Roof Repair

It was just my opinion, based on personal professional experience, concerning the economic ramifications of repairing an old slate roof versus replacing same in my last post. But it is the customers opinion that counts. And the customers opinion was that the old slate had enough charm and added something to the asthetics of the house to warrant keeping and repairing the slate roof.

Roof Pitch - How to find the best roof pitch for your metal, slate, tile or asphalt roofing material.

Pitch -  The slope of the rafters as determined by both the rise and the run of the roof.

Rise is the vertical distance between the ends of a slope. Or the distance between the eave(bottom gutter line)  and the ridge or top of the roof.

Run is the horizontal distance between the ends of a slope.

Pitch is commonly referred to as vertical distance in inches to horizontal distance in 12 inches.
For example; 1-12, 3-12, 12-12, or 1 in 12,  12 in 12, etc.

For a better full size diagram of roof slopes in rise and run, pitches and degrees click here Roof_pitch_degree.jpg

The pitch of the roof should be determined by both the local climate, against which it is to act as a protection, and the roofing materials being installed.

Although there are no hard and fast rules regarding roof pitches, it is best to design the roof with slope suitable to local conditions and to use roofing materials best adapted to meet the climatic changes.

In hot and dry regions of the country, the roof needs only enough pitch to shed water; but the roof must be well constructed and water tight, to be able to handle the large but short lived volume of rain that is common in those areas.
1/2 - 12, or 4 Degrees to 3 - 12, or 15 Degrees for the roof pitch and materials such as Coal Tar Pitch, Hot built up roofing, single-ply membranes, or modified bitumens.

In colder and temperate areas of the country, rain and snow are driven by high winds and the pitch of the roof should to be steep to shed the more frequent rain and and build up of snow.
4 - 12, or 20 Degrees to 12 -12 or 45 Degrees and up for the roof pitch and materials such as Slate, Tile, Metal or Asphalt compostition shingles.

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Often I come across a slate roof that’s just not worth repairing.  

 

Today I received a call from a local home construction contractor asking if I could give an estimate on installing a new pipe flashing on a plumbing stack he was replacing. He was remodeling a bathroom in a century home nearby. After a cursory inspection of the roof it was decided to replace the stack flashing and also the cast iron soil pipe. The lead stack flashing looked like it was the original and was in terrible shape and there had already been prior repairs.

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Snow guard installation on a historic barn restoration.

Restoration and Repairs by
Dennis M. Crookshanks Const. Inc.
12052 Clark Rd.
Chardon, Ohio 44024
(440)285-3200

This barn roof was was recently installed using Vermont green slate and included new half round copper gutters and snow guards. Unfortunately the installation was insufficient to handle a snow slide typical for this region of the country. The roofing contractor did not install enough snow guards, and the ones installed were not strong enough for the conditions. These are standard galvanized steel snow guards. On a lower pitch roof, they would have been sufficient if there had been at least three rows. But on a steep slate roof, at least three rows of a stronger snow guard is required.

At the other end of the roof, at the valley and gable roof extension, the roofing contractor neglected to install snow guards. The result was a copper gutter torn off it's brackets and ripped apart at it's seams. The leaf guards were torn off as well and a few slate were broken.

More damage is seen under the gutter. The copper brackets that hold up the half round gutter were bent out of round by the force of the snow hitting the top front of the gutter. These will need replaced as well.

New heavy duty cast bronze and copper snow guards have been installed and the copper gutter has been repaired. The customer opted for two different styles of snow guards for aesthetic reasons.