With routine checks and professional repairs (when needed), a slate roof will accent your home or building for many years to come. The first and easiest points on the roof to look for would be cracked, damaged, or missing pieces of slate. Over time, slight defects in the stone can cause a small percentage of pieces to crack, which eventually leads to part of the slate falling off or out of place. Slate can also come loose from the nail holes, allowing the full piece slide a little, or completely out of its location. Both of these scenarios are not out of the usual and require little time and effort to repair. Any knowledgeable slater or contractor can fix a broken or loose piece of slate in minutes. They simply match the broken slate with a same size and color new piece and secure it in place. This is called a “nail and bib” repair. First the old piece is removed and the new one is slipped into place. Then the slater marks a point on the new piece that is between the two pieces above it in the side laps. He then punches a hole and nails the new piece of slate in its final position. After that, the slater installs the “bib” on the new nail location to ensure proper drainage. There is no need to remove or change any of the surrounding pieces as the procedure is designed to only work with the piece that needs repaired. When surveying the roof, you should also check for any abnormal weathering or delamination. Delamination is when a piece of slate starts to deteriorate or flake apart. Obviously lower grade slate will have much more delamination than the higher grade stone. Other than the slate itself, failed flashings also need to be accounted for. Keep an eye out for pin holes, open seams, loose or misaligned elements, and broken or clogged downspouts. Inside of the attic, on the underside of the roof, is very important to check for any water or stains from possible leaks. Most often leaks will form where two roof planes connect like in valleys or hips. Rafters, truces, and the roof sheeting should also be checked for leaks and water rot.

In the first category, there are several products on the market that reduce the roof weight with real stone, using a number of very different techniques. A SlateTec roof falls into this category; being a patented lightweight system that takes advantage of natural stone, while reducing the overall amount of stone that’s going on the roof to under six hundred pounds per square. The SlateTec system employs the most simple, traditional installation technique of all the lightweight systems. At SlateTec Inc we believe that with most things in life, the simpler something is, the longer it will last. Our roof system is as close to the well-known traditional installation process as they get. Most notably, we use the traditional free-floating nail down method that has proved itself since slate was first put on roofs. Aesthetically speaking, there is absolutely no difference between a traditional slate roof and SlateTec. The only real difference between a traditional slate roof (besides weighing ~ 40% less weight) and the SlateTec Inc system is the patented signature interlayment that is woven into every course of slate. It is as easy as laying the interlayment over each course and nailing it down as you go. The high-tech, durable interlayment is a time tested HDPE product that has been on telephone cables and used as landfill liners for over fifty years. It replaces the slate that is normally hidden on a traditional install (water barrier for side laps), allowing for the use of smaller pieces of slate that are closer to half the length of traditional pieces. This makes for much easier roof loading, slate handling, and most importantly a lower overall roof weight. A SlateTec roof is installed from the bottom up and there is no starter course needed with the system. All of the metal work is similar to that of a standard application. We have found that once consumers are aware of the lightweight aspects of the SlateTec system and actually install a SlateTec roof, there is literally no turning back. There really is no reason to make a lightweight slate roof system any more complicated than it has to be.

At the same time, other lightweight systems tend to do just that and over complicate the installation. They require a tremendous amount of time devoted to training and practice by the crew to get it right. For example, one of SlateTec’s biggest competitors uses less overall slate by implementing a hook, rail, and batten system with smaller than traditional pieces of slate. The installer must first put down the hook and rail arrangement on the roof for every course of slate, then slide each piece of slate into its designated spot and seat it on two hooks. The piece of slate is then hanging by two wire hooks off the roof deck in this batten and rail system. The pieces have to be installed from the top of the roof down as they are not very walkable once they are hooked in. Also, this system makes it’s difficult to achieve a staggered and/or random width application, which is what slate roofs are known for. These types of systems are a far cry from the traditional installation process, traditional aesthetics and are complicated to say the least.

The synthetic products are essentially polymer molds of a piece of slate that try to mimic the aesthetics of natural stone. They have a few advantages, such as being able to use a nail gun upon installation, similar to asphalt shingles. However, they do have their flaws. The pieces have been known to fade, warp, crack, curl, and basically fail over time. The only way to fully capture the timeless natural beauty of slate on a roof is to use the real stone. At SlateTec Inc we offer a lightweight slate roof option that is easy to install, uses the highest quality of genuine stone and is unrivaled aesthetically.

Slate wasn’t mass quarried in the U.S. until the latter half of the 19th century. Starting in Pennsylvania and spreading through the north east region of the country. Vermont became the state most known for slate production and still is today. Once slate was produced locally, two elements helped expand the market to where it is today; the immigration of skilled slater’s from Europe and the architectural development and use of slate. After the civil war, slate production peaked, and quarries popped up all over across the eastern United States. Vermont is renowned for producing some of the highest quality slate in the world, for roofing and many other applications. While other parts of the world produce an abundance of S3 and S2 grade stone, Vermont steadily produces primarily S1 (highest) quality stone. Slate production was at its highest in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. During this period there were over 200 quarries on the eastern coast. However, once asphalt shingles were introduced the consumption of slate for roofs dwindled and has since to fully recover. The recent growth in popularity of historical restoration and preservation along with new techniques that allow for a natural slate roof while staying lightweight has influenced the market in the right direction. With a steady rise in slate roof installations across the country, the market is showing a new sense of hope.

