While building any custom home, people’s choice of their roofing material is one of the important decisions as there are a number of options available. Commonly people go for clay tile, asphalt tile or metal roofing.
Slate roofing Sydney still is not so common, which is largely due to lack of awareness among consumers. Most homeowners are unfamiliar with slate and its value and capabilities as a roofing material.
Slate can certainly be an elegant choice as roofing material that can enhance architectural beauty of any home.
Slate is fire and mould resistant, having low water absorption and available in many different textures, right from very uniformly smooth to rough/natural textures.
You can get slate in traditional black and grey colours to whimsical red and purple. Since, slate is a rock, it is more durable and can last for hundreds of years.
However, it is important that you must choose your slate material very carefully, so that you can derive all the advantages that slate roofing can offer. Following are few things that you must be aware of while selecting the slate roof.
1. Where slate comes from
While looking for slate roofing material, rather than looking its colour and appearance, it is more important to find from where the actual quarry was obtained. Look for such slate that offers minimum warranty for 75 years.
2. Cost of material
Slate roofing material can be 2 – 3 times more expensive than the cost of asphalt shingle roof but their beauty and durability is worth the cost incurred by you.
3. Weight
Usually slate is quite heavy and hence your home must be properly engineered for slate, as it can add up additional weight to your roof. Consult a structural engineer before you install slate roof.
4. Adding sealant or paint
Avoid painting or adding sealant to your roof, as this can cause your stone to age much earlier. Usually slate roof is beautiful and long-lasting, if you install in its natural condition.
5. Side-lap and head-lap
One critical factor will be how much slates will overlap each other for keeping water out of the house. Experienced roofers will make chalk lines under the felt underlayment and ensure about adequate overlap.
6. Metal on metal
Usually, copper is one of the most common metals used in the slate roofs, but few other options can also be like coated stainless steel, which will cost less too.
7. Choosing nails
Ensure that nails used should be stainless steel, copper or hot-dipped galvanized steel for giving them a chance to last as long your slates can last.
8. The correct sheathing
Correct sheathing or decking, is generally wood with which the slate will be attached and ideally, wood can last for 150 years, which is long enough to provide support to any average slate roof.
9. Right equipment and technique
An experienced roofer knows that workers must walk on slate as little possible, as the stone can always crack. Therefore, the contractors must use proper technique that can keep slate safe.
Also, the roofers need to use right kind of tool and equipment during installation and repair of this kind of roofing.