Second-Floor Dormer Construction with Maintenance-Free Exterior

This project was a true exterior carpentry job, not just a re-roof. We built a dormer on the second-floor office of a Maryland home: framed the structure, tied it into the existing roof system, installed new roofing, wrapped it in maintenance-free siding, and set a new window. Every transition was sealed, flashed, and finished so the homeowner never has to repaint or recaulk it.

Dormers fail at the intersections — where the new roof meets the existing roof, where siding meets brick or trim, and where the window head flashing meets the house wrap. Our solution was a continuous waterproofing detail: ice-and-water shield wrapped up the sidewalls, step flashing at every shingle course, new house wrap lapped correctly with the window flashing tape, and a kick-out flashing at the bottom to dump water away from the wall.