Slate Roofing
Slate roof provides protection for the home owner and the occupant of the house from rain, snow, wind and other natural events. The installation of a slate roof plays a vital role in its ability to provide protection to homeowners and an elegant finishing touch to the house. Our contractors are fully trained in mastering the tools, materials and techniques in slate roof installations to give it a nice and alluring look. When local requirements come into play, we use creativity in material selection to deliver a unique slating style. There are different types of slate roofs and they include: standard slate, patterned, random width, multicolored, graduated length, graduated thickness, textural, and hang-down slate roofs.
Standard Slate Roof Slate is one of the longest-lasting roof materials. It is a natural rock that is mined and cut to become a form of 'shingle'. Slate is strong and has very good weather resistance as well as low water absorption, meaning that it withstands freezing temperatures as well. However, the initial cost of slate shingles can be higher than other types of roof covering, as can repairs and maintenance. Slate roof tiles are usually rectangles but they can be found trimmed into special shapes. Patterned Roof A patterned roof is achieved by using slates of different colors, shapes, designs, accents, courses and banding to achieve a desired roof outline. Accents can be in the form of floral or geometric patterns with names, dates or words. In the past, pattern catalogues were usually available from slate distributors or even the quarries where they are made. Patterned roofs were commonly used in the past and till today are still in vogue due to its calm and beautiful design carefully created by the professionals who installed it. Multicolored Slate Roofs Multicolored slate roofs make your building stand out in the neighborhood due to the colorfulness. It’s the first thing that your visitors notice when they get to your home. The major advantage of a multicolored slate roof is the esthetic appeal it gives your home. It is common to blend different colors together or use a random width installation to achieve the desired effect. In order to ease the transition between colors, it is ideal to use complimentary shades with unfading slate colors. Graduated Length/Thickness Slate Roofs This kind of slate roof is installed with the longest and widest slates at the eaves: the point that carries the most water while shortest and slimmest are installed at the top of the roof in graduating lengths where the least water is carried. This practice started during a time when quarries made slates at irregular lengths and widths, leaving contractors to apply wisdom while installing the roof. A properly installed roof should not have any break between the lengths and widths of slates as they decrease from the eaves to the top of the roof. For thickness, slates of three, four or more successive breadths are commonly incorporated into graduated length roofs with the largest and thickest slates at the eaves. The slates are then laid at diminishing lengths and thicknesses until the smallest and thinnest slates are at the top. Textural Slate Roofs Textural slate roofs are installed with slates of varying thickness arranged adjacent to each other. It is created with a mixture of slate with rough and thick surface textures all over the roof. This method sometimes allows slate butt corners to go missing but only to a tolerable length. Hang-Down (Staggered Butt) Slate Roofs Hang-down or Staggered Butt slate roofs are randomly installed with heads placed in-line and random lengths hanging past the butts of the other slate. This creates a hang-down effect. |
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