Stone Coated Flashings and Vents for Sunnyvale Homes
Sunnyvale was orchard country first.
Sunnyvale was orchard country first. In the postwar decades the fruit trees came out, Lockheed and the aerospace work around Moffett Field brought families in, and the town filled with single story ranch houses, several Eichler tracts, and later the townhomes near downtown and along El Camino Real. California Stone Coating, a Fremont manufacturer of stone coated flashings and vents, wrote this page about the pitched roofs in that mix and the metal that sticks up out of them.
Sunnyvale Ranch Homes and the Pipes That Break the Roofline
A Sunnyvale ranch house is long, low and close to the street. The ridge runs the length of the house, the pitch is modest, and a reroof today most often means composition shingle. What breaks that clean line is a small cluster of metal: plumbing vents from the kitchen and baths, the water heater flue, sometimes an exhaust vent for a bath fan.
Because the house is one story, all of it sits near eye level for anyone walking by. A new roof finished with bare galvanized jacks leaves bright silver stubs across an even field of shingle. Painting them is the usual patch. Living with them is the other, and it is where many owners land once the paint wears off and nobody wants to climb back up for a touch up.
Stone coated metal is the third way. The plumbing jacks, the flue and the vent caps all get a finish in the shingle color, and from the curb the roof reads as one surface. Our own photos show that finish on heat pipes, double wall vent pipe and caps, which the stone coated vents page covers, while the jacks themselves live on the stone coated flashings page. For the plumbing vents there is also the Rapid Sleeve, a 10 inch metal sleeve that slides over the pipe with an elongated drip cap and a lower flare, and leaves the rubber collar out of the picture entirely.
A Straight Answer About Sunnyvale Eichlers
Eichlers are a big part of Sunnyvale's character, and they deserve an honest note. Many of them have low-slope or nearly flat roofs, often covered with foam or a membrane rather than shingles, and the detail around a pipe on that kind of roof is its own system with its own rules. The roofer who works on low-slope roofs is the right person to decide what goes around those penetrations.
Stone coated parts earn their keep on the pitched roof, shingle or shake, where a bright jack stands out against the texture of the field. If your Eichler has a sloped section or a later addition with a pitched roof, that is a fair place to ask about them. We are happy to answer questions by phone, and we will not pretend every roof is the same.
Sunnyvale Roofers and the Callback Problem
For the roofer, the case is less about looks and more about the last day on the job. Our contractors page boils it down to three reasons: referrals, quality and leaks.
Leaks come first, because they are what put a roofer back on a ladder for free. Plumbing flashings and assemblies leak at the seam on the cone, and a coat of spray paint does nothing to close it. We seal that seam with an adhesive that bonds with the metal, so the one spot most likely to bring you back is already shut when the part comes out of the box. Quality is about the paint itself. Spray painting is tiring, it looks rough up close, and it breaks down in the sun; a stone coated part means the last time you leave a roof really is the final time. Referrals follow the look; in our own words to contractors, homeowners love the look and longevity of stone coated flashings, and that is how a roofer's name gets passed down the block.
Because the parts fit all standard types of installations with no special tools or equipment, and are reasonably priced, they can go on every Sunnyvale roof you touch, not only the showpiece jobs.
Getting Stone Coated Parts onto a Sunnyvale Job
Homeowners get our parts through the roofer doing the work. When you collect bids, ask each roofer to include stone coated flashings and vents in the shingle color, and let them price that into the job. You can always call us first if you want to understand the parts before that conversation, and our why stone coat page lays out the full case.
Roofers can order straight from us at (510) 284-2554 or ask their roofing distributor. Tell us the shingle color and we coat to it; our brochure's list runs from Charcoal Black and Country Gray to Chestnut and Terra Cotta, and custom color blending covers anything between. The same arrangement applies next door in Mountain View and Santa Clara, and across every town on our service areas page.
Frequently Asked Questions
We are a manufacturer, so the answer is no. Your roofer installs them, and we are glad to talk through which parts fit your house if you call.
No. Our materials say no additional painting is necessary ever again, and they describe the finish as maintenance free with no UV deterioration or rust.
It was made for plumbing vents. The sleeve seals the plumber vent with a lower flare and an elongated drip cap, so there is no rubber collar or broken sealant to worry about later.
Talk Through Your Sunnyvale Roof With Us
Owners with a reroof on the calendar and roofers working Sunnyvale streets can reach California Stone Coating at (510) 284-2554 with questions about parts, colors or ordering. We make the finish, and your roofer makes it part of the roof.