At Vintage we have done many roof structure restorations, to prepare an old building for a new roof.  On old work, our historical methodology is that you follow the roof planes as they are.  Flattening the planes ‘sterilizes’ the historical look of an old building.  On an old building, the gable ends tend to stay where they were built because they are well supported by the gable structure,  and the center section tends to sag a bit.

When we worked for the Aldie Mill, the Stone House Foundation, at the ‘Old Mansion’ in Caroline County, and others, the instruction was always to repair in place.  Do not create something that was not there, or create disguise that cannot be interpreted later. 

Here are some pictures that we pulled where the goal was to preserve historical integrity, and these were the results.

DL