In our current climate of LEED Certifications and Green building practices, slate roofing never made more sense than it does now. Asphalt shingle roofing makes up better than 40% of the refuse added to landfills, nationwide, on an annual basis. Most last about twenty years, and must be stripped and removed before the new layer added. Slate will easily surpass the lifetimes of five or six such roofs. And, in the event that it must be removed, it's pure clean fill-nothing but stone!
The most prevalent argument against slate is the cost. Realistically, a homeowner can expect to pay $3.50/sq' for a new asphalt shingle roof, compared to $12 to $14/sq' for slate. Consider the average, 20 square roof: asphalt shingles, $7,000; slate, $26,000. After the third asphalt roof, the slate has paid for itself, never mind the added cost factors for inflation. "But", you say, "I'm not going to live in my house for 60 years. I will never personally appreciate these savings."
Not so fast. The average consumer who lives in a home for 30 years will replace the roof twice. And, when it's time to sell, your home has the added, positive feature of a slate roof. Any realtor will tell you: This adds tremendous charm, curb appeal, value, and it boosts the price tag when you go on the market. Slate roofing is good for your wallet, and our planet!
Stone has been used in construction for thousands of years. In just the last few hundred years, it has come to represent permanence, strength and an unsurpassed level of class and distinction. And in the last few decades, it's come to mean symbolize one more thing: megabucks! EVERYBODY knows that stone masonry comes with a big price tag. Too often, the perception is that stone is "beyond" budgetary limitations. Until now.
Real, thin stone veneer and manufactured stone veneer haven't changed all the rules-they've shattered them. Across the nation, from banks to restaurants to retail stores and high end homes, stone veneer has turned the stone masonry world on its ear. In new construction applications, the savings and advantages are simple: veneer doesn't need a concrete footing that starts below the frost line, like conventional masonry. And installation occurs at a rapid rate, slashing labor costs.
But there's an even more attractive application: Retrofit. Now, buildings and homes with dated brick, EFIS and vinyl siding can get a facelift for the million-dollar-look of the end product for a fraction of the price! Real stone veneer can change the look of a ‘Brady Bunch'-style home from the 1970's and its outdated fireplace inside. Too often, in new construction homes, the foundations are ugly, poured concrete. Stone veneer allows customers to put the "finishing touch" on a high-end project.
Perhaps the most important contribution stone veneer can make is in its commercial applications. New buildings can have the look and appeal of stone for far less than previously thought. Existing businesses can take advantage of a whole new look, virtually a new building, for short money when compared to the cost of new, commercial construction. Contact Olde Mohawk today to learn how stone veneer can improve your home or business!
Surfing the web on a cold, Saturday evening in December, I find myself amazed at how few articles or blogs cut through the fluff and filler of hiring a contractor to address a topic critical to the success of your next project: finding the right guy for the job! An item I don't see addressed at all is the importance of finding the right contractor for the project at hand. While it seems like an obvious statement to make, and a simple enough obstacle to overcome,
it is the single-most important element to the success of the project and ultimate satisfaction of you, the consumer.
No contractor is a master of all skill sets in a given trade. Let's look at masonry as an example. There are some masonry outfits that do nothing but stamped concrete. Because it's all they do, they're set up for it: the tools, equipment and crews who are proficient in their craft. This allows them to offer a quality product at a competitive price. Now consider the mason whose company primarily builds block and brick walls for commercial customers on a regular basis. He may be able to successfully complete a stamped concrete project, but there's a lot more planning and set-up involved, and he may have less-skilled workers for that particular project. Hence, his price is likely to be higher and there'll be less examples of his work for you to consider. The contractor you hire must have the tools, equipment, craftsmen, and experience needed to successfully complete your project.
Consider this analogy as it applies to restoration work. The knowledge and skill sets required to successfully rebuild a copper-lined, Philadelphia-style gutter on an old Colonial with a slate roof bring three trades into action: metal work, carpentry, and slate roofing. There are many carpenters who would find the copper-smithing and slate aspects of the job beyond their abilities. And many slaters are not capable of replicating the ornate cornice, corbels and detail of a built-in gutter. It is critical that a contractor provide you with more than a fancy proposal and attractive price for your project. He needs to demonstrate and prove himself through pictures, documentation and references for similar projects that he has already successfully completed.
