Alluminum and Slate Longevity

Tinner, are those pictures from the lower pitch or steeper pitch by your ladder? Are the step flashings acting as a valley? Do they get the runnoff from above flowing on them?

Wow, that is "tore up" What was beneath it? It doesn't make sense that it would just eat away like that for no reason. Are there any large coal burning power plants up wind of you?

I took a few pix. Owner said it starting leaking in it's 25th. year.

http://www.rooferscoffeeshop.com/rcs/users/tinner666/http://www.rooferscoffeeshop.com/rcs/users/tinner666/

I sometimes feel I'm the only roofer that extends my steps 2-3" above slate. Many idiots around here cut them like they would for shingles and then either raise them up to an improper coverage, or lay them in place without nailing. A little of both was done on this roof.

The Job!

Give me a call at 804-833-6418 John.

100-120 miles. I'm sure it has to do with the caulks used on the ridge. I've seen plenty of evidence, but don't know which brands cause the most damage.

Tinner, I talked about this on the Slate roof Central, but how close to the ocean are you? We have never had any problems with acid rain eating the aluminum here in Michigan, but the again, we are about 1,000 miles from the ocean.

Others and myself have used and seen bibs used 30+ years under slate. .019 and thinner. I was going to use 20oz. copper until I opened this one up. All the 20 oz. is burned out. I may switch to black aluminum, or a small hemmed piece of black 'trim' covering the steps. I did that some years ago on a severe one and it worked fine. Once, I saw a new valley burning real bad after a year. I painted the darn thing black. At least it then matched the original black painted galv. Fighting nature here, not a normal 'leak/no leak' situation.

Acid rain has gotten worst over the years. I may put a hemmed apron over the steps out of aluminum and shoo for 40+ years.

This is news to me, we just finished a 1910's house that had copper step,counter and valleys. It was in great shape. Just replaced the step because of the number of nail holes. :cheer:

I did not know slate and copper could not coincide. Seems like that was always the preferred flashing (along w/ lead) when I was out east. Of course that was a long time ago and many roofs were old.

And my experience was only visual, i.e. Looking up. The only slate I've ever handled, I was standing on the ground