Roofs covered with slate are widely used in private construction. One of the undoubted advantages of this material is the simple laying technology, so even a novice master can do the installation of slate with his own hands.
What you need to know about laying slate?
Manufacturers offer not only wavy, but also flat slate sheets. As a rule, the type of material is selected depending on the slope of the slopes.
So, corrugated sheets are recommended to be used on roofs with a slope of 12 degrees, while flat sheets should only be used on slopes with a slope of at least 25 degrees.
Of course, the above recommendations are general. When choosing a roofing material, it is necessary to take into account the climatic conditions of the region where the construction is carried out.
For example, if a large amount of snow falls in a given region, then it is recommended to lay wavy slate only on slopes with roof slope from 25 degrees.
If the requirements for slopes of pitched roofs are not met, the roof can quickly begin to leak.
After all, the smaller the slope, the more debris accumulates between the waves of slate, since the speed of water flowing down the slopes is greatly reduced.
Therefore, if you decide to use corrugated slate on sloping roofs, you should adhere to the following recommendations:
- Additionally, fix the sheets along the second wave;
- Do not allow sheets to be punched by making holes in them when using an electric drill;
- Use seals at the joints of the sheets;
- Increase the overlap width of the sheets to 19 cm.
Advice! It is not recommended to use slate on roofs of complex shape, with a large number of valleys and external corners.
Stages of work when laying slate
The installation instructions for slate below provide for several stages of work:
- Preparation for installation. This stage includes the calculation of slate, unloading and storage of material, laying waterproofing.
- Arrangement of the crate;
- Sheet stacking;
- Quality control.
Preparing for installation
Slate goes on sale in packs in which the sheets are interleaved with polyethylene.It is recommended to store the slate prior to installation in its original packaging and always indoors or under a canopy.
Storage packages are placed horizontally. It should be remembered that slate is a material that is fragile, so you can not throw it on the ground or walk on it in shoes that have metal heels.
If during the installation of the slate it becomes necessary to cut it, then this work should be carried out using protective equipment (respirator, glasses), since a rather large amount of dust containing asbestos particles is released during sawing.
Advice! Do not cut the slate sheet to a length of less than 0.6 m, otherwise the material may lose its strength characteristics. If necessary, remove the excess length of the sheets, it is worth increasing the width of the overlap.
Consider how to calculate the amount of slate for roofing. To do this, it is worth making simple calculations by dividing the area of \u200b\u200bthe slopes by the useful width of the slate sheet.
The useful width of the slate differs from the actual width by the amount of overlap. So, for example, if the actual sheet width is 1.98 m, then the useful width will be 1.6 meters, that is, 38 cm will be spent on overlapping during laying.
To ensure the tightness of the roof, waterproofing is laid on the rafters. The cheapest option is roofing felt or roofing felt, but if you plan to make high-quality protection, then you should use a hydrobarrier under slate.
This name is a vapor-permeable film with the smallest perforation.
The film is laid on the plane of the rafters and strengthened with stainless nails. The film is laid so that the laminated side is directed upwards, that is, towards the roofing material.
Arrangement of the crate
For construction roof battens for slate, dry boards with a section of 60 by 60 mm are used.
Advice! For crates, do not purchase knotty boards, as they may not withstand the snow load. When using raw timber, the lathing will soon loosen, as the fastening will loosen as the boards dry.
The dimensions of the crate are determined so that a certain number of whole sheets of slate fit on it. If this is not possible, then in the penultimate row at the gable overhang, a sheet cut to size is laid.
Sheet stacking
When laying slate, take into account the prevailing wind direction and lay sheets in such a way that the overlap remains on the leeward side.
Consider the order of laying slate:
- The first sheet is placed in the bottom row next to the gable overhang;
- Next, the next two sheets are mounted in the same row;
- Now you need to put two sheets in the second row and one in the first with slate nails.
Here are the basic rules for laying slate:
- Overlap Width slate roof horizontally is one wave;
- The vertical overlap is from 12 to 20 cm;
- On all sheets, except for ridge and eaves, it is necessary to cut the corners diagonally. The size of the cut off corner is the amount of overlap, increased by 0.5 cm. The cut sheets are joined at the corners with a gap of 2-3 mm
Advice! Never break corners! This can lead to cracking of the material. You need to use a hacksaw or a circular saw. Sections must be painted over.
- You can use a different laying pattern that does not require cutting a corner.In this case, the sheets are laid with an offset, that is, the joint of the sheets in the first row falls in the middle of the sheet located above. This method is convenient if the roof slopes are long, but not wide.
- To make fasteners, it is necessary to drill holes for installing nails. The hole should exceed the cross-section of the roofing nail by 2-3 mm in diameter.
- When using an eight-wave slate, fastening is carried out in the sixth and second waves. If the material is seven-wave, then the fastening is done in the second and fifth waves.
- The pitch of the nails is 10 cm.
- When installing the nail, use a rubber or plastic washer for extra insulation.
- The nail is hammered in such a way that the sheet is firmly fixed, but the nail should not be driven all the way.
Features of mounting flat slate
- To install a flat slate, a continuous crate is used.
- To facilitate the laying of sheets on a continuous crate, markup is applied in the form of a grid.
- The scheme of laying flat slate does not differ from the scheme of laying wave slate. The rows are laid, starting from the bottom, the overlap of the sheets is arranged from the leeward side.
You can get a visual idea of how slate should be laid by watching a training video that can be found on construction sites.
Quality control of the work performed
- If the installation was carried out without shifting the sheets, then you should check the quality of the cuts of the material at the corners, and also make sure that the top sheets reliably cover the cut points.
- Make sure that all fasteners that are used to mount the roof are zinc plated.
- Do not use slate sheets on which cracks longer than 10 mm or chips are found.
- Identified sheet defects must be repaired immediately using special tools.
Slate roof maintenance
Slate flooring will last a long time if properly cared for.
For example, regular cleaning of slate from debris will help maintain the strength characteristics of the material, since wet debris lying on the roof in a layer contributes to the destruction of the material.
To increase the life of the roof, it is recommended to paint the coating; for this, special paint and a primer for slate are used.
If you plan to paint a coating that has served for several years, then the first operation will be to clean the slate from lichens and moss that grow on the coating over time. To prevent the re-growth of moss, an antiseptic solution can be applied under the soil layer.
To eliminate leaks, it is recommended to use a sealant for slate. This waterproof composition is used to seal small cracks and other defects.
If part of the sheets is destroyed, then the slate should be dismantled, followed by replacement of the damaged sheets with new ones.
conclusions
Thus, with proper do-it-yourself installation, you can get a reliable and durable coating that will be a reliable protection for your home for decades.
Did the article help you?