Longmeadow's older colonials
The homes along Longmeadow Street and in the neighborhoods off it are some of the oldest housing in the area, and many were built with a level of trim that nobody builds anymore. Deep cornices with built-in wood gutters, dentil molding, wide fascias, and returns at the gable ends. All of that is beautiful and all of it collects water, and after enough winters of ice dams and clogged gutters the cornice rots from the inside out.
I rebuild cornices. That means removing the gutter, cutting out the rotted framing behind it, sistering the rafter tails, rebuilding the fascia and crown to the original profiles, and either relining the wood gutter or replacing it with a properly sized aluminum gutter hidden behind a rebuilt fascia so the look is preserved.
Wood gutters: keep or replace
This is the decision every Longmeadow owner of an older house eventually faces. Wood gutters can be kept alive with a liner and regular oiling, and on a historic house they are worth keeping when the wood is sound. When they have split, rotted through, or pulled away from the fascia, replacing them with a hidden aluminum gutter behind a rebuilt cornice keeps the look from the street and ends the rot. I lay out both options honestly and do either.
Roofing on long eaves
Longmeadow colonials have long, exposed eaves that ice up badly, and the attic spaces above the second floor are often finished or partially finished, which makes the heat loss worse. On a roof replacement I run ice and water barrier much further up than the minimum, ventilate the roof properly with soffit and ridge vents, and address any knee-wall attic spaces that are pumping heat into the roof. Architectural shingles are the standard, with slate or synthetic slate on the houses that had it originally and want to keep the look.
East Longmeadow and the newer homes
East Longmeadow's neighborhoods are largely newer, with colonials and capes from the sixties onward and subdivisions still being built. Those roofs are coming due for replacement in waves, and the common issues are the wall intersections where kickout flashing was skipped and the valleys where the shingles were woven instead of cut properly. Decks, garages, and additions are the carpentry side here, on lots that have room for them.
Siding and trim to match
Clapboard is the right material on most of the older Longmeadow houses, and I install it with the proper exposure and the trim profiles that match the rest of the street. Fiber cement is a strong alternative that holds paint better through freeze-thaw. Either way, the wall gets stripped to the sheathing where rot is suspected, repaired, wrapped, and flashed before the new siding goes on.
The plow route and winter watch
Longmeadow and East Longmeadow are on my winter route, which means I see the eaves in January and can tell a homeowner when the icicles have become a dam. Roof raking, steam ice dam removal, and the spring repair of whatever the winter did are all part of the same year of work.