Roof Sheathing For Slate

Roof decking or sheathing for slate roofing must be adequate to support the loads involved but not less than nominal 1 inch lumber or 5 8 inch plywood sheathing.

Roof sheathing for slate.

Plywood may be used instead of osb in cases where the roof covering is especially heavy like in the case of slate clay or concrete tiles. The better the foundation the better will be the roof. Typically 1 4 or 1 6 boards of wood are installed with a 3 5 maximum space between each board directly over the roof rafters or in a cold roof system over the plywood deck. Different categories of wood will work except laminate woods plywood and particleboard.

Cover the sheathing no matter how green with one layer of 30 lb. Tarred or other waterproofed paper should be used under slate where the same is laid on sheathing boards. The proper sheathing is single plank boards which can be 3 4th to 1 inch thick. Roof sheathing may also be constructed of plywood.

Goboard structural sheathing is an ultra lightweight yet durable waterproof alterna tive to heavy sheathing products. Colors and shadow lines on the sample board and in the photos should only be used as a guideline and not for your final color selection. This will insure a roof per fectly tight against fine snow. Three quarter inch thick planed softwood spruce fir pine boards will last a century or more under slate.

When replacing sections of slate or slatelike materials alternate slate courses with strips of 30 lb. Final color selections should be made using full size shingles. Many slate roofs primarily barn roofs don t have any. Slate and tile are relatively brittle expensive.

Century old sheathing boards can become pretty hard so if copper nails bend or deform use stainless steel roofing nails instead. Also known as decking it is the wood in which the slate is attached to. Generally the wood will last more than a century to support the slate roof. Roofing felt paper overlapped about three inches at the top edges and nailed to the roof with 1 galvanized roofing nails egis ok here see below.

Slate roofs require about the same founda tion as shingles. Ideally the wood will last 150 years or long enough to support an average initial slate roof and replacement slate. Plywood is a bit more expensive than osb but is usually stronger. Option 4 tongue in groove lumber kiln dried is suitable as a roof decking on slate roofs.

Option 5 slating lath or 1x2 to 1x4 strips of wood spaced for nailing the slate made of at least 3 4 inch thick solid wood.