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 Built
in 1918, this striking house in Manchester, New Hampshire, deserved
the homeowner’s passion for quality restoration. From the
beginning, Viking co-owner Jeff Taylor and his crew shared the homeowner’s
concern to preserve the house.
“The people at Viking know what they are doing,” says
the homeowner. “They are meticulous. They are competent and
skilled. Jeff listens and is quite patient. It took me a while to
make up my mind about things. He got endless numbers of samples
for me and spent hours putting them up and taking them down.”
The roof’s original shingles were asbestos, so Viking arranged
for an outside contractor to handle the asbestos abatement. After
that, Viking took over sole responsibility for the project. That
included restoring the chimney with mortar and brick matching the
originals; restoring crown and cornice molding; and hand-fabricating
custom gutters to match the profile and angles of the old wood gutters.
The home has a massive chimney; water regularly puddled behind it,
causing extensive damage. Viking solved the problem in two ways:
first, by building a custom wood cricket and fully soldered flashings
to direct the water left and right down the roof; then, by setting
up a drainage system to collect the roof water and draw it underground
and away from the house.
Viking’s work also uncovered the effects of years of collateral
water damage, including rotted fascias (the trim at the border of
a roof) and siding. “As we systematically went around the
home,” Jeff recalls, “we had to make everything water
tight. So once we were into a wall that was rotted, we stayed with
it until it was fixed. We have the carpentry skills.” Jeff
and his team had to rebuild walls and exterior sheeting, as well
as replacing siding.
They replaced rotted original window sills and frames, using the
original glass and appropriate glazing methods. “We used only
the best products everywhere,” says Jeff.
The homeowner heartily agrees. “It’s worth extra dollars
to work with someone in whom you have confidence and who does a
first-class job. Everything was done to the highest standard.”
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