Roofing and Flooring Slate Installation

Laying Slate, from The Slate Handbook

In the laying of any roofing material workmanship is as essential as the proper selection of the material. The more enduring the material the more important this factor becomes. Slate, the most lasting roofing material known, should be laid by roofers of experience and training.

It is a mistake to assume that those without such experience are qualified to properly lay slate. For instance the nailing of wooden shingles and slates are entirely different. The heads of slating nails should just touch the slate and should not be driven "home" or draw the slate, but left with the heads just clearing the slate hangs on the nail.

The opposite is true of wooden shingles and a man used to laying this material will invariably handle slate in the same way. As a consequence the slate, held too rigidly in place, is shattered around the nail hole, or the head of the nail crushed and eventually the slate may "ride" up over the nail and be blown off in a heavy wind. The blame is placed on the material whereas the real reason can be traced to the method of nailing. All nails should penetrate the sheathing and not the joints between boards. This is especially important near the ridge of the roof.

It would seem almost unnecessary to mention the fact that there should be no through joints from the roof surface to the felt. The joints in each course should be well broken with those below. Where this simple precaution is neglected it is possible that water may find its way through the joints, eventually cause the felt to disintegrate and leaks develop. Where random widths are used the overlapping slate should be jointed as near the center of the under slate as possible and not less than 3" from any under joint. Where all slates are of one width, this is automatically taken care of by starting every other course with a half slate or, where available and practicable, a slate one and one-half times the width of the others.

With but few exceptions, the standard 3" lap should be insisted upon. The "standard 3" lap" or "3" headlap' means the lap of the slate over the second course below, see Figure 15. The small saving in slate through reducing the lap will not compensate for the risk entailed of leakage due to the lessened amount of material over which water might be blown.

A practice prevalent among many roofers is that of driving the slater's stake into the roof boards. To avoid damaging the roofing felt, a plank should be used for this purpose or the stake driven into the scaffold only. Slaters occasionally use a metal strap as a support of the scaffold brackets. This practice should be discouraged when these are cut off and a part left on the roof. They will rust in time and stain the slate in a most unsightly manner.

The foregoing applies to slating in general. The forming of slate hips, ridges, valleys, eaves and gables require a description peculiar to themselves.

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