If you have a few missing tiles on your slate roof, it isn’t something you can put off until the weather improves, and if you have a couple of good ladders and a basic tool kit, replacing a few tiles is well within your capabilities.
Use a Chicken Ladder
Once you have visited a quality slate suppliers in Torquay, you can get out your chicken ladder, which allows to access the tiled area safely. Remember that slate can be slippery when wet, and you should give the area a power wash before starting work, which will allow to see what needs to be done. Don’t put all of your weight on slate tiles, as a breakage will likely be the result, and with a chicken ladder that is hooked onto the gable, you have good support.
Things you Will Need
To replace a few slate roof tiles, you will need:
- Lever bar and hammer
- Tile nails
- Nail pouch
- Tiles of the right size
You first must remove all remnants of the old tiles, along with the nails and prepare the area for the new tiles. Prying off the old tiles can be a little tricky, and standing on a ladder isn’t the ideal situation to exert a lot of physical pressure on anything.
Buying the Right Equipment
There are affordable online roofing materials suppliers who would have everything you need, and this would be where the roofing contractor sources his needs, so you might get trade prices.
Loose Fitting
Remember that you are not nailing down the tiles tightly, rather they are hanging on a timber ridge and the nails are to stop the tile coming off the ridge. Nailing the tiles down too much will see a lot of broken tiles, as the force of the hammer will crack the tile every time.