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Slate is one of the oldest, most time tested roofing materials in the world. Since man could quarry the stone, it has been installed on roofs as a long lasting protection from the elements. Besides slates outstanding durability, natural stone has the most appealing aesthetics possible and gets better with age. Unlike man made products, slate has been in the same form underground for nearly 500 million years. It will not warp, curl, crack, erode or weather away after it’s been installed. This is what draws so many people to slate as a functional improvement to any home or building. In the past, slate roofs that were installed traditionally weighed far more than lower quality roof options, besides a select few (clay tile, concrete tile, etc…). This meant that in order to install a slate roof, the building would have to be either built to hold the extra weight or restructured to make safe to install. That was the price to pay to get the best option available. This put a damper on a lot of projects where it was not feasible to restructure the roof either because of time or funds.

This is where SlateTec Inc comes into play. With so many light weight systems and synthetic slates on the market, it’s hard to tell what option is best. When someone wants a slate roof, they are considering two key attributes; quality/durability and aesthetics. As mentioned before, the quality of slate is unrivaled by any other roofing material. Slate is in a sense the perfect material for a roof because of how resilient it is. It will not fade from UV rays, distort from heat or cold, and it can withstand any storm weather when properly installed. It’s easy to understand why a natural substance made in the earth itself is far superior to any man made material when it comes to handling what Mother Nature has to throw at it. This is not to say there is only one level of quality in slate roofing. The quality and toughness of slate can fluctuate a good deal depending and many variables. Slate itself is rated on a scale from S1 to S3; S1 having the longest average life span. The way slate is rated is fairly complicated, but I will try to break it down simply. There are many testing points for failure in roofing slate, but I will look at the top three; water absorption, wetting and drying, and flexure. The water absorption criterion is a straight forward test of how much water a piece of slate absorbs. The industry standard is set at under 0.25% absorption being optimal and under 0.3% being acceptable. The wetting and drying assessment tests a slates ability to not split, flake, or delaminate after repeatedly soaking, cooling and drying. The best slates dry quickly. Lastly, the flexure testing determines the breaking load of slate for walk-ability and any other impacts (hail). A combination of all these results is how a slate ranks for final use. SlateTec Inc uses only S1 grade Vermont slate for obvious reasons. Many companies going for a light weight system cut corners by either using lower grade imported slate or thinning the slate for weight savings. That is unacceptable and will not benefit the roof in anyway.

The second reason slate is the best choice for a roof is how beautiful it is once installed. A slate roof will dramatically alter the appearance of a building and top off any project with a grade a roof. When someone looks at a building, whether they know it or not, the roof is a focal point that cannot be ignored. An over looked roof will take an outstanding building and bring it down a notch. For this reason alone the roof cannot be a sub-par attempt. I once heard a quote about slate that has resonated with me since I entered the roofing world. “The worst a slate roof ever looks, in its life, is the day it’s installed. It only gets more elegant with age.” This is correct on many levels. Even though the roof will look amazing from the first day onward, age does bring a certain quality out in slate that is true unto itself alone. The slight color changes and natural weathering makes every slate roof distinct and is a source of true grace on the structure. With the depth of color and application options, the beauty is limitless.

Read full article here: Six Early Signs That Your Roof May Need Repair

Although SlateTec Inc. has been in the lightweight slate roofing industry for 12 years, it took the right ownership and business plan to make it in today’s economy. With giant corporations and tough opposition around every corner, SlateTec needed to find an edge on the competition.

What they found was that simply being honest and portraying themselves for what they were was the key to success. SlateTec was never a huge corporation or firm, and never wanted to be one. They take pride in personal communication with clients and small business service ethics that win over customers on a personal level and succeed on a business level.

Since the word got out and the calls started coming in, SlateTec Inc. announced the employment of several veteran sales representatives across the country. These reps are trained and certified with the product and are eager to get started.

“We are excited to have these guys in the field with our product and to continue spreading the word about SlateTec,” said Mike McDonough Sr., president of SlateTec. SlateTec also introduced a new website (http://www.slatetec.net) this month, which has much more features and information than the previous site. “The new site is a lot more user-friendly and caters to high-end homeowners, roofing companies, and architects looking for slate roof options,” according to Michael McDonough, Mike’s son, and marketing director.

The patented SlateTec roof system layers the highest-grade slate (grade S1) over a recyclable high-tech signature interlayment to reduce roof weight, and amount of slate used, by approximately 40 percent while producing a roof “made of natural slate and looking exactly like a traditional slate roof,” according to McDonough.

“Our simple process reduces roof weight to the level of asphalt or wood shingles without compromising the aesthetics and durability of natural slate. Homeowners, contractors and architects now have the option of quickly and easily replacing asphalt or wood shingles with beautiful long-lasting slate,” he said.

In the past, switching a roof from asphalt shingles to slate required improving the roof structure to support the greater weight of stone. (Clay and concrete tiles are similarly heavy.) The cost and time of this work typically either deterred homeowners or led them to synthetic slate, which is lighter.

SlateTec is priced similar to imitation slates and the few complicated lightweight slate methods presently available.

“Weight and price are comparable to synthetics, but we supply natural S1 grade slate – we are greener – and the roof will last up to 100 years, versus 50 years, and it will look identical to a traditionally installed slate roof,” McDonough added.

“The curb appeal is unequalled. And with our simple installation process, any roofing contractor can now install natural slate,” he said.

SlateTec also licensed its weight-saving roof technology to Ludowici Roof Tile, the largest clay tile manufacturer and maker of the finest clay roof tile for over 123 years, for use in the new TileTec clay tile roof system, exclusively offered by Ludowici.

The environmental impact of SlateTec roofs is low, largely due to their long life: 75 to 100 years. This is twice that of cement tiles and three or four times that of wood and asphalt. Roofing systems with shorter lifespans generate more negative impacts over time because they must be replaced more often. Long lifespan also decreases lifetime cost

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