How To Identify Slate Roof

Other minerals considered impurities calcite and iron sulfides are slowly transformed by weathering into gypsum which expands and causes the slate to delaminate.

How to identify slate roof.

4 pennsylvania black slate below from the lehigh northampton slate district tends to be the soft slate with a life expectancy of 75 125 years. Different colors and varying sizes are often used. Soft deteriorated roofing slates may not be obvious from the ground but mean the roof is at end of life. Click to enlarge any image many loose slates sliding down and often pieces of slate on the ground around the building.

Rules of thumb for determining that a slate roof is worn out and not economically repairable. Standard slate roofs use slates 3 16 to 1 4 thick of one uniform length and width with square tails laid to a line in a conventional shingling pattern. The resulting roof has a very rustic look. Specific mineral components are responsible for the various colors.

The best way to learn about rocks is to have specimens available for testing and examination. Textural style roofs use rough textured slates with uneven butts and varied thickness. If you cannot get a tile off of the roof please take close up photos of the roof in multiple angles so that we can identify your tile correctly. Standard roofs are laid in uniformly spaced horizontal courses with alternating vertical joints carefully aligned.

Slate roof central how to identify roof slate. Rock mineral kits. Get a rock mineral or fossil kit to learn more about earth materials. Slate roof installation quality fasteners used slate pattern the following may all be indications that the roof is failing from the condition of the slate nails.

You may submit up to 3 photos. Carbon black hematite red and purple chlorite and ferrous iron oxide green. The color of slate is often determined by the amount and type of iron and organic material that are present in the rock. Here is a slate roof that is in poor condition probably beyond repair.