Being a successful restoration contractor requires knowledge of the tools, materials and practices of tradesmen from yesteryear. One cannot rely on the best practices of modern construction, alone, as a basis of knowledge. Constant research through hundred-year-old trade manuals, the internet, and hands-on experience are the foundation on which a preservation worker basis his decisions and guides his crew through a project. It is a constant learning process and one that requires a high degree of interest and commitment to professional development. Make sure your prospective contractor is genuinely interested in the work on your home or building.
While we're on topic some words of caution are in order. Make certain that he's licensed and insured, as your city and/or state may require. Some states, like Massachusetts and Rhode Island, require a construction supervisor's licensing or registration with the state contractors' board. This type of information is easily accessed through the internet. Make certain to call your town or city building department to confirm what you find. If a permit is required, the contractor MUST secure it. If you fall for the old, "You pull the permit and I'll give you a price break," watch out. If any person is injured or property damaged during the job, it'll fall on your shoulders-you were the sneaky little devil who pulled the permit to save a few bucks. Most contractors who try this scam DO NOT have the insurances your town or city requires to grant the permit! You are making a significant investment in your home or building; don't cut corners when it comes to a permit.
It never ceases to amaze me how few clients ask for proof of the right insurance. Your contractor MUST have liability AND workers compensation insurances. General liability insurance for a MINIMUM $1 million personal injury and a MINIMUM $1 million property damage ARE NOT cost prohibitive for a restoration worker proposing to do high end work. A common scam many contractors run is to act like they have liability insurance, and that's good enough. Of equal or possibly greater importance is workers' comp. This one costs the big bucks and is what drives a legitimate contractor's prices up. However, it is also his protection AND YOURS if an employee gets hurt on the job. If an employee gets injured on your property and files a comp claim where coverage was NOT in effect, he can sue his employer AND YOU! Verify that your restoration contractor has workers' compensation insurance and provides you with a general liability certificate naming you and the property as ‘additionally insured parties.'
Following these simple guidelines will help you find the right outfit for your restoration project and get things moving in the right direction!
We've all heard of home inspectors recommending that a chimney be repointed before the sale of a house, but what does that mean?
Repoint... the average Joe on the street knows what it means... "Putting the cement back in between the bricks, right?" Basically, yes, that's right. But did you know there are different types of mortar? Some that have little or no cement at all? And if you repoint with
too much cement in your mortar you might damage the masonry itself? (Did you know that ‘repoint' isn't even-technically-a word? Even though it's used by architects and practitioners in professional documents neither
Webster nor
Oxford recognize it. But that's a topic for another blog-don't get me started!)
First, a little Mortar 101 is in order. Mortar is typically made up of three dry components: a binder, an aggregate, and lime. This is usually Portland cement, sand and hydrated lime. It's the ratio that determines the strength, or ASTM classification, of the mortar. The pre-mixed bags found at home centers are usually ASTM type "S" mortars, similar to that used on commercial construction sites to lay modern brick and block walls. It has lots and lots of Portland cement in it and probably differs wildly from the mortar found in the average historic home. Before 1872 in the United States, there was no such thing as Portland cement. Mortar was generally lime and sand mixed, or lime, sand and natural cement (discovered in the 1820's during construction of the Erie Canal in upstate New York.)
The paradox of a masonry structure is that it's strength comes from it's ability to fail. Well, what the heck does that mean you're wondering. And rightly so. Here's how an old friend best explained it to a class of preservation students: Masonry units, be it brick, stone or block, are laid in mortar. That mortar absorbs and expels moisture. Moisture is water, and water freezes. When it freezes it expands, increasing volume by as much as 12% in the case of an ice cube. So, in a sense, the mortar expands, even minutely. Something has to give: the brick or the mortar. If the mortar is ‘harder' (meaning a high cement content) than the bricks laid in it, the bricks will spall and pop, their faces crumbling and falling off. But if the bricks are ‘harder' the mortar will give, often without cracking or falling apart or leaving any visible record of the strength through failure. And, if the mortar joints do fail, it's FAR less expensive to repoint masonry than it is to rebuild it!
