Roofing - the slow way

[Rick]

My roofing is started, I have had a professional in to give me a lesson, and he has agreed to come back and do some of the harder bits when I get stuck.

One question however, He suggests that I felt and batton thw whole roof first, then slate it. This is his normal way, but then he does a roof in 2 weeks, I am likley to take several months.

My question lies in the breather membrane, witll the UV sunlight break down the breather membrane before the slate goes on ? My membrane is "alumaflex", google is not showing me too many hits on this product. The BBA certificate say the use of the product as a tempoary waterproofing should be kept to a minimum. the cert also gives a dramatic reduction in strength after 200 & 500 hours of UV ageing - I assume this means 200 & 500 hours of normal sunlight ?

I was going to work in "pannels", one at a time, whish possible gives an issue of the wind going under one pannel the wrong way, and lifting the whole thing off the roof.

One other idea is to "felt and batton" with the alumaflex, than put a tempoary cover on the top to keep the UV off the alumaflex. I was thinking of using Visqueen DPC as its cheep.

Any suggestions.

Thanks Rick

[keith_765]

Haven't used or seen any of this "alumaflex" breath underlay. Its not one of the popular ones. If you go to Wicks or one of the other shed stores. as they call them on here, and buy a blue coloured tarp. They are only a few £. light weight and you can fasten it down with tile bitterns and nails a round the perimeter on to the roof. Just one question. What type of Slates are you using ?.

Keith Slater & Tiler Notts

[Rick]

Keith

So far I have used recycled slates that came off the roof, I have not done too many. Slate purchase is the next big decision. The house is in rural north wales, it has old "unflat" slates, so the roof does not look flat. I don't want a flat square roof. The old slates vary in thickness from very 2/3mm to 7/8 mm.

My options are - 2nd User Welsh Slates (74p each) - new Welsh 2nds from the quarry (1.05 p each) - spanish / chinease (from 50p each)

I guess I will not go for the 2nd User slates, but have not decided between the other two. I need a 100 square meters of slates, which is about 2000 18x9's. If you have any wisdom about which to choose I would apprechiate it.

When I had some roofing done before, the very proudly welsh roofer advised me one of the foreign slates was almost as good as welsh and half the price, but I forget which one he said it was.

Thanks Rick

[bigcat]

I've heard the chinese delaminates and doesnt last well. But I've no experience, not being a roofer. Might be talking outts backside. At least with used welsh you know what youre getting will match reasonably, and is lasting well, I'd go with that if poss.

if money were critical, asbestos slate would have been a good choice, but not nowadays :)

NT

[nafuk]

Rip it all off and do it in one go. The breathable membranes (eg. Monoperm, Tyvec etc.) underlay are rated for 3 months exposure. I've taken all my foor off and got roofer to fit enough battens to hold the membrane in place. I'll fit the remaining battens and tiles over the next few months.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Rick writes

I put a slate roof on a large garage which took about 1800 9x18s so similar job to yours if only single story:-)

Job took about 3 weeks including felting and battens and not working in the wet for obvious reasons. I am not a roofer!

There are a few things I discovered which might help;

make a batten gauge. Battens look straight but knots and grain variations means they actually wander about. A block of wood sized to the correct gap is a big help. Don't join all the battens on the same rafter.

make a kneeling board. Mine was strong ply with a grooved 4"x 2" bringing it up to level and a bit of batten to hook over the roof battens, bit of carpet and underlay works wonders for ageing knees.

I don't know how the experts do it but I found it best to start at the verge and use a bucket for mortar. Because of the 50% overlap you will have a triangle of finished work. It is very tempting to continue along the eaves but after a few courses you will not be able to reach. Slates are brittle! I decided to fit about 5 slates to each row and work up to the ridge. The kneeling board allows you to work over the top of the last row fitted and back along the battens as you work. You can reach several rows from one position.

Finishing is much the same as starting except you really need to avoid using slates of less than half width. You may be in a sheltered area. I was able to cut down some 10x20s.

I fitted a lead ridge and will explain the agricultural method used if necessary:-)

regards

[Chris J Dixon]

Why are they always blue? ;-)

Chris

[keith_765]

There not. some are white.but they are bigger and for professonals, so youve no need to both about a white one.