# slate guys: Advice needed



## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

I looked at a repair the other day. It's a slate turret with metal hips. For some reason the fasteners holding the metal to the structure are falling out. I was physically able to remove a few nails with my bare hands. They appeared to be 3" long staintless steel standard roofing nails. They are nailed through the metal and through the slate beneath. 

The slate pieces seemed very firmly fastened. I can't figure why they are pulling out so easily. 

I got a price on some 5" stainless nails, but any other advice first?


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## English Roofer (Dec 26, 2008)

Hi Grumpy, Its a difficult one to call with out seeing some photos, maybe fixing 5" nails will do the trick but the nails didnt come out for no reason, as you suspect it could just be the lenght isnt long enough.
We fix slates on over here with 40mm nails with is about 1" and5/8" so you would have thought 3" though the metel flashing would be enough, just maybe there not hitting the timber there meant too.
Cheers
Dave


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## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

Yeah Dave I have no idea what the problem is without removing all the metal hips completely and seeing what's going on under.


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## English Roofer (Dec 26, 2008)

Hi Grumpy, i was thinking about this today,is there enough fixings in the metal hips?
Could be that theres enough gap for the wind to get under the hips and vibrate the nails out if theres not enough fixings?
Cheers
Dave


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## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

mmmm if I had to guess I would say the nails are spaced about 1' apart, on 2 sides of the hip. The hips are about 4' long.


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## English Roofer (Dec 26, 2008)

That sounds about right, maybe the longer nails will do the trick or perhapes use screws/washers and a cap


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## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

Well I wrote them an estimate and gave them no guarantee. If it doesn't work I will sell them a slate remove and reinstall on the turret to see what's going on under neath.


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## OUTLAW (Feb 16, 2009)

Good point about the nails being spaced too far apart. This will allow the wind to get underneath and work itself loose.

I would go with srews and place them no more than 6" o.c.


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## Broken_Roofer (May 20, 2009)

I'm rather curious about this, was the metal hip covering a one piece unit or were there sections? Did the nails seem to show any signs of oxidation? Rust?

Did you look under the metal to see what might be underneath?


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## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

I did not look under the metal since I wasn't going to start dis-assembling things for an estimate. Too much liability to be working for free. The heads had some oxidation, some white chalky, but when I pulled them loose the shaks which were burried and not exposed were fine. These are stainless nails, not galvanized.


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## Broken_Roofer (May 20, 2009)

I realized you mentioned they were stainless after I had posted and quite frankly was too lazy to go edit my response. Sorry. 

What was their concern if the metal wasn't loose enough to pull up a corner to see what was underneath it? Just noticing that the nails were backing out and being proactive?


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## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

The owner is trying to get the manufacturer to warrant the low slope section of the roof for mechanical damage. I told her I did not think it was the manufacturer or the roofers' fault but she didn't want to hear it. I'm bowing out of the process because I hate litigious wenches.


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## bpcroofing (Feb 17, 2010)

Im sure I know what the problem possibly is.
We use a lot of that Zinc/Aluminium ridging up here in Scotland.
Its fixed to a ridge roll(the timber is flat on bottom & U-shaped) which is sometimes fixed through the hip joist with 5" "blacksmith nails" on older propertys.
These nails were super sharp when new & were shaped like a dagger blade, which frequently broke off leaving the Ridge/ridge roll loose.These timbers also get so old they wont even accept nails or are totally rotten where old nails are lying rusted & rotten in the timbers.This is the sort of problems we come across in places like Edinburgh/St Andrews with a lot of slated roofs.
I dont know if its the same setup but the design should be roughly the same


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## chelsea roofing (Dec 2, 2010)

*slate turrett*

hello grumpy,since i moved to toronto from london i have done alot of repairs on galvanised metal ridges and hips easiest way to fix it,take off the hips screw 1 inch wide clips up the length of hip about an inch in from where the metal finishes put hips on bend clips over and rivet clips into the metal hip the clips can be every couple off feet cheers andy


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## O'Donnell Roofing & Solar (Jan 17, 2011)

My. $.02

Expansion & contraction of the hip metal may loosen nails.
Think the slate roof is installed on purlins 8" OC ?


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## kimboy (Apr 29, 2011)

Well I wrote them an estimate and gave them no guarantee. If it doesn't work I will sell them a slate remove and reinstall on the turret to see what's going on under neath.


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