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Common Slate Roofing Installation Mistakes

I love slate roofs but it is one thing that people can screwup on. Slate roof installation or renovation isn’t your average DIY job. You need to have the right skills, knowledge and tools to do it properly, in order to make sure the roof is going to be durable and waterproof. Here are the four most common mistakes people do when installing or renovating their roofing.

1. Poor Flashing Installation

Flashing needs replacements more frequently than the roof itself. In order to reach it, you need to remove the individual slate tiles, install the new flashing, and put the tiles back in their right positions. When the slate isn’t properly installed, it may lead to broken slate tiles. The consequence will be a leaking roof.

2. Cracked Slate Tiles

Some slate tiles and more vulnerable than others. Eventually, they are all prone to breaking. This is why you have to avoid walking on your slate roof during installation or maintenance and repair works.
A damage to a slate roof may not be obvious right off the bat, but will cause a lot of hassle a few years later, when your roof is going to suffer water damage.
Prevent such situations by using scaffolding and hook ladders to get to the roof.
If walking on the roof is a must, the professional slate tradesperson will know the correct way to do it without affecting the slates.

3. Motley Or Stained Roof Colour

Your slate roof tiles may have slight differences in colour from one pallet to the other, even though, in theory, they should be similar. This happens quite often in case of low quality suppliers.
Homeowners who lack experience can’t notice such issues. On the contrary, a slate roof specialist will know how to blend the tiles in a way that’s esthetically appealing even when such colour differences exist.
There are some slate types that develop rust-like stains over time. This is something you should discuss with your slate roofing specialist before buying them.
It would be a shame to have to replace your roof at some point in time only because you don’t like its colour anymore.

4. Wrong Headlap Positioning

Headlap is a technical term describing how the head of the slate tile is overlapped by the adjacent courses of slate tiles.
When the headlap is correct, water can’t enter your house. The standard headlap is three inches, but this value may vary with the roof pitch and the

specific climate conditions in your area. This is why you need help from a professional slate tradesperson in order to avoid water damage and leaking roofing.

This is a slate roof done properly by Gerard at slateroofingsydney.com.au

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Roof Restorations in Geelong

Roof Restoration Geelong At Home in the CoveThis blog post is not really related to my renovations and my super duper investment property. But it sort of is. This article is about the guys from Roof Restoration Geelong and how to provide a proper professional service.

Firstly, yes, another plug for a local business (maybe I should have my site themed around local business reviews), but I feel that small local business have it tough (I know, I used to own one and now have another) and need as much help as they can. So if someone in Geelong reads this article and finds it appropriate to give the guys a call at Roof Restoration Geelong, then my goal has been kicked.

Having just had my roof restored, I’m also somewhat of an authority on roof restorations and related work (hahaha just kidding – I’m no authority at all).

I honestly think that the roof is one of the most important component to a building. When you think about it, yeah I know – whoever thinks about roofs right, but going back in history, the one component of any habitable place or structure was a roof. For example, a cave, a hut, a gazebo, etc., etc. So there’s no need to build a case about how important a roof is, but when I think about things I need to do around the house, roof maintenance never comes to mind. That’s just me. And my mates – we never talk “roofs” while we’re having a beer. I guess roofers and their mates do.

So my point is sometimes your roof is worth thinking about and some maintenance is in order. Like anything, and this is the crazy part, a roof neglected and left not looked after for years and years will result in a hefty project at some point. And with hefty projects comes hefty price tags.

A Geelong local roofing company called Roof Restoration Geelong pointed out some of these tips and more whilst on a job at my mate’s place, funnily enough, in Geelong. I recently caught up with my mate for a few beers and his experience with this company came up in conversation (hahaha turns out we do need to talk more about roofs when having a beer with mates!) and he had nothing for praise for them. Being a small business, I then asked my mate to send me an email with some of the finer details so I could chuck up a blog post about them. Little did I know he would send me an essay, but I’ll condense it here for the benefit of the casual reader.

My mate has a decent size house in Geelong so consequently the roof is quite large. As with most buildings in Geelong, the place is getting a bit aged and the roof especially is dated. The roof is a tiled roof and the there are some broken/cracked tiles, along with some ridge capping that needs re-doing but it’s mostly the look of the roof my mate wasn’t happy about.

In come Roof Restoration Geelong and Simon. First thing he did was took time to listen to the concerns my mate had and take notes (very unusual I know). He seemed intent on knowing exactly what the issues were that my mate thought and what other things he would like addressed. Following the discussion, Simon was up on the roof in a flash and checking out things that I’m sure are best left for the professionals.

Following the inspection was another discussion about findings. Thankfully for my mate it wasn’t going to be too bad for him. A day or two later and he received an email with a quote attached. Easy as!

The rest is history. The quote was accepted, and the job done as planned and exactly to the quote. No hidden surprises and the guys finished off by cleaning everything up behind them.

Shout out to a very professional outfit, thank you Roof Restoration Geelong. Other roofing services that they provide include;

  • Gutter repairs, replacements and installations
  • Roof repairs
  • New roofs and roof replacements
  • Roof cleaning
  • Roof painting
  • Roof restorations.