A good mason will be able to mix up a repointing mortar that will not jeopardize the historic masonry fabric of your home or building. If the color or texture are more challenging, there are firms available on-line that will custom match mortar samples for under $200. That's right folks, you can cry Foul! the next time a mason says "I can repoint your brick wall but I can't match the old joints where they meet," "It'll take a couple years for it to blend in, if ever," or, worse, "It'll never match." This is the same guy who buys bags of pre-mix mortar at Home Depot and repoints old, soft-brick chimneys. After a couple of winters, the chimney is crumbling and falling apart. If he's really slick, they unwittingly call him back to ultimately rebuild the chimney that he destroyed!
A good repointing job should last at least thirty years. But, like most things in life, you get what you pay for. The cheapest guy, or the one who says "I can't match it," will look like a deer in the headlights if you start using terms like compressive strength, Portland cement, or lime putty mortar. If you start to think, "Maybe I know more about this than he does," you probably do. You should ask for three references-specifically-for recent repointing jobs and then go look at his work. A good mason contractor will not spend his free time forever going back and forth with you providing endless references and answering questions ad nauseum. He's busy, in demand, and doesn't desperately NEED your job. But he'll give you a comprehensive consultation and estimate and he's got half a dozen references ready for a potential customer.
There are many stories of repointing projects gone horribly wrong-don't let it happen to you!
It is an unfortunate fact that the cause of many leaking slate roofs is not natural wear, metal flashing failures, or even cracked slates. It is, quite simply, bad work. Many unqualified people claim to have the ability to repair slate roofs. According to the Slate Roofing Contractors' Association, fully
half of the work done annually by a typical slate roofing contractor involves the removal and replacement of faulty repair work. Home owners with slate roofs often pay exorbitant sums only to have their roofs trashed by these fly-by-nighters ... they then have to pay even more of their hard-earned money to have them fixed and repaired correctly! The abuses committed against slate roofs include face-nailing, tar-smearing, repairs with non-matching slates, inappropriate coatings, or incorrect flashings.
First and foremost, a warning straight from the heart: One should NEVER tar or coat the surface of a slate roof. Such actions are aesthetically displeasing, often irreversible, and ultimately ineffective. Sadly, roofing contractors are notorious for advising homeowners to replace a perfectly good roof. Home owners will often listen to such advice when a lack of competent slate roofers makes it the only advice available. These issues, combined, have been the downfall of countless slate roofs, lost forever to ignorance, neglect, and despair. As you seek estimates and advice from other roofers, use the information in this blog to test their knowledge and screen their methods. Watch their eyes widen as they realize that YOU know more about slate roofing than they do!
It is not uncommon for a century-old slate roof to have 50 or more slates simply fail from a variety of causes. Slate contains natural faults or hairline cracks and may eventually break. A 20 square roof (2,000 square feet), with a typical 10"x 20" slate, will have about 3,400 slates. If 50 of them fail after a hundred years, then the failure rate of the roof is 1.5 percent over 100 years- or a 98.5 percent success rate over a century. That's an A+! However, just one missing slate is all a leak needs to get started. For a professional slate roofer, the solution is not rocket science. Replacement slates must never be fastened in place with visible straps or exposed nails (known as "face-nails"). If a roofer describes face-nailing to you as his preferred method of repair, you're done-you've just met one of the butchers who roams about, masquerading as a slate roofer. NEVER let him anywhere near your roof!
There are two acceptable techniques for fastening replacement slates: the "nail and bib" method or the "slate hook". The nail and bib method is the most widely used. The broken slate is removed with a slate ripper and the replacement slate is anchored with a nail in the slot between the two, overlying slates. A small square of flashing is slid under the two, overlying slates on the next course, above, and over the new nail head. The bib is bent a little so friction keeps it in place. Bibs can be aluminum, copper, or other non-corrodible metal, but shiny and reflective metals that are visible from the ground should never be used.
Oh and, by the way, all true slate roofers call themselves slaters. If a prospective roofing contractor doesn't smile and embrace the term in your initial contact when you ask, "Are you a slater?" watch out! Just might be a butcher in disguise...