Slate roofing comes in a variety of styles and colors to choose from. If you have a slate roof on your home then you should find this article interesting. It describes some of the various styles of slate roofing and the various colors.
You can determine if your slate is starting to deteriorate just by looking at it, look for signs of flaking, crumbling or smooth surfaces. If it is flaking or crumbling this is a sign that your slate is deteriorating and you should replace all the ones that are flaking or crumbling as soon as possible.
If the slate has a smooth appearance then it is a good sign that means your slate roof is in good condition and you should take every precautionary measure to keep it that way.
Sometimes your slate may seem to be a different color that when you first installed them, this is due to the elements caused by natural environment, such as weather conditions and pollutions.
These can be easily cleaned to reveal their original color even though there may be some fading in the original color but this is normal due to exposure to the different weather conditions.
Slate roofing differs drastically from quarry to quarry and here are some examples of the different type of slate roof. Standard slate roofing is usually made of a 3/16" to a ¼" thick slate which is usually a standard length and with or it can be comprised of one standard length with varying widths.
Rough textured slate roofing is made with roof slates which can either be of a single thickness or they can comprise of a mixture of thickness, with a rough surface finished look.
Graduated slate roofing is designed to combine both the artistic features of a rough texture slate roof together with a variety of thickness and sizes. Staggered butt slate roofing can be designed using several different lengths of slate of varying widths, or using one standard length and varying widths.
This type of slate roofing looks much better when you use a variety of different colored slates. The Ragged butt slate roofing uses different lengths, widths and colors and also a variation of thickness. In order to get this ragged butt effect the slates are positioned so that the tops are even but the bottoms are trimmed in random ways to give it that unique effect.
The Untrimmed slate roofing is made using untrimmed slate chips. They and made using different shapes sizes and thickness and the edges are sawed instead of trimmed. Slate comes in a variety of colors and they are all defined by the state they were quarried in.
Here are some of the slate colors that were quarried in New York, Pennsylvania,Vermont and Virginia.
New York Red
Vermont Mottled Gray, Vermont Gray
Pennsylvania Black or Spanish Black
Vermont Green
Vermont Purple
Vermont Sea Green
Vermont Gray Black
If you would like further information on the history of slate and slate roofing you should purchase the book "The Slate Roof Bible" 2nd Edition by Joseph Jenkins, Understanding Installing and Restoring the World's Finest Roofs. You can also download free copies of "Traditional Roofing Magazine" which is available in PDF format.
