JUSTEN NEWTON
The Blue Collar Scholar
Roofing for Morrison's 19th-century stone storefronts and the historic buildings at the foothills. Denver metro, and landmark roofs nationwide, outside Florida and Alabama.
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Serving Morrison·Denver Metro & Front Range
Morrison is a 19th-century stone town smaller than most of the estates it borders, sitting at the base of the foothills by Red Rocks. Its old stone storefronts have survived longer than most of the roofs that have covered them.
A small stone building doesn't get less careful treatment because the town around it is small — if anything, a roof that visible in a town that size gets noticed the moment something's done wrong. The standard holds: match the material, respect the headlap, do the ugly work first.
The Morrison Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in September 1976, with sixty-eight buildings and sites.
Source: morrisonhistory.org (opens in a new tab)NOAA's Storm Events Database lists nine reports of hail 1 inch or larger within two miles of its Morrison reference point, January 2019 through June 2026. The largest was 2-inch hail on June 22, 2023.
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1108832 (opens in a new tab)| Date | Hail | Distance | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 24, 2026 | 1.00 in | 1.74 mi | NOAA NCEI event 1348484 |
| June 24, 2026 | 1.00 in | 1.74 mi | NOAA NCEI event 1348483 |
| June 29, 2023 | 1.50 in | 1.27 mi | NOAA NCEI event 1109260 |
| June 22, 2023 | 1.50 in | 0.53 mi | NOAA NCEI event 1108981 |
| June 22, 2023 | 2.00 in | 0.53 mi | NOAA NCEI event 1108832 |
| June 22, 2023 | 1.25 in | 0.53 mi | NOAA NCEI event 1108830 |
| June 21, 2023 | 1.25 in | 1.74 mi | NOAA NCEI event 1107269 |
| August 21, 2019 | 1.00 in | 1.74 mi | NOAA NCEI event 841508 |
Showing the 8 most recent of 9 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 and write it down: pitch, headlap, fastener type, valley metal. In a town this size, every old repair is visible from the street, so the survey notes them too.
The moment the old roof opens, the building gets covered. Temporary dry-in holds against weather off the foothills while salvage and staging take their time.
Keep what is sound. Specify slate or clay to match color, profile and thickness against the stone storefronts, with the sixty-eight buildings of the historic district in mind.
Decking is sistered, underlayment goes in properly, slate hangs on copper, and headlap is sized to the pitch. Nothing about the work shows, and everything about a mistake would.
A clean manifest, photos and warranty paperwork where it applies. The notes record what was under the old roof, for whoever keeps the building next.
Morrison's 19th-century stone storefronts have outlasted plenty of roofs laid over them badly. A slate roof up there fails the same way it fails anywhere — a rusted fastener, a thin headlap, a cheap valley — except in a town this size, everyone notices.
Where clay tile shows up on Morrison's older stock, it deserves the same exact-match treatment as a landmark restoration anywhere else — graded salvage, blended new material, a field that reads whole instead of patched, in a town where a bad repair doesn't stay hidden long.
A stone storefront in a town Morrison's size hides the same lesson as a courthouse roof in a bigger city: the underlayment and decking are what actually protect the building, not the stone everyone looks at. Skip it here and the whole town will know before the next storm's over.
“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.
Morrison's stone storefronts have outlasted most of the roofs laid over them, and Ludowici clay and quarried slate are built to keep up. The fasteners, flashing and underlayment are what give out first, and in a town this size every one of them shows.
Yes. Ludowici's catalog and graded salvage drive the match. Where clay shows up on Morrison's older stock, the exact profile is specified, sound pieces go back where they read, and new fired clay is blended so a repair does not stay visible.
Repair first. Slate on a stone storefront rarely fails as stone; it fails at a rusted fastener, a thin headlap, a cheap valley. Correct those and the roof carries on. Replacement is the last resort, never the opening bid.
On older and mid-century buildings, sometimes. 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 settles it before the scope.
Yes. Morrison is a 19th-century stone town at the foothills by Red Rocks, and the Morrison Historic District was listed on the National Register in September 1976, with sixty-eight buildings and sites. Work here 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.
Selected: . Go to the form
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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