Although a slate roof requires minimal maintenance, some eventualities may cause some damage that needs to be repaired. Among many benefits of having a slate roof, one of the biggest benefit is an easy repair. Since the slate roof is made up of multiple slabs, if a single slab is damaged, it can be easily replaced using the right tools and techniques. The remainder of this post will explain how to repair a slate roof.
How does damage occur to a slate roof?
As mentioned above, damage doesn’t easily occur among slate roofs but the following factors may affect how your roof performs over a long period of time:
- The physical and mineralogical properties of the slate used for roofing
- The fabrication procedure used
- The installation techniques employed
- The existing state of maintenance
- The impact of the surroundings (falling rocks or branches at particular intervals)
How do I repair a slate roof?
Repairing a damaged slate roof is as simple as taking out the damaged slate with the right tools and replacing it with a new slate. The procedure can be simple as well as a bit advanced.
In order to remove the damaged slate you will need to use a ripper. It can be slid under the damaged slate to pull out the nails. Some nails can be easily cut some may damage the adjacent slates so you may have to replace them too. If due to chipped corners or other deposits the slate refuses to budge, you can use the slate hammer to drag it out.
After taking out the damaged slate you can slid inside the vacant place a new slate. The linear gaps between the slates above the newly inserted slate can be used to tap down nails in order to fix the new slate. The same procedure can be followed to replace the other damaged slates.
Some people use a metallic strap to keep the newly inserted slate in place rather than fixing it with nails but one, since it stands out it doesn’t look good, and two, it may straighten under the weight of ice and snow and eventually, making the slate to slide out.
Instead, you can fix a hook and use that hook to keep the newly inserted slate in place. This way, since it won’t be trapping snow or ice, it won’t straighten.
For more information, check out our Roof Repair services page.