Stone Roofing Design Details - Photo Guide InspectAPedia® -
Stone roof inspection, failures, repair, product defects
Stone roofing compared with slate roofing
Questions & answers about stone roofs: the historic & current use of stone on building roofs, inspection, diagnosis, installation, mantenance, & repair of stone roofing
Stone roofs: here we illustrate and discuss stone roofing in historic and contemporary use.
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Our rooftop photo may look like slates, but this is a stone roof, not slate. We mean literally, stone, cut either in giant slabs or stone cut into tiles that might be mistaken for gray slate, but are of different mineral composition. These are stone roofs, not slate roofs. This website provides un-biased articles about many common roofing materials, installations, inspection, defects, roofing repairs, and products. Readers should also see
SLATE ROOF INSPECTION & REPAIR - slate is the most common type of "stone" roofing used in Europe & North America.
Stone Roofing Examples, Ancient and Old Stone Roof Designs
While our page top photograph shows a modern cut stone roof, our photo at above left points out that the earliest stone roofs used a single huge stone slab (photo at left), set atop a stone or wood structure. Where particular geology made it easy to split stones into large slabs or where such flat stones were produced by nature, they formed a natural building material. In this photo the stone roof slab is no longer in use but has been preserved along a hiking trail above Molde, Norway.
Our photo of a stone tower roof (above right) represents the transition between the megalith stone slab roof used (we guess) from Paleolithic times to modern cut stone roofing. Large stone slabs, many several feet across, but split thinner than the slab at above left, were used to form a random stone slab-tile roof on this antique building tower.
Modern Stone Roof Tile Details
Our photo (above left) shows a typical modern stone roof design. Flat stones are quarried and cut into scalloped, diamond, rectangular, and other regular shapes and applied using methods similar to slate roofing. However as our photo of stone roof tile thickness suggest above, these roofs are usually even heavier than slate and require a substantial supporting structure.
Our photos above show a minor surface delamination of a stone roofing tile (above left) and a chipped stone roof tile (above right). These are cosmetic defects. Provided the fasteners and supporting structure remain intact, this roof may last for 100 years. About that black fungus, lichens, or algae on the stone roofing in our photos above? See STONE CLEANING METHODS.
Questions & Answers regarding this article
Questions & answers about stone roofs: the historic & current use of stone on building roofs, inspection, diagnosis, installation, mantenance, & repair of stone roofing.
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Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair
Our recommended books about building & mechanical systems design, inspection, problem diagnosis, and repair, and about indoor environment and IAQ testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore. Also see our Book Reviews - InspectAPedia.
The Home Reference Book - the Encyclopedia of Homes, Carson Dunlop & Associates, Toronto, Ontario, 2010, $69.00 U.S., is available from Carson Dunlop. The Home Reference Book is a bound volume of more than 450 illustrated pages that assist home inspectors and home owners in the inspection and detection of problems on buildings. The text is intended as a reference guide to help building owners operate and maintain their home effectively. InspectAPedia.com ® author/editor Daniel Friedman is a contributing author. Field inspection worksheets are included at the back of the volume.
Architectural elements: the technological revolution: Galvanized iron roof plates and corrugated sheets; cast iron facades, columns, door and window caps, ... (American historical catalog collection), Diana S Waite, available used out of Amazon.
Green Roof Plants: A Resource and Planting Guide, Edmund C. Snodgrass, Lucie L. Snodgrass, Timber Press, Incorporated, 2006, ISBN-10: 0881927872, ISBN-13: 978-0881927870. The text covers moisture needs, heat tolerance, hardiness, bloom color, foliage characteristics, and height of 350 species and cultivars.
Green Roof Construction and Maintenance, Kelley Luckett, McGraw-Hill Professional, 2009, ISBN-10: 007160880X, ISBN-13: 978-0071608800, quoting: Key questions to ask at each stage of the green building process Tested tips and techniques for successful structural design
Construction methods for new and existing buildings
Information on insulation, drainage, detailing, irrigation, and plant selection
Details on optimal soil formulation
Illustrations featuring various stages of construction
Best practices for green roof maintenance
A survey of environmental benefits, including evapo-transpiration, storm-water management, habitat restoration, and improvement of air quality
Tips on the LEED design and certification process
Considerations for assessing return on investment
Color photographs of successfully installed green roofs
Useful checklists, tables, and charts
Problems in Roofing Design, B. Harrison McCampbell, Butterworth Heineman, 1991 ISBN 0-7506-9162-X (available used)
Roofing The Right Way, Steven Bolt, McGraw-Hill Professional; 3rd Ed (1996), ISBN-10: 0070066507, ISBN-13: 978-0070066502
Slate Roofs, National Slate Association, 1926, reprinted 1977
by Vermont Structural Slate Co., Inc., Fair Haven, VT 05743, 802-265-4933/34. (We recommend this book if you can find it. It
has gone in and out of print on occasion.)
Roof Tiling & Slating, a Practical Guide, Kevin Taylor, Crowood Press (2008), ISBN 978-1847970237, If you have never fixed a roof tile or slate before but have wondered how to go about repairing or replacing them, then this is the book for you. Many of the technical books about roof tiling and slating are rather vague and conveniently ignore some of the trickier problems and how they can be resolved. In Roof Tiling and Slating, the author rejects this cautious approach. Kevin Taylor uses both his extensive knowledge of the trade and his ability to explain the subject in easily understandable terms, to demonstrate how to carry out the work safely to a high standard, using tried and tested methods.
This clay roof tile guide considers the various types of tiles, slates, and roofing materials on the market as well as their uses, how to estimate the required quantities, and where to buy them. It also discusses how to check and assess a roof and how to identify and rectify problems; describes how to efficiently "set out" roofs from small, simple jobs to larger and more complicated projects, thus making the work quicker, simpler, and neater; examines the correct and the incorrect ways of installing background materials such as underlay, battens, and valley liners; explains how to install interlocking tiles, plain tiles, and artificial and natural slates; covers both modern and traditional methods and skills, including cutting materials by hand without the assistance of power tools; and provides invaluable guidance on repairs and maintenance issues, and highlights common mistakes and how they can be avoided.
The author, Kevin Taylor, works for the National Federation of Roofing Contractors as a technical manager presenting technical advice and providing education and training for young roofers.
The Slate Roof Bible, Joseph Jenkins, www.jenkinsslate.com,
143 Forest Lane, PO Box 607, Grove City, PA 16127 - 866-641-7141 (We recommend this book).
Solar heating, radiative cooling and thermal movement: Their effects on built-up roofing (United States. National Bureau of Standards. Technical note), William C Cullen, Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Govt. Print. Off (1963), ASIN: B0007FTV2Q
"Weather-Resistive Barriers [copy on file as /interiors/Weather_Resistant_Barriers_DOE.pdf ] - ", how to select and install housewrap and other types of weather resistive barriers, U.S. DOE
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