How To Repair A Slate Roof Leak

Have your helper stay inside the house waiting for the drip to appear.

How to repair a slate roof leak.

With good wire cutters you might also be able to cut off the head of the nail which will help. Sometimes an older home s roof is more prone to leaking in the roof valleys because of old repairs. I ve repaired complex metal roof flashings with torch down modified bitumen but there is a fire risk doing so. Or see slate roof repairs for a discussion of permanent slate roof repairs rather than the leaky slate roof holding action discussed in the article above.

Details are at slate roof leaks temporary repair once the necessary slates are removed the valley is usually replaced with new heavy copper or on some roofs folks use other flashing materials like aluminum i don t recommend that. In most cases to address the flashing problem you will need to remove the damaged slates and replace them with new ones. On a nice day have a helper tap on the mark while you re on the roof. For example soak the downhill side of a chimney first then each side then the top on both sides.

You might find problems removing the nail with the slate ripper. Or see these. You can use either a dry bonding gutter or the standard bonding gutter. This is by far the most popular type of slate repair and occurs when your slate roof starts leaking around the roof penetration areas that is where the flashing occurs.

Continue reading at slate roof repair worn out or select a topic from the closely related articles below or see the complete article index. Flash and slate repair. To do this use the slate ripper to rip off the nail that hooks the slate onto the slate roof. The sealants and roof pitch used can crack and chip away over time.

If your roof valley leak is an old repair gone bad consider having a professional repair the leak properly. Once you locate the source of the water mark the area. Start low soaking the area just above where the leak appears in the house. Isolate areas when you run the hose.