Slate roof replacement project

[DavidP]

Good morning!

I haven’t been around here much for a while, due to other things taking up time. But I now have a major ‎house project that has just started.‎

A while back I posted about my roof dilemma — whether to replace the old roof with slate or some ‎cheaper material (see https://thehistoricdistrict.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=11282&p=113311&hilit=slate+roof#p113311). By last fall it got to the point that I knew I shouldn’t postpone the ‎replacement much longer. After a lot of thought, I went with the slate. There is a house very similar to ‎mine just up the street. They recently replaced the old slate with asphalt shingles. They used shingles that ‎have a bit of color variety rather than being a monochrome gray; so they get credit for trying, but it still ‎doesn’t look right. Seeing the results of their project makes me feel that I made the right decision despite ‎the cost of slate. The replacement started last week.‎

I have set up a blog and will update it as work progresses: http://apps.scholarsfonts.net/Blog/. (I thought about posting everything here, but I'm not sure if there's a limit on photos; by the time this is done I will have a lot of pictures.) You can see ‎pictures there of the old slate coming off. This week they are focusing on repairing/improving the Yankee ‎gutters, which should solve some important drainage issues. The real fun will be late this week and next week (depending on weather) when ‎the new slate and copper flashing go on.‎

Feel free to comment in this thread if you are so inclined; I have not enabled comments for the blog. ‎People here are mostly civilized but that is not true in the world at large.‎

[Manalto]

David, I applaud your choice. You'll be rewarded for your decision each time you approach your house and see the beautiful results. Now I'm off to read the blog!

[Gothichome]

David, good to have you back, you do have a beautiful home, I remembered it once is saw the pic. And that post was a long time ago. Hard to believe the District has been around this long already. Thanks Mick.
Glad you chose the slate option, a good slate hundred year roof can only add more charm, and in twenty, thirty years from now it add value knowing the new care taker won’t have to worry for their shift, or the folks after them.
I am looking forward to watching those project progress.
Ron

[Ober51]

Did you go with a traditional slate roof installation? The most recent issue of Old House Journal just had a large article on this and how to reduce weight, costs, etc. I am sure it is too late in your process, but it still might be a worthwhile read for you (or anyone else) looking to do something similar in the future. Good luck, cannot wait to see the finished product!

[DavidP]

Ober51, thanks for the reference to the OHJ article; I will check it out. Yes, it will be a traditional installation (with a few modern touches such as gutters lined with a thick, tough plastic liner rather than metal). I'm not worried about the weight since the house was designed for it. As for the cost, well, what can I say . . .

[DavidP]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone; it's nice to know there are a few people in the world who don't think I'm nuts for going with the slate!

I've just added an entry about the gutter replacement over the past two days; this link will take you directly to that post: http://apps.scholarsfonts.net/Blog/?e=9 ... the%20east . There are good photos, thanks to my contractor since I personally am not climbing up there.

BTW: is there a way to select a phrase such as "this link" and apply a URL to make the phrase underlined and clickable without displaying the long URL? I found the 'insert URL' button on the toolbar but that doesn't do what I want.

[Gothichome]

David, it might be a bit late for this suggestion. If you drain The troughs into a hopper you can move more water in your down spouts. And once again I must commend your commitment to doing a proper job on the old home.

[GinaC]

Thank you for the post about the gutters. I'm going to have to have some more installed on my house and it's nice to know what is involved.

[DavidP]

Gothichome, I have occasionally seen downspouts with a sort of box, oriented vertically, at the top -- is that what you mean by a hopper? The school where I taught for years (stone building, slate roof) has them. I always wondered what those were for. You don't see them on houses around here (well, maybe places like the Vanderbilt Mansion, but not ordinary homes). But I am glad to know!

My contractor just told me that the house has settled in that northwest corner, and to bring the gutter back to level so it would drain properly into the existing downspout would a) be a lot of extra work and b) not look good since the repaired portion would look out of level with the rest of the roof. His solution is to install an additional downspout at the southern end of the run, in addition to the existing one at the northern end. That sounds good but I am going outside right now to check out this situation more carefully.

[DavidP]

GinaC, I'm glad my post is helpful, although I suspect that you will be dealing with something very different. My gutters are built into the bottom edge of the roof, almost part of the structure of the house. Adding gutters where they don't exist will be easier (I think) but a different job.

My mother's family was from central Vermont. After retirement my parents bought an old cape. They discussed adding gutters as part of a roof replacement project, but the contractor advised against it. (I assume such gutters would have been the usual square aluminum things that are installed nowadays.) He thought that they would create problems due to the large amount of snow and so forth. The house had survived without any gutters for 200 years, partly because the land is sloped so that much of the water is carried away naturally. So they didn't add them.

My aunt and uncle owned a farmhouse down the road built in 1850 that had the original (as far as I could tell) gutters. They were plain wooden troughs suspended from the eves, with enough space between the gutters and the eves so that snow would not build up and cause water backup into the attic. If you haven't done so, I'd look around at similar houses in your area to see if they have gutters and if so what kind.