Patching a leaky slate roof.?
Question:We've just bought a house, over 100 yrs old, with the original slate roof. It leaks. Right now we don't have the money to properly fix the roof. I was told that we could coat the entire roof with an aluminum fiber coat and it will stop the leaks until next spring when we can afford to actualy fix it. Is this info correct? Can you suggest something better? Any (serious) help will be greatly appriciated. Thanks!
Answers:
Sorry, I don't know of any quick fixes for slate. Depending upon how extensive the problem is, a repair may not be that terrible. If it is not too bad, you should check with a few different contractors (if you can find them) to make sure you are getting the right deal. Slate is not that common, sometimes contractors that specialize will take advantage of that. Make sure they have some experience with slate. It is not terribly complicated work for someone that knows what they are doing.
Coating the entire roof with fiber coating of any kind is a mistake. The obvious problem is that you will not be able to recover the slate later. The coating will not come off to the extent to allow that. If the roof is so bad that you are planning to tear it off anyway that may not be an issue, but at the very least you will loose any salvage value of the slate.
The bigger problem with coating slate with fiber is that it will cause more leaks. Slate has a certain amount of movement due to expansion and contraction with heat. The fiber is not flexible enough to go along with it, so it will tend to crack where one row of shingles meets the next, letting a bit of water wick underneath. It will not crack enough to let the water back out -- it tends to hold the water in underneath.
You probably will not see this for a while, as the amount of water may not be significant. If it freezes, you will see it. More slate popping loose, more cracks, significant amounts of water. Depending upon your weather, you may make it through fall, but by the second freeze cycle you will have a problem that will require constant attention until you can have your roof replaced.
If you can determine the approximate area of the leak on the roof, and you can remove the slate without damage. You might try replacing the erroded underlayment. Just a thought
Did they also tell you that the aluminum fiber stuff won't come off? It will work but it will look BAD.
the only thing i have to say is, BR CAREFUL CLIMBING ON A SLATE ROOF> you can end up on the ground much quicker than when you went up. do be careful. better yet, let someone else do it.
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