Slate Roof Issues – Family Roofing

Posted on by David Reid

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At Family Roofing, we take great pride in our experience, expertise, quality and customer service. It is our mission to provide excellent workmanship and complete customer satisfaction from start to completion of a project. Our reputation is based on service, safety and quality, regardless of how large or small the job.

 

SLATE ROOF ISSUES

When a slate roof has been in use for some time, there are likely to be a few missing or broken slates or the slates might be falling prematurely.   Since slates are basically made of stone, organic rock might have some hairline fractures that could probably break and cause significant damages to your house.

As a concerned homeowner, it is your prime responsibility to look after the health of your roofing systems as they are crucial in sheltering your family.  To help you on that end, roofing and window contractors share some common problems to keep an eye out for on your slate roofing and some ways to deal with such issues.

Choosing the Wrong Variety of Slate

All slates are stones, but not all slates are the same.  Slates are harvested from the earth and are worked out to create shingles.  As an excellent material for roofing, slate roofs have a longer life span since they are built of stone and are constructed of recycled material.  Nonetheless, there could be inevitable, unseen cracks that may lead slate to disintegrate.

Dependent upon the variety of slate you prefer for your house, the life expectancy of slate roofs can even differ.  In some instances, there are slate varieties that crack and start drying and flaking when nearing the end of their life expectancy.  Therefore, before considering some slate shingles for your roof, you should evaluate the quality of the slate variant, the longevity and the nature of the slate roof if you wish it to last.

Seeking the help and advice from experts on roofing will help you in choosing the right variant of slate used for roofing.

Damaged Flashing

At some point, even when you have chosen the right slate variety, over time, the flashings can wear out.  When this happens, leaks will start before the slate roof reach the end of their lifespans.

Moreover, slate shingles are also often mounted between different roof planes to keep water from entering the roof valleys, chimneys and other weak spots.  The moment you start noticing flashing deteriorating, it’s wise to begin replacing them immediately.  Remember that the inability to mitigate these leakages allows the water to penetrate the roof, which may do more harm than you expected.

Poor Installation

The roof may be in decent shape, but if it was not built properly in the first place, a lot of damage is likely to happen.  Therefore, you ought to take your time and select the best construction professionals on your roof and ensure sure the job is done in the right way.

What Can You Do?

If you want your fresh slate roof to last, you should extract faulty slates and substitute them with fresh ones, as similar as possible to the previous ones, to prevent any discoloration or odd-looking places in the roofing system.

Make sure that you mount them correctly and use copper flashing.  Working with an established slate roofing company can go a long way in preventing slate roofs from falling prematurely and other damages that come along with faulty slate roofing.