A Landmark Restored: CertainTeed Grand Manor Roofing on a Historic Narragansett Coastal Station

Standing watch over Narragansett Bay, this historic coastal station needed a roof worthy of its stature — one that could stand up to relentless salt air, wind-driven rain, and full sun exposure while honoring the building’s period character. Pinnacle answered with CertainTeed’s most premium shingle, Grand Manor, in the warm Georgian Brick blend — a roof engineered to read as natural slate from the ground while carrying the durability of modern asphalt. Pinnacle roofs go on fast — often as a one-day roof replacement — and flexible financing keeps a project like this within reach, with plans as low as 0% interest for 18 months.

A landmark like this shows every detail, so the whole roof — the steep main planes, the dormers, and the tower cap — was rebuilt in Grand Manor with hand-detailed metalwork at every transition. This project is in Narragansett, Rhode Island, finished in CertainTeed Grand Manor — Georgian Brick.

Scope of Work

We installed CertainTeed Grand Manor on this project. This was a full tear-off and rebuild on a complex, multi-plane roof: steep main slopes, projecting dormers, and the distinctive tower cap that gives the station its silhouette. We stripped the old roof to the deck and inspected the sheathing plane by plane — critical on a coastal building, where salt air and slow moisture intrusion can quietly soften plywood for years before anything shows on the surface. Along every eave, valley, and sidewall we laid CertainTeed WinterGuard ice-and-water shield, then covered the field with a high-temperature synthetic underlayment rated to sit under a heavy shingle in full coastal sun. The intricate parts of a landmark roof are the transitions, and every one — the dormer cheeks, the tower base, the wall junctions — was detailed by hand with step flashing and counter-flashing rather than relying on sealant alone. Keeping the historic lines crisp through all of that geometry is what separates a landmark restoration from an ordinary re-roof.

What We Installed (And Why)

Grand Manor is the top of CertainTeed’s residential lineup — a heavy-weight shingle with a broad, random tab design that recreates the deep shadow lines and irregular coursing of natural slate, but with the durability and far lighter weight of asphalt. That distinction matters on a historic building: true slate is beautiful but punishingly heavy and brittle, while Grand Manor delivers the same quarried look without overloading original framing. The performance behind the looks is what makes it right for an exposed coastal site. Grand Manor carries a UL 2218 Class 4 impact rating — the highest impact classification there is, tested by dropping steel balls onto the shingle — which is real protection against the wind-driven debris and hail a shoreline roof will eventually see. It also holds a Class A fire rating, the top rating Underwriters Laboratories awards, is engineered to withstand winds up to 110 mph, and includes StreakFighter algae resistance to fight the black streaking that salt-air humidity encourages. All of it is backed by a limited lifetime warranty. In Georgian Brick, the multi-tone blend of warm reds and browns echoes aged slate and clay, keeping the station firmly in its era instead of modernizing it.

Project Photo Gallery

Finished Georgian Brick roof in Narragansett, RI

Narragansett, RI — roof and material detail

Narragansett, RI project detail

Completed Narragansett, RI project

Good To Know: What makes a shingle “impact resistant,” and why does it matter on the Rhode Island coast?

Impact resistance is graded by UL 2218, a standard that drops steel balls of increasing size onto a shingle and rates how well it resists cracking. Class 4 is the highest level, and it is exactly what a coastal roof needs: shoreline properties catch wind-driven debris, tree limbs, and the occasional hail event, and a Class 4 shingle like Grand Manor absorbs those hits far better than a standard architectural shingle. There is a practical bonus, too — many insurers offer a premium discount for a documented Class 4 impact-resistant roof, so the upgrade can partially pay for itself over the life of the roof.

Why This Approach Works

Overlaying new shingles over an old roof hides the condition of the deck and stacks weight on original framing — a poor gamble on any historic structure, and a worse one on the coast. A full tear-off let us verify and repair the sheathing, reset a continuous water barrier from eave to ridge, and install Grand Manor exactly to CertainTeed’s specification. On a landmark, that is the only way to warranty a luxury roof honestly and know it will hold for decades of shoreline weather.

Why Pinnacle

Historic and landmark roofs demand a contractor certified at the very top of the manufacturer’s ladder. Pinnacle Roofing & Skylights is a CertainTeed ShingleMaster™ Premier contractor — the highest residential credential CertainTeed offers, which qualifies our customers for CertainTeed’s full SureStart™ PLUS extended warranty — coverage most contractors cannot offer. We’ve served Rhode Island since 2012, hold a 5.0-star Google rating across 100+ reviews and an A+ BBB rating — see our full credentials.

Narragansett, Rhode Island

Narragansett lives with the sea. From the working shoreline around Point Judith to the summer homes along the bay, roofs here take a beating from salt spray, unfiltered sun, and the nor’easters that funnel up the coast each winter. A roof in Narragansett is as much about coastal durability — impact resistance, wind rating, algae resistance — as it is about curb appeal, and Grand Manor was chosen because it delivers both without asking the building to carry the weight of true slate. Explore our work across Narragansett roofing services.