Slate Roof Construction Detail

Install first piece of copper flashing over bottom of furring strips.

Slate roof construction detail.

For a roof like this that s built to last a century it s better for both contractor and customer if the materials and workmanship are spelled out in detail brax has adopted slate roof. Textural slate roofs are perhaps most often associated with tudor style buildings where slates of different colors are used to enhance the effect. General guidance on the most important points to be considered is given below. The cant strip is variable in thickness according to the thickness of the slates being installed thicker slates require a thicker cant strip.

Furring strips were nailed to roof with 2 5 inch hot dipped galvanized common nails. The thickness of the slates also affects the weight. Take a look at the slate tile roof installation guide to gather more detailed information regarding the repair installation of slate roofs. Full application and sitework details are given on pages 8 to 22.

Standard roof slate sizes range from 6 x10 to 14 x24 and everything in between. Make a batten gauge block after you have worked out your desired batten gauge consider making a batten gauge block from an offcut of batten. The 6x10 slates require 686 slates per square a square is one hundred square feet of roof coverage while the 14x24 only require 98 slates per square. Published more than 85 years ago slate roofs has long been the essential go to guide for determining material quantities roof layout specification data and construction details.

The wood strips should be approximately 3 times the thickness of the slates. Effective design of a slate roof must take into account a number of inter related factors including site exposure the pitch of the roof the type of slate selected and the slate lap. This is 20 ounce copper. Anyone who has detailed a slate roof or any other type of traditional steep slope roof is likely to be familiar with slate roofs published by the national slate association in 1926.

The above illustration shows basic installation details for a traditional standard thickness slate roof.