A Historic Slate Roof Renovation

I had the recent privilege of re-roofing a newly rebuilt porch roof in the Historic Museum District of Richmond Va. As residents of the area know, many porches there were done in Tin or Slate.

Slate were never meant to be used on low pitched roofs. I had to take extra precautions to ensure a long life. The deck is 5/4" fir over rafters spaced 16" on center.

The builder installed a layer of Ice and Storm Shield, which I covered in 2 layers of 30# felt. In the second picture, you can see that the 4" headlap almost creates a double layer of slate. To keep from breaking any slate, I worked from above them. I also spent the necessary time to nestle them together so none of them were 'rocking' on the others.

As per the Old School ways, I clipped the edges off the outer slates. this prevents any water on the rakes from traveling under the roof.

To solve the issues of small, skinny slates on the rakes, I went up to 2" wider slates. This gives a larger nailing zone, and eliminates any nails being in or near a keyway.

The termination flashing was attached with cleats. No exposed nails.

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