You can have a unique slate roof even if your neighborhood already has slate roofs. Below are three main ways to differentiate your slate roof.
1. Materials
Roofing manufacturers produce roofing slates of different types. Below are two common ones.
Natural Slate
Roofing manufacturers mine natural slate as metamorphic rocks that natural forces form over time. The manufacturers then cut the rocks into specific sizes as roofing materials. Slate roofing is extremely durable and resistant to damage, especially from weather elements.
Natural slate is available as either hard slate or soft slate. As the name suggests, hard slate is harder than soft slate, making the former more durable, expensive, and damage resistant.
Faux Slate
Roofing manufacturers also produce artificial slate that looks natural but comprises different materials. An example is bituminous slate, which comprises the same materials as asphalt shingles but is smoother and more flexible than shingles. Another example is a synthetic composite slate that comprises manmade materials like rubber, cement, and plastic.
2. Colors
Like other roofing materials, slate is also available in different colors. You can install red, grey, purple, black, or green slate in different shades of those colors.
Natural slate retains the colors of the original rocks from which the manufacturers mined them. Rock colors vary by region, so some slate colors are more common in some areas. In addition, only a few places still have rock deposits that yield natural slate. Apart from colors, slate from different areas also differs in other qualities, such as longevity and texture.
3. Installation Patterns
Lastly, you can choose different installation patterns to differentiate your slate roof. Below are some common patterns to consider.
Uniform
The uniform slate installation makes use of slates with uniform lengths and widths. The installer lays the slates in straight lines, with each line offset from the adjacent ones. The offsetting is necessary to prevent water from seeping into the roof.
Patterned
In this case, the installer uses slates of different colors to form a specific pattern on the roof. For enamel, the installer can use colors to form different shapes on the roof.
Textural
Textural slates differ in almost everything – they comprise slates of different sizes and thicknesses. The slates also feature missing corners and uneven butts. The installer staggers and overlaps the slates to form a unique look.
The wide variety of roofing materials, designs, colors, and patterns may surprise you. Talk to a roofing contractor today to help you customize and install your desired roof.
Reach out to a residential roof installation services company to learn more.
Once you watched someone put a roof on a home, you have a much deeper understanding of what's involved in this sort of work. Roofing is not easy. There's a big mental component since the roofers need to decide how how many shingles to use, how to best lay them out, and so forth. Then, there's the physical aspect of roofing. Lugging packages of shingles onto the roof is not easy, and nailing them down take a lot of work, too. With that in mind, we welcome you to read more about roofing on this blog. Let the articles inform your opinion of the profession.