Slate bodge

[meow2222]

I have a friend who wouldnt spend £1 if his life depended on it. His unfe lted Victorian slate roof has had a lot of slates replaced, its well overdu e for reslating, but he wont remotely contemplate it.

So, what do you reckon to this idea... epoxy copper wire tails onto the und erside of each slate, and screw the wires to the woodwork. I thought it mig ht at least reduce the number of fallen slates a fair bit, and keep him goi ng for a fair bit longer.

I have visions though of the day the last nail gives way, and suddenly a wh ole row of slates slides sideways. :) Still, if it gets him another 20-30 y ears I might have a 1 in 1000 chance of persuading him to spend £15 on ep oxy and £5 on screws.

NT

[Tim Lamb]

In message , [e-mail] writes

I too have an unfelted Victorian slated (barn) roof. Actually close boarded in the Scottish style and secured with copper nails. The recent storms have loosened more slates which I will eventually fix with the traditional lead strip.

I have also used stiff copper wire, doubled over the fixing and bent up over the slate bottom edge. Works OK.

Slates of this age may not take adhesive well as the surface may be delaminating. I'm uncertain how you would do a row without removing them first?

[harryagain]

So, what do you reckon to this idea... epoxy copper wire tails onto the underside of each slate, and screw the wires to the woodwork. I thought it might at least reduce the number of fallen slates a fair bit, and keep him going for a fair bit longer.

I have visions though of the day the last nail gives way, and suddenly a whole row of slates slides sideways. :) Still, if it gets him another 20-30 years I might have a 1 in 1000 chance of persuading him to spend 15 on epoxy and 5 on screws.

The conventional bodge is to spray the underide of the slates with two part foam. This insulates and prevents slate from moving.

Also makes any proper repaui very difficult.

Unattended roof leaks are the quickest way to destroy a building.

[harryagain]

You can buy wire spring clips for centre nailed slates instead of the bit of bent lead/copper. Goes in the original nail holes, two needed for each slate.

You put them on the loose slate and push up into position and they hook onto the neighburing slates. You can't get them out afterwards.

[Brian Gaff]

Well I have no felt either, and the stringers are probably near end of life, but I don't seem to get tiles falling off. Brian

[Nightjar]

I would be dubious about anything sticking successfully to the slates on a nail sick roof, as they are probably friable.

The usual fix is to remove the loose slate, nail or screw a length of copper strip to the lath you can see between the two slates under it, slide the slate back into position (a long strip of thin steel is a useful tool for getting it over the lath it was nailed to) then turn the copper strip up over the bottom of the slate.

A cheap and quick alternative, although it ruins the slates and prevents you from reusing them if you do reslate, is to paint the whole roof with bitumen or butyl runner based roofing paint, as usually used for renovating flat roofs.

Colin Bignell

[alan]

I doubt if you would be able to glue anything to old slates. The first

0.25mm layer in the slate will just split at the slightest excuse, assuming that the surface has not already become dusty.

[Dave Liquorice]

Yep, though when I have tried that method with lead it doesn't really stop the bottom edge of the replaced slate flapping about. You can get plastic things that do a similar job, but also have a part that slides up under between the lower two slates to hold the bottom of the loose slate down.

I might be a bit more worried about that than most due to the rather exposed position. 50 mph sustained winds at ground level are not unknown, I dread to think what it is over the roof...

Slaters ripper, has a couple of sharpened slots in the top end to rip the old nails out from the loose slate. Getting the top of the slate back over the top of the upper lath can be the hard part of the process.

Oh yuck, that's as bad spray foam inside IMHO.

[Nightjar]

IME lead is less effective than copper. Partly, I suspect, because a lead strip needs to be thicker than a copper one.

The wonders of modern technology! However, I always had copper strip readily available.

My repairs survived the Great Storm. The only slates we lost were a handful broken by a flying sheet of corrugated iron. Fortunately, we had plenty of spares.

A ripper is too thick at the top, which it needs to be to have the strength to cut through the nails. I used to have a length of 22g steel strip, about 2" wide, which worked much better.

It is not good, but might appeal to a cheapskate.

Colin Bignell

[Dave Liquorice]

May also be related to lead being soft and ductile, where as copper has a certain amount of springyness.

I haven't, lead yes... B-)

22g = 0.7 mm 2.5 times (ish) the thickness of my ripper. Sort of surprised that 22g has enough stiffness not to droop under it's own weight. The end of my ripper rounded and champered not square and blunt. It could do with being a couple of inches longer for or slates though.

[meow2222]

He's far too cheap to spring for such a thing. I dont think he would anyway for other reasons.

NT

[Nightjar]

It only has to support itself between the top of one slate and the edge of the next lath. For the rest of its length it is resting on the slate below.

Colin Bignell

[Richard]

No. Unattended gas leaks trump that.

[Dave Liquorice]

Unattended probably not as the gas concentration gets too high for an explosion. The ones reported in the news nearly always have someone present, switching on a light or kettle to provide the spark to ignite the gas that has ony had time to build up into the explosive conentration range.

But yes for the rapaid deconstruction of a house you can't beat a gas explosion.

[RobertL]

felted Victorian slate roof has had a lot of slates replaced, its well over due for reslating, but he wont remotely contemplate it.

nderside of each slate, and screw the wires to the woodwork. I thought it m ight at least reduce the number of fallen slates a fair bit, and keep him g oing for a fair bit longer. Is part of the problem that if you walk on the roof to do repairs you loose n every slates you stand on? If so, given that there is no felt, can you a ccess the slates from inside the roof void? For example, make a metal wire hook, poke it down between slates from inside and then pull it up tight an d nail it inside the roof?

Robert

[Huge]

[Tim+]

Well given that he planned to attach copper wires to the "underside" of each slate and then screw to the woodwork (which is under the slates) I think he's way ahead of you. ;-)

Tim

[Jethro_uk]

One of the earlier "Cracker" episodes had a scene where a villain had left the gas on in a house. The poor fireman kept asking if anyone knew if they had central heating to scorn and abuse from the police ("What does it ****ing matter ?").

The episode ended (AIR) when the electromechanical boiler timer clicked round, and took the house up.

[meow2222]

unfelted Victorian slate roof has had a lot of slates replaced, its well ov erdue for reslating, but he wont remotely contemplate it.

to the underside of each slate, and screw the wires to the woodwork. I thou ght it might at least reduce the number of fallen slates a fair bit, and ke ep him going for a fair bit longer.

sen every slates you stand on?

Its not really an option to stand on the slates, they're too thin and far t oo steep.

the roof void?

yes

ide and then pull it up tight and nail it inside the roof?

Yes that's an alternative to glueing I wondered about. What I dont know is how many slates that might cause to fall immediately. If the number isnt cl ose to zero, any such effort would be abandoned very quickly, with his choi ce of curses.

NT

[Tim+]

Why is this your problem? A relative? Maybe the best bet is to get some sort of building inspector to declare the roof dangerous to third parties and force his wallet open.

Tim