A slate roof challenge

Every town has it's own; a castle from about 100 years ago. This one was built from 1891 through 1896 and it has about 60 years of delayed maintenance to do. They really must have pissed the guy off that worked on it the last time. Let's see what Old School can do over the next few years. sounds like a lot of fun and a challenge.

https://picasaweb.google.com/crookston.john4/HendersonCastle?authkey=Gv1sRgCOq28sCpxdHSaQ#6141085858916171202

Let's see if this works

https://picasaweb.google.com/crookston.john4/HendersonCastle?authkey=Gv1sRgCOq28sCpxdHSaQ

Nothing. I am going to have to figure out what is wrong with this computer. They are some really neat pictures too!

Ever watch the movie idiocracy? Gotta see it! To us it doesnt get more simple than slate. Oh well. You got this one OS?

Trying something else to get these pictures to show.

https://picasaweb.google.com/crookston.john4/HendersonCastle?authkey=Gv1sRgCOq28sCpxdHSaQ#6141085801446071042

Try again you can only view this with a different browser than Internet Explorer - if you use Internet Explorer this link will NOT work:

https://picasaweb.google.com/crookston.john4/HendersonCastle?authkey=Gv1sRgCOq28sCpxdHSaQ

Hopefully you can see this now. I switched browsers from Internet Explorer and I can see the pictures now anyway. Has anyone else been able to view the pics? Let me know. John

I can get your Picasa account, but not the pictures. For some reason, that link also puts up a Google+ toolbar. I didn't even remember I had a Google+ account.

Well, I always hated seeing them jammed together. I suppose this is the other extreme.... :huh:

If you use internet explorer, it doesn't recognize my picasa account anymore. You have to use something else and you should be able to see it. Yeah tinner, that is the extreme in the other direction

Never had a problem w/ Chrome, even with your original post.

That's some gaptoothed slate. Hillbilly slate?

Clover, that is funny! Gaptooth slate. I never thought of it like that. the bad thing is that I am sure they paid this guy a lot of money to do that to them. I will get up there and look at it closely, and take some more pictures. The top flat deck on this building has a large hot tub and deck area that looks down on the roof and ove the city. It is the highest point in the city and you get a hell of a view from up there as well as a good look at the roof and everything that has to be done. It is / will be a LOT off work.

sorry for all of the similar posts. I could not see any of the pictures I as posting.

That spacing is CT Grand Manor in reverse. Instead of comp trying to look like slate, it's slate trying to look like 3-tab.

OS, When you do a cone with slate, do you only cut wedges off each side of the top two/thirds and not the exposed part? That's how I as a novice would do it.

Actually Woody, I make a jig that is a "slice" of "Pie" if you will of the roof. When you measure up the jig, you know exactly where each of the slates will lay and that is the pattern for the piece you cut. They are all close, so you have to number them and then they will fit like a glove. It takes a lot of time, but you can't make a mistake like that. The other thing that may be necessary is to cut a bit of the top "shoulder" off from the slates so that they don't hold up the slate above it. With shingles those points will lay down, but they have to be trimmed when you do slate. It is tricky. If you are curious how to do it, just google "cone roofs" and you will see an article I wrote for traditional roofing about 7 years ago that explains it all. I get calls from all over the world about that, and it is still the top article in google about that subject. I did something right.

I can see the photos on every post. I think it will be terrific to follow this job with you over the next few years. I must say that job will not be for the faint of heart. They are lucky to have you doing it.

I looked and looked at those pictures and finally figured out what the "roofer" did and why. He installed whatever slate he had in his hand and just centered the width of the slate on the joint below it. That is why they are varied, but entirely random and equal at the same time. It also gives a testament to the ability of slate to withstand incompetence given half a chance. We can do it if they can come up with enough money. There is a lot of radiused carpentry trim to do as well as making new cast pieces of stone to match the original Lake Superior Sandstone blocks, of course the slate on all of the fancy dormers and dormers on dormers, painting and masonry work and copper Yankee gutters. OSHA is also going to be a factor as I have to write the safety plan and get the buy in from the inspectors. It is really difficult to work on slate and do the other work at the same time, so some redundancy is going to be necessary. Also, it will be almost impossible to be tied off, so we will probably scaffold the whole thing, and everyone will work from the same scaffold.

the owner wants us to do the work in the winter when he is not having weddings in the building, and that may or may not be something that happens. A lot of details to think about.

Interesting and challenging.