There, we said it.
At Rollins & Associates, we might be a little too obsessed with slate roofing.
Not in a concerning way. Not in a “we need professional help” kind of way. More in a “someone asks a simple question about their roof and suddenly we’re explaining the history of Vermont slate quarries, traditional copper flashing techniques, and why a roof installed during the McKinley administration is still outperforming products made last year” kind of way.
It happens more often than we’d like to admit.
Part of the problem is that everyone who works here eventually reads The Slate Roof Bible by Joseph C. Jenkins. Some companies hand out employee manuals. Some provide training videos. We hand people a book about slate roofs and unknowingly send them down a path from which there is no return.
At first, new employees think it’s just a book about roofing. They nod politely. They flip through a few pages. They wonder why everyone seems so excited about pieces of stone nailed to a roof.
Then something changes.
A few weeks later, they’re pointing out slate roofs while driving through Towson. A month later, they’re discussing copper flashing details at lunch. By the end of the year, they’re stopping mid-conversation to admire a perfectly executed valley flashing on a church roof built before electricity was common.
We’ve lost a lot of good people that way.
Well, not lost exactly. They’re still employed here. They’re just permanently fascinated by slate.
The truth is that slate roofing has a way of doing that to people. The more you learn about it, the harder it is not to appreciate it. Long before modern roofing materials were being advertised on television, slate roofs were protecting homes, churches, schools, courthouses, and historic buildings throughout Maryland. Many of those same roofs are still doing their jobs today. Not twenty years later. Not thirty years later. A hundred years later. Sometimes more.
That’s the kind of performance that earns respect.
And then there’s copper.
If slate is the star of the show, copper is the supporting actor who quietly carries half the movie. Most homeowners never notice it. We can’t stop noticing it. Copper valleys, copper flashing, copper saddles, copper gutters, copper ridges—these details protect the most vulnerable parts of a roofing system and often determine how well a slate roof performs over decades of service.
To most people, copper is just metal.
To a slate roofer, copper is a beautiful, self-healing, historically proven masterpiece that develops a stunning patina while laughing in the face of time.
See? This is exactly what we’re talking about.
Normal people don’t describe flashing that way.
One of the things Joseph Jenkins’ book does so well is remind readers that slate roofing isn’t simply a roofing material. It’s a craft. Every slate roof tells a story about the people who installed it. Someone stood on that roof decades ago and carefully selected each slate. Someone measured the exposures. Someone hand-formed the copper details. Someone took pride in creating something that would last long after they were gone.
That’s a pretty remarkable thing when you stop and think about it.
Today, when our crews perform slate roof repairs, copper restoration, or historic roof preservation projects throughout Towson and the surrounding Maryland area, we’re often working on roofs built by craftsmen we’ll never meet. There’s a responsibility that comes with that. You don’t just tear into a century-old slate roof without understanding why it has survived for a century in the first place.
That’s why everyone on our team learns about slate. Everyone learns about copper. Everyone learns about historic roofing methods. Not because we’re trying to be roofing historians—although some of us are getting suspiciously close—but because these roofs deserve that level of respect.
Of course, there are side effects.
Family vacations occasionally get interrupted because someone spotted a beautiful slate church roof.
Employees have been known to photograph copper flashing the way other people photograph sunsets.
A simple conversation about roof repair can unexpectedly become a discussion about geology, architecture, craftsmanship, and American history.
Our spouses have questions.
But if being obsessed with slate means preserving historic roofs correctly, respecting traditional craftsmanship, and helping homeowners protect some of the most durable roofing systems ever created, we’re comfortable with that.
So yes, we might be a little too obsessed with slate.
And copper.
Definitely copper.
But if you’re looking for slate roof repair, slate roof restoration, or historic roofing expertise in Towson, Maryland, a little obsession is probably exactly what you want in your roofing contractor.
