Roofing in East Greenwich, RI, from the Hill to Frenchtown.

Roofing in East Greenwich

Roofs in East Greenwich: Old Town, Cove Breezes and Country Roads

East Greenwich packs a lot of different houses into one small town. The compact village grew up along Main Street, the old Post Road, and the blocks between Main Street and Greenwich Cove hold the town’s densest run of early houses, from the 1700s through the mid-1800s. West of Main Street the land climbs steeply onto what locals simply call the Hill, where Peirce Street’s big old homes look out over the Cove and the bay.

Those older roofs have their own habits. Steep pitches, dormers, valleys and tall masonry chimneys all add places where water can sneak in, and an old house may have been re-roofed more than once over the years. Before we talk about price, we look at how many layers are up there, what the decking feels like and how the flashing meets the walls and chimney.

Head west across Route 2 and toward Frenchtown, the area French Huguenot families settled in 1686, and the picture changes. The old farm plateau is now mostly suburban neighborhoods, with colonials, capes and ranches on bigger lots and more trees overhead. Here the usual trouble is shade, moss, branches that rub the shingles, and roofs simply reaching the end of their life.

Down by Greenwich Cove and the marinas, wind coming up off Narragansett Bay and Greenwich Bay hits homes harder than it does a few streets inland. Shingle edges, ridge caps and drip edge on the exposed side of the house take the most abuse in a nor’easter.

Photos on this page are illustrations, not specific East Greenwich homes or our projects.