What Makes Synthetic Slate Roofing Unique

Not all people know about synthetic slate roofing and they might not even recognize it if they see one. That’s the unique quality of this roofing. One may be fooled into thinking that it’s the traditional slate or natural stone when in reality, it’s just a great looking replica. It is actually a look-alike of the normal slate roofs. Synthetic slate roofing looks like the real item until you carry or touch it as it’s lighter than the natural slate roofing. Many people also prefer synthetic slate roofing due to the insane costs attached to natural slate roofing.

If you’re looking for a reasonably priced roofing material, then this can be your best choice. You may think that since it costs less, is lighter and a replica of the real thing, its quality is not that good. Well, this is where most people are wrong. Synthetic slate roofing is in fact a durable cost effective choice to the actual slate made up of authentic stone and it provides the same look.

Synthetic Slate Roofing Costs

Roofs have a great impact on the overall look of a house and some people who are replacing their roof often want to keep its old look. When you are trying to keep the historic look of a home, it is important to keep the roof the same as the previous one. Slate roofing tiles can greatly contribute to the whole architectural detail of a house, but when it is time to change those slate roofing tiles, homeowners are often surprised at how costly such tiles can cost. The roofing costs can put a big dent in your wallet, so it’s best to find many options to pick from. While the composition shingles are a less expensive alternative, it does not provide the same look that slate offers. That is where synthetic slate roofing can help you. It is a beautiful and durable substitute for slate roofing, while coming at a cheaper cost.

Synthetic Slate Roofing Historic Restoration

Should you really go for synthetic slate roofing? You can’t go wrong with this option as it offers the best of both worlds. Aside from installing a durable roofing material that’s certainly lighter, you also get to keep the historic and traditional look of your home at a much reasonable price. In fact, when preserving and restoring historic properties, more and more people are choosing to install synthetic slates and are actually getting positive results. Copper gutters and flashings go with traditional slate and synthetic slate roofing.

If you’d like to have synthetic slate roofing for your home, all you need to do is to look for suppliers in your area. As there are lots of companies offering such tiles, it won’t be difficult to find them. Browse the web and look for synthetic slate suppliers. You’ll definitely find what you are looking for at a reasonable cost.

Synthetic slate roofing can rival the quality and look of ceramic tiles and authentic slate shingles. This synthetic material is visually appealing, weather resistant and long-lasting. It provides nothing, but amazing savings, from the material itself to the installation expenses. This roofing is definitely a perfect option to the real thing. As a whole, synthetic slate roofing is a beneficial and safe investment.

Hail damage has never been easy to detect, most especially when you have a 2 or 3-story house and do not have immediate access to the roof. Hail damage does not expose your home to immediate water damage. But it can limit your roof’s lifespan. For this reason, you have to detect the damage right away.  Waiting too long could mean that the insurance company can deny your claim for the repair.  Today’s tendency to change your insurance company every year to the one giving the cheapest rates can cost you in the long run. They can argue the damage happened when they during the other insurance company was insuring the home.

There are actually several ways to detect whether roofing hail damage exists. All you need to do is to continue reading and take note of every detail indicated below. This will serve as your guide to spot hail damage right away.

Detecting Roof Hail Damage in Your House

After a hailstorm occurrence, you might suspect if there has been damage in your roof. Simply walk around the house and check for unusual changes in your roof.  Here are some steps you can do:

Look After Mineral Deposits

Take a look at the base of the downspouts. Once the hail hits the roofing shingles, this degrades your shingle while it knocks off its granules. Most of the time, untrained eyes will never see such damage. However, when you have standard asphalt shingles on your home, you can check around these downspouts to conduct an excessive buildup of granules.

Downspout and Gutter Dings

Try inspecting the gutters and downspouts for dings. Thinner gauge metal gutters will immediately cause dents when the marble-sized hail hit them. When the damage has been evident, there is a possibility that roofing hail damage exists.

Leaks Inspection

For some untrained professionals, hail damage has not always been apparent from ground. The roof damage is not always the cause of leaks. Typically, hail damage would go unrevealed until leaking or any serious damage took place. When the damaged shingles degraded, the roof will start leaking. Inspect the interior ceiling right after any heavy rain occurs for water damage.

