1923 Clinton Avenue

Atlas Pinnacle Pristine Black Shadow — 1923 Clinton Avenue, St. Clair

The homeowner on Clinton Avenue had already been planning to replace the roof this year, so the timing worked out. We came out, did a full inspection, and got them squared away with a complete tear-off and reinstall using Atlas Pinnacle Pristine shingles.

The roof had two distinct pitch sections, which is pretty common on older Michigan homes with additions or dormers. We ran separate tear-off and replacement scopes for the steeper 8/12 to 9/12 sections and the lower 3/12 to 7/12 sections. Once everything was stripped down to the deck, we found more soft spots than the initial inspection suggested. We ended up replacing 3 sheets of plywood and 30 sheets of OSB through a change order, so 33 sheets of decking total came off this roof. When you're tearing off a full roof and you start finding soft decking, we deal with it. We don't shingle over bad wood.

With the deck solid, we started the water management layers from the bottom up. WeatherMaster Ice and Water Shield went down first, two courses at the eaves and wrapped around all the wall intersections, penetrations, and valleys. That's 7 squares of ice and water on this job. Summit 60 synthetic underlayment ran over the rest of the field up to the ridge. Drip edge went on along all the eave and rake edges, 34 pieces total. Step flashing was installed at every wall transition, and we put in new wall flashing at the four locations where the roof meets vertical surfaces. One pipe boot and a pipe boot cover went on the plumbing stack.

Ventilation got a full overhaul on this one. We installed 50 feet of SmartVent intake along the eaves, which is an edge-mounted intake vent that replaces the function of traditional soffit venting where the soffit doesn't allow for proper airflow. We also installed 50 attic baffles through a change order, which keep the ventilation channel open between the insulation and the roof deck so air can move from the intake up to the exhaust without restriction. On top of that, we added a dedicated bathroom exhaust vent through the roof. A lot of older homes in this part of St. Clair have bathroom fans that dump moisture directly into the attic. That's a problem. This one now vents to the outside.

For shingles, we went with Atlas Pinnacle Pristine. These are a laminate architectural shingle with a solid warranty and good performance in Michigan freeze-thaw cycles. Pro-Cut starter shingles went along the eaves and rakes before the field shingles, and Pro-Cut hip and ridge cap finished the peaks and hips. The whole install was done on a roof that splits between two pitch categories, so the crew had to manage both the steeper sections and the lower-slope areas with appropriate technique throughout.

Clinton Avenue sits in a quiet residential stretch of St. Clair, not far from the St. Clair River and the activity along Palmer Street. It's the kind of neighborhood where the houses have some age to them and the roofs reflect that. This was a St. Clair roof replacement that needed to be done right, not just fast. Between the decking replacement, the ventilation upgrades, and the full flashing package, the house is set up properly now. Roofing Army handled the full scope, and the homeowner got the replacement they'd already been planning, done correctly before another Michigan winter rolls in.