More About Installing Slate Roofs
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a copy of our book: The
Slate Roof Bible
Read our magazine online: Traditional
Roofing
Read
our articles about slate roofs online.
Appropriate Project Specifications
Slate roofing was once an art practiced
by nearly every roofing contractor, but that was a century
ago and most of those experts have long since passed away.
Slate roofs require adequate headlaps, adequate sidelaps,
proper nails, slope, tools and installation procedures. If
done correctly, a good slate roof will last 150 years or
more, and be virtually trouble-free.
The photo above shows a new
slate roof installed on a college dormitory. The installation
was defective due to a lack of headlap. In most cases, every
course of slates should be overlapped by the second course
above it by at least three inches. As you can see in the
photo, this "headlap" does
not exist here. Average headlap on this roof is 1.5 inches,
where there is any at all.
Above, a large and complicated
roof in Georgia had been installed with no headlap anywhere
(see photo below). The entire roof had to be removed and
re-installed. This is a perfect example of a project requiring
a competent slate roofing consultant.
The cathedral slate roof, above,
had reached the end of it's useful life after 120 years of
service, primarily due to the limited service life of the
black slates on the roof (the green slate was still good).
It had to be completely reslated. This project required a
consultant to aid the Diocese in assessing the roof and then
selecting appropriate specifications for the necessary re-slating.
A photo of the new slate roof is shown below. Welsh black
slate combined with Vermont unfading green slate and stainless
steel flashings have created a roof that should last 150
years, or more.
Our Slate Roof Consulting Services
We provide slate roof consulting services for new traditional
slate roof installations as well as for existing slate roofs,
no matter what age. Our services are utilized by insurance
companies, architectural firms, property owners, law firms,
general contractors and roofing contractors, among others.
Our services are provided in five basic ways:
1) Email Consultations: At times our clients will want us
to review photos and information about a specific roof, then
offer opinions and/or advice regarding the roof or its restoration,
repair or installation. We can often provide this service
via email, which is relatively quick and inexpensive.
2) Mail Consultations: In the event that email is not sufficient
because a written, letterhead document is required from us
for a specific purpose, then a mail consultation will often
suffice.
3) Remote Technical Support: We provide email, phone, mail
and fax support for ongoing slate roofing projects when no
site visit is required.
4) Site Visits: We must visit a slate roof on-site in order
to conduct a roof survey and prepare a conditions report.
This service is necessary when a detailed report on the current
conditions of a slate roof is needed.
5) Forensic Services: We offer expert witness services.
About Slate Roofs
Slate (stone) roofs have been installed on a large scale
in the United States for over 150 years. These roof systems
have been phenomenally successful — some slate roofs
that are already 150 years old are still functioning well
in this country today. Early slate roof tradesmen carried
their traditional skills over from their countries of origin — often
Wales, Ireland, Scotland or England. Today, following practices
built upon tried-and-proven traditional methodologies, we
can install new slate roofs that can be expected to last
a century, if not two.
Although slate roofing was once an art practiced by nearly
every roofing contractor a century ago, most of those experts
have long since passed away. Much of the basic knowledge
about successful slate roof installations has become lost
to modern roofing contractors and architects whose primary
focus is now on asphalt and low-slope roof systems. Slate
roofs require adequate headlaps and sidelaps, proper nails,
roof slope, tools and installation procedures. They require
a roof deck that will last at least as long as the slate.
They cannot rely on underlayments (roofing paper) to make
them water-tight as no underlayments have the longevity of
the stone itself. If done correctly, a modern slate roof
will be built upon four fundamental elements: the slate,
the fasteners (typically copper nails), the substrate or
roof deck (typically wood), and the flashings (typically
copper). Correctly installed, such a roof will last 150 years
or more while remaining water-tight and virtually trouble-free.
About Joseph Jenkins
Joe Jenkins, Principal of Joseph Jenkins, Inc., became
a roofer’s helper in 1968 at the age of 16 while still
in high school, when he trained under a 63 year-old professional
roofer. He began his own business in 1970, working during
the summer months while putting himself through college.
He has personally worked on over 1,000 slate roofs since
then. Much of Jenkins’ training and knowledge about
slate roofs came from the deceased roofers of old, whose
work Jenkins removed and restored on hundreds of slate roofs
over a career spanning decades. It is from this experience
restoring century-old slate roofs that Jenkins gained his
understanding of traditional slate roofing systems.
Jenkins is the author of the award-winning Slate
Roof Bible (1997), editor and publisher of the Traditional
Roofing Magazine (traditionalroofing.com), and author of articles about slate
roofs for Traditional Building Magazine, Period Homes Magazine,
the RCI Interface Journal, and the American Society of Home
Inspectors ASHI Reporter. Jenkins speaks internationally
on the topic of slate roofs and has been written about in
numerous media outlets. In 2005, he founded the Slate
Roofing Contractors Association of North America, Inc. (slateroofers.org).
He is also a member of the Roof Consultants Institute (RCI)
and is on the Board of Directors of the National
Slate Association,
but is not affiliated with any slate quarry, slate supplier,
or other industry entity in such a manner that would affect
the objectivity of his consulting services.
Joseph Jenkins, Inc. maintains a slate roofing supply service
at slateroofcentral.com, which includes a public message
board about slate, tile and asbestos roofing.
Costs for our services vary according to factors that include
size and number of roofs, location, accessibility, degree
of difficulty, number of site visits required, etc.
Call us at 866-641-7141 or email
us.
Email Consultations
Mail consultations
Site visits
Slate Roof
Installations
Slate
Roof Restorations
Our Contracting
Services
