How to Maintain a Slate Roof

Slate roofs can last for many years if they are properly taken care of. If you want your slate roof to last for a long time, you need to maintain it. In this article, we will go through the steps to maintaining your slate roof.

Slate Roofing Maintenance

You should have your slate roof inspected twice a year. Make sure that you hire someone who knows what they are doing. A professional slate roofing company will be able to look at your roof and find the issue and advise on how to solve problems. They will also help ensure that small problems do not become larger issues. It is also advisable to have your roof inspected after every major weather event and harsh weather season.

The easiest thing to repair on your slate roof is surprisingly the slate tiling itself. A chipped piece here, a lose one there, or a cracked one here, these fixes are easy if they are caught early enough. As long as you catch it early enough, the damage to your roof and home will be minimal.

Inspect the Flashings

The next most common place of failure for any roof, your slate roof is no exception, is the flashings. The flashings are the metal bits that secure any curvature in the roof to the roof itself. These flashings become compromised over time, letting the water in. It is important to know how much time you have left until your flashings need to be replaced so that you can install new ones before they stop working.

Cleaning

The last and possibly most controversial aspect of maintaining slate roofing is the cleaning of the actual slate itself. Cleaning a slate roof must be done very carefully as the last thing you want to do is degrade the delicate layers of the slate stone. It’s important to work with a company that knows what they are doing when it comes to cleaning and maintaining a slate roof as they are durable and can last a hundred or more years, but if an inexperienced fool starts whacking it with a pressure washer, you could have major problems with your slate roof.
Van De Hey Refined Roofing, LLC (VR Roofing) is a slate roofing company serving the Appleton, Little Chute and the Fox Valley area, Sheboygan, Oshkosh, Madison, Milwaukee, Shorewood, Sheboygan, Oconomowoc, Verona, Waukesha and Green Bay and De Pere areas in Wisconsin.