Hail Damage Inspection to Shingles and Vents

When you got some of the previously mentioned indications, you may inspect your roof shingles and vents. However, you should only do this when you got easy access into the roof as well as if the slopes were not steep. If you don’t feel comfortable and confident enough to get up on the roof, seek the best roofing companies in your area to deal with roofing hail damage.

If you cannot find a local roofing company to come out immediately do not let fear make a rash decision. Wait for a local roofing company to work on your roofing hail damage inspection. Do not let anyone pressure you into making a fast decision. This pressure may come from storm chasers or your insurance adjustor. When there is a large area hit with roofing hail damage adjustors are brought in from other areas. They want to get the claims settled so they can move on. Take your time.

You can check other parts of your house. These can be the gutters, fascia and drip edge which may reveal some damage signs. Inspect your roof shingles and see some circular areas or dimples wherein the shingle mineral has been missing. Hails may produce dents or damage points into the asphalt shingle roof surface. This then results in loss of granules and reduced roof life.

Are skylights a good idea? This is a common question. Skylights get a bad name from installer error 95% of the time.
This is what gives skylights a bad name. This skylight was designed for a shingled roof. The velux skylight leaked from the day it was installed. It was installer error. The roof cement on the sides was the way a few handyman tried to fix the leak. It is a temporary fix. Installing the correct skylight is the only permanent solution.

Wrong Style Skylight Installed

Here we are removing the old skylight. Taking a little time to plan exactly where the curb will sit, saves a lot of time and makes for a nicer looking job.

Time To Remove Old Skylights.

We installed a 6” curb for this roof. On a flatter pitch 8” is recommended. This makes sure no water will makes it way under the skylight.

This is where the planning shows. The roofing material fits around the new curb. We can flash the curb without fixing the deck sheet. We screwed the new curb to the roof deck using deck screws.

Frame Curb-mounted Skylight With 2×6 Lumber

Because of the weather conditions we chose to flash the skylight in with edpm rubber. Cold process asphalt roll roofing would have been used if it were late spring or summer. We used uncured edpm so that we could use roof cement to tie the two different materials together.

Flash curb with edpm rubber.

Velux curb mounted skylight designed for flat roofs.

The skylight is installed on top of the curb. Screws are used to fasten the skylight to the curb. The picture below shows  the roof cement with embedded cotton fabric. The cotton fabric embedded in the roof cement keeps the roof cement from cracking from expansion and contraction from the temperature changes.
The difference in size from the old skylight to the new skylight was minimal. The inside could be finished off with a piece of quarter round molding. This also saved the added expense of having a custom fit skylight made. If you install larger or smaller size skylights you will also have to do structural framing and change some of the insulation. These changes will also add to the cost of installation.

If there is not a stock size to fit your existing opening, we can have one custom-made to fit. These custom fit skylights are very reasonable. The biggest difference is lead time in having custom skylights made and delivered.

No more worries. No more buckets. No more slipping on the wet tile floor. Let it rain. Let it rain.

Finished Velux Curb-Mounted Skylight

Take care when working on ladders. A fall may kill you, if you don’t feel safe contact Holencik Roofing immediately and we can inspect your roof for you.

• Check for damaged, loose or missing shingles. Look for nail pops in the shingles.
• Examine your ceilings looking for signs of staining or discoloration.
• Inspect inside your attic making sure that insulation does not block the air intake vents and that the insulation is not compacted or wet.
• Check for signs of leaking in the gutters. Check for misaligned seams. Make sure downspouts are firmly attached to the gutters and to the wall. Look for rusted gutter fasteners.
• Make sure gutters are free from debris and make sure any strainers or screens are also free. Don’t forget to check the downspouts.
• Cut back tree limbs which are close or in contact with the roof, or close to the house in general.
• Check any TV antenna or satellite dishes to make sure they are sturdy. Especially check where the antenna or satellites come in direct contact with the roof as these are prime areas for leakage.
• Check all flashings in the roof especially at chimneys or around pipes and skylights for signs of leakage.
• Check vents, chimneys, and louvers for brid or animal nests. Also inspect the vents to ensure they are not crushed which will block hot air exhaust.
• Check your intake vents at the soffits/overhangs to ensure they are not blocked by dust and have not been painted over which will restrict air intake into the attic.

 Do these things twice a year to ensure your roof and gutter system will last as long as intended. Neglect these things and your roof won’t last as long as it should. A small investment in your time will extend the life of your roofing and gutter system.