Roof slate countersinking?

The roofers appear to be nailing the slates without first countersinking the holes. Is this a new technique or are they being lazy? I expected them to knock 2 holes from the back of each slate so there's a 'countersink hole', or 'bevel', which the head of the nail will sit in and so not rub against the slate on top and (eventually) rub a hole in it.

Am I worrying unnecessarily, is there something I've missed, or must I have words with them before they fix any more slates to my roof?

[g]
Reply to
george [dicegeorge]
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Going back 18 years, we found that the Spanish slates were quite easy to punch with a nail as you fitted them although we bought a hand punch to make the holes with the natural 'countersink'. Slater's up here just bang one nail in and straight into the boarding. We used two nails but found the facility of not being able to pivot the slates for maintenance when we fitted sky lights a bit of a pain. Will we see a difference in roof life?, too soon to say but with the weight and large overlap our slates do not move much so rubbing hopefully will not be an issue.

Gio

Reply to
Gio

Unless the slates come pre hole, they should be holed using a gauge scribed mark and the slate put across a brake iron and a hole punched through the back of the slate with a slate holing pick. The slates should be sorted for thickness into 3 or 4 grades, thick at the bottom and thinner at the top. Also the bottom of the slate should be holed with the thick end at the bottom.

Reply to
Kipper at sea

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