Can anyone give me some suggestions as to what questions to ask a roofing contractor about repairs to a slate roof?
Shortly after I bought this house, about 10 years ago, I had a leak in the roof. Knowing nothing about the care of a slate roof, I looked in the yellow pages for a contractor and found one who said in his ad that he did work on slate. He came and did something and said it was fixed. But soon the roof was leaking again.
By then I had found a second contractor through a neighbor’s recommendation, who found about 12 broken slates which had been “fixed” by smearing some silicone on the cracks. It’s very possible the first contractor broke them himself. The first contractor also installed the flashing around the chimney wrong, so the water was running down the chimney and behind the flashing.
Now I need to replace a tile that broke and I tried calling the second contractor, but he is no longer in business. I need to find someone I can trust to work on the slate without damaging it.
What kinds of questions should I ask when someone comes to give me an estimate to ensure the contractor knows what he’s doing? Does anyone know of someone in northern New Jersey (Bergen County) they could recommend? It’s a very small job, so I don’t think any of the larger contractors would be interested…but I don’t want to wait until more repairs are needed before fixing it.
Any help would be appreciated.
Replies
owning a slate roof is like owning a Ferrari, most typical car mechanics are unqualified to work on it and most likely will screw it up if they try. This is not a dis at mechanics or roofers, just trying to illustrate that sometimes a thing is very specialized and needs specialists to make it perform properly.
What you want is someone who specializes in slate roofs, and who has some demostrable history doing so successfully.
There is a wonderful book called the Slate Roofer's Bible (google on that title to get a copy for yourself) that includes not only information for experts of the trade, but also interesting history about the slate roof and tips how to select a roofer for your house.
There are so many ways for a well-meaning but incompetent repairman to screw up a slate roof, and they are so long lasting and well performing when they are in good repair, that you owe it to your roof to get those issues corrected.
I live in SE Michigan and was very lucky to find Michigan Cornice and Slate, a family business since the late 1800's and they did a great job for me. The fact that I had read up on slate roofs only helped me to find them (and reject the other, so called "slate roof contractors" that I found in the yellow pages), and it helped me to understand the vocabulary and the techniques that they used when I met with them.
good luck to you, and take care of your roof!
hope this helps,
Norm
Norm,
Thank you SO much for the Slate Roofer's Bible recommendation. I found the book in the library and then went to Joseph Jenkin's website. The website was especially helpful. I always wondered why my roof did not have a ridge vent like other roofs.
The forum on this site also answered questions about ice dams, proper methods for replacing a slate...what NOT to do, etc. The also had a list of contractors and listed those in the National Slate Association.
I've already had one call back. He sounds pretty good. I asked him what kind of nails he used (copper). He also said 95% of his work is on slate or tile roofs and he does not expect payment until the end of the job. That all sounds good. He's coming out on Sunday to give me an estimate.
I'll try to get at least 2 others to compare.
Thanks again for the referral.
Cynthia
It seesm to me that some of the municiple buildings in Ridgewood have slate roof (The original Library, e.g., up on Wilsey sg.)
Try giving them a call to see if they have any recommendations
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Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace