JUSTEN NEWTON
The Blue Collar Scholar
Roofing for Golden's Victorian storefronts, century homes and landmark buildings. Denver metro, and landmark roofs nationwide, outside Florida and Alabama.
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Serving Golden·Denver Metro & Front Range
Golden was Colorado's territorial capital before Denver ever was, and its brick Victorian storefronts still carry that weight downtown, with century homes climbing the hill toward the School of Mines. Old ground, old roofs, and a lot of history sitting on top of decking nobody's checked in decades.
The School of Mines put engineers in half these houses at some point, but engineering a building and roofing it right are two different trades. The same standard applies here as anywhere clay or slate went up a century ago — match the material, respect the headlap, do the ugly work before the pretty work goes back on.
The Twelfth Street Historic Residential District in Golden is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Source: National Park Service (opens in a new tab)NOAA's Storm Events Database lists four reports of hail 1 inch or larger within two miles of its Golden reference point, January 2019 through June 2026. The largest was 1.25-inch hail on August 5, 2020.
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 914670 (opens in a new tab)| Date | Hail | Distance | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 8, 2026 | 1.00 in | 1.74 mi | NOAA NCEI event 1330947 |
| June 8, 2026 | 1.00 in | 0.00 mi | NOAA NCEI event 1330929 |
| August 5, 2020 | 1.00 in | 0.69 mi | NOAA NCEI event 914671 |
| August 5, 2020 | 1.25 in | 1.48 mi | NOAA NCEI event 914670 |
Showing all 4 reports of 1 inch or larger within two miles, 2019 to 2026.
NOAA NCEI Storm Events database. Reports lag about three months.
Custom Ludowici clay, hand-slushed with battered butts — 128 squares in a three-color blend, full restoration in Denver. Completed with Precision Construction and Roofing.
Full tear-off and re-deck — 2,500 squares of Boral Tejas España tile, battens and field reinstalled across the complex. Completed with Precision Construction and Roofing.
DaVinci slate in a black-and-grey blend — 396 squares total, custom copper-and-lead turret work on a full replacement. Completed with Precision Construction and Roofing.
Free inspections·A written scope·No pressure on the porch
One standard, whether it is a courthouse, a church or a house. Documented, preserved, and put back better than the archives remember it.
Fired clay that outlives its warranty by a century. Matched, milled, and hung by hands that know every profile in the catalog.
Stone laid to shed water for a hundred years. Cut, hung, and headlapped like it has to prove it every day.
The dangerous work nobody photographs. Brought down under negative air by certified crews — contained, cleared, and manifested — so the beautiful work can begin.
Walk the storefront roof or the hillside house and write it down. Pitch, headlap, fastener type, valley metal, and the places water already won, all documented before a tear-off, because the decking underneath has not been looked at in decades.
The moment the old roof opens, the building gets covered. Temporary dry-in keeps the interior dry while salvage, deck repair and staging take their time.
Keep the sound pieces. Specify Ludowici clay or slate to match color, profile and thickness against what shows from the street below, so the roof reads whole against downtown's brick.
Ice-and-water shield at every valley, decking sistered where it needs it, slate on copper, headlap sized to the pitch. None of it shows in a photo of the storefronts, which is how it should be.
A clean manifest, photos and warranty paperwork where it applies. The notes pass on what was under the old roof to the next keeper of a very old building.
A Victorian storefront on Golden's main strip doesn't fail as stone — it fails at the details, same as anywhere: a rusted fastener, headlap shaved to stretch a square, a valley re-flashed in whatever was cheap at the time. The territorial capital's oldest buildings have earned better than a patch job.
Century homes near the School of Mines that carry clay tile deserve the exact profile Ludowici fired for them, not the nearest match on a pallet. Salvage comes off graded, sound tile goes back where it shows, and the new material gets blended through so the field reads whole from the street below.
Golden's older buildings have survived a lot of roofers who skipped the underlayment because the tile on top still looked fine. Decking gets sistered, ice-and-water shield goes in at every valley, and none of it shows in a photo of the storefronts downtown — until it's the reason those storefronts are still standing dry.
“The archives remember what the roof looked like. My job is to make the roof agree.”
— Justen Newton
The pretty part is the clay. The century is everything underneath it. Walk the layers.
Golden's brick storefronts date from when it was the territorial capital, and a Ludowici clay or slate roof is built to last that long. What fails first is the part nobody sees: the underlayment, flashing and fasteners beneath, long before the tile gives out.
Yes. Ludowici's catalog and graded salvage drive the match. A century home on the hill toward the School of Mines gets the exact profile fired for it, sound tile goes back where it shows from the street, and new clay is blended through so the field reads whole.
Repair first. A Victorian storefront roof rarely fails as stone; it fails at the rusted fastener, the shaved headlap, the valley re-flashed in whatever was cheap. Fix those details and the roof carries on. Replacement is the last resort, never the opening bid.
On older and mid-century buildings, often. Transite and older membranes come off under negative air, with certified crews and a clean manifest, before a single new course goes on. The survey finds it before the schedule is set.
Yes. Golden was the territorial capital before Denver, and the Twelfth Street Historic Residential District is on the National Register. Downtown storefronts and century homes near the School of Mines are the kind of building worth the trip, and the work starts with a site visit and a written scope.
Steep-slope craftsman. Historic clay and slate. One standard, whether it is a courthouse, a church or a house.
Seventeen years on landmark roofs. Roofing work nationwide, outside Florida and Alabama. Ludowici clay, premium slate, and asbestos abatement handled by the book. When the roof carries the building’s story, the work travels.
Pick the closest match. The inquiry form fills in the roof for you.
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Tell Justen what you are seeing. He usually calls back within one business day. The inspection is free. Next comes a site visit, then a written scope. No pressure on the porch.
Justen sells and personally runs high-end roofing jobs, usually through Precision Construction and Roofing, and consults independently.
31 points, 6 sections. Print it before the site visit, or take it to the board.
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