Glacial Roof Snow Damages Slate

What we have here is a copper tab held in with a galvanized nail.

Uninspired Methods of Slate Repair

It seems as that if you ask five different slate roofers what is their method of slate repair, you'll get five different answers. Way back when our company started, the slate quarries recommended using hooks for slate repairs. The logic of their suggestion to use something so small, inexpensive and simple to hold a replacement slate onto an existing roof seemed to make sense and nothing I've seen since has surpassed the functionality and simplicity of the slate hook. Roofers have used other methods for replacing slate, but as some of the other methods are illustrated, it becomes clear they are needlessly destructive or complicated.

Surprise

One never knows what one will find living in the roof. I was surprised to see this little winter wren nesting in this Ludowici Imperial tile roof. The sun was in my eyes when I was photographing the roof, and there he was along with the nest after I downloaded the pictures. 

From time to time, I will be posting content about slate roofing best practices. I have inspected thousands of slate roofs over twenty-three years  and worked on slate while in college. Slate roofing is a craft, and I have seen a lot of great work and craftsmanship and met some good people along the way. But I've also encountered a lot of shoddy workmanship and I hope to explore the good and the bad. Information now abounds about slate roofing. There are many books, articles and a journal or two devoted to the craft and maybe we can highlight a few of those, too.