Bloomfield was farm country for most of its history, and much of that farming was shade tobacco, grown under cloth for cigar wrappers. The Connecticut River Valley had more than 30,000 acres of tobacco in the 1920s, according to the local historical society; by the mid-1960s it was under 8,000. As the fields went out of production, Bloomfield became a postwar suburb of Hartford, starting in the 1950s.
A town built mostly after 1950
Researchers at Trinity College note that Bloomfield, like Avon, adopted zoning in the 1950s in response to that decade's sharp population growth. The insurer Connecticut General opened its office campus on Cottage Grove Road in 1957, bringing jobs to the town itself. The result is a housing stock dominated by the second half of the 20th century, with the most development in the south and east of town and more open land remaining to the north and west.
That gives Bloomfield's roofs a fairly predictable profile:
- Ranches and split-levels from the 1950s and 1960s, now on their third or fourth roof
- Colonials and raised ranches from the 1970s and later
- Contemporary houses with shed roofs, clerestory windows and low-slope sections that combine shingles with membrane roofing
- Hip roofs, which are more common here than in Hartford's older neighborhoods
Contemporary houses need a plan for every transition
Where a steep shingle roof meets a low-slope section or a wall of clerestory windows, water has to turn a corner. On a replacement, those spots need:
- Membrane roofing on any section too flat for shingles
- Step flashing and counter-flashing where roofs meet walls
- Sill and head flashing at clerestory windows that sit just above a roof
- New skylight flashing kits, or new skylights, rather than reusing old ones
Ranch, Colonial or contemporary, call to talk with a roofer who replaces roofs in Bloomfield.Mon–Fri 8:30 am–7 pm, Sat 9 am–4 pm (Eastern)
(844) 505-0987Bloomfield roof replacement questions
- What kind of roofs do Bloomfield's postwar houses have?
- Mostly asphalt shingle gable and hip roofs on ranches, Capes, split-levels and Colonials, with some contemporary houses that have low-slope sections, clerestories and skylights. Those contemporary roofs need extra attention at every change in pitch.
- Does a hip roof take longer to replace than a gable roof?
- Usually somewhat longer. A hip roof has more edges, more hip ridges to cap and more cutting at the corners, so the same square footage takes a crew a bit more time.
- Is there anything special about houses near open farmland?
- Houses on open ground in the north and west of town take more wind than houses in sheltered neighborhoods. High-wind nailing and sealed starter strips at the edges are worth asking for.