comes Back
Five steps. No shortcuts.
Survey & document
Walk the field, photograph the failures, and write down what the archives leave out. Pitch, headlap, fastener type, valley metal, and the places water already won — on paper before a tear-off starts.
Temporary dry-in
Protect the building the moment the old roof opens. Temporary cover that holds weather and keeps interiors dry while salvage, abatement, and staging do their slow work.
Match, salvage, specify
Keep every sound piece that still belongs. Spec the clay or slate that matches color, profile, and thickness — Ludowici when the field was Ludowici, premium slate when the civic roof demands it.
Install to the standard
Copper on slate. Headlap sized to the pitch. Hips, ridges, and valleys set so nobody has to apologize later. Staging that keeps boots off the finished field.
Closeout & handoff
A clean manifest, photos, and the notes the next keeper will need. Warranty paperwork where it applies, and a roof you can stand behind without hedging.
The Doctrine·Notes from the Steep Slope
What the roof teaches you in seventeen years
Headlap
Is Gospel
Capitol Hill and Park Hill both sit under roofs old enough to have outlived at least one bad repair. A slate field almost never fails as stone — it fails at a rusted steel nail, a headlap shaved thin to stretch a square, a valley patched in something cheaper than what it replaced. Brick construction hides a lot of sins on a Denver Square; the roofline doesn't. Fix the fasteners and the flashing before you touch a single course, or you're just buying the next contractor thirty years of blame.
Clay Has
a Memory
A Denver Square roofed in clay in the 1920s deserves the exact profile Ludowici fired for it — not the closest thing on the truck this month. Salvage comes off graded, sound tile goes back where it shows, new fired clay gets blended through the field so the patch disappears instead of announcing itself against a Capitol Hill skyline that's seen every kind of repair job there is.
The Ugly Work
Comes First
Front Range hail doesn't care how good the tile looks — it finds the underlayment that got skipped. Eaves and valleys get ice-and-water shield before anything ornamental goes back on; old decking under a Park Hill bungalow gets sistered wherever a century of nail holes says so. Skip the ugly work under a Denver roof and the pretty work is just a countdown to the next hailstorm.
“The archives remember what the roof looked like. My job is to make the roof agree.”
— Justen Newton
The Anatomy·Why a Century Roof Lasts a Century
Every layer earns its place
The pretty part is the clay. The century is everything underneath it. Walk the layers.
Field Answers·Straight Talk on Historic Roofs
What owners ask before the first tile comes off
How long does a clay tile or slate roof actually last?
Fired Ludowici clay and quarried slate both outlive the crews that install them — a century is the floor, not the ceiling. What fails first is everything underneath: the underlayment, the flashing, the fasteners. Get the hidden work right and the stone does its hundred years without complaint.
Can you match discontinued or antique Ludowici clay tile?
Every profile Ludowici ever fired lives in a catalog, and a 1920s field deserves its exact match — not the closest thing on a pallet this month. Salvage comes off graded and re-laid where it shows; new fired clay is blended through the field so the repair disappears instead of announcing itself.
Do you repair historic slate roofs, or only replace them?
A slate roof almost never fails as stone — it fails at the details. Rusted steel nails, headlap shaved thin, a valley re-flashed in something cheap. Most “failed” slate roofs need their fasteners, flashing, and headlap corrected, not a tear-off. Full replacement is the last resort, never the opening bid.
Is asbestos abatement part of a historic roof restoration?
On mid-century buildings, often yes — transite and older membranes have to come off under negative air, with certified crews and a clean manifest, before a single new course goes on. It is the dangerous work nobody photographs, and it is handled by the book or not at all.
Do you take on historic roofing work in Denver?
Based in Lakewood, Colorado — serving Denver and the rest of the Denver metro and Front Range, with historic and landmark restoration wherever the roof carries the building’s story. If it does, it is worth the drive.
The Scholar·Steep Slope, Clear Standard
Justen Newton. The Blue Collar Scholar.
Steep-slope craftsman. Historic clay and slate. One standard — whether the roof sits on a courthouse, a church, or a residence that carries the same weight.
Headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado — seventeen years on landmark roofs nationwide. Ludowici clay, premium slate, and asbestos abatement handled by the book. When the roof carries the building’s story, the work travels.
- Lakewood HQ — nationwide when the job earns the flight
- 17 years historic restoration on steep slope
- Ludowici clay tile and premium slate, matched not approximated
- Certified abatement and documented closeout
- One standard on slate and clay — no second tier for “just a house”
Every landmark needs a keeper