The roofers appear to be nailing the slates without first countersinking
the holes.
Is this a new technique or are they being lazy?
I expected them to knock 2 holes from the back of each slate so there's
a 'countersink hole', or 'bevel', which the head of the nail will sit in
and so not rub against the slate on top and (eventually) rub a hole in it.

Am I worrying unnecessarily, is there something I've missed, or must I
have words with them before they fix any more slates to my roof?

[g]

"george [dicegeorge]" wrote in message
...
The roofers appear to be nailing the slates without first countersinking
the holes.
Is this a new technique or are they being lazy?
I expected them to knock 2 holes from the back of each slate so there's a
'countersink hole', or 'bevel', which the head of the nail will sit in and
so not rub against the slate on top and (eventually) rub a hole in it.

Am I worrying unnecessarily, is there something I've missed, or must I
have words with them before they fix any more slates to my roof?

[g]

Going back 18 years, we found that the Spanish slates were quite easy to
punch with a nail as you fitted them although we bought a hand punch to make
the holes with the natural 'countersink'. Slater's up here just bang one
nail in and straight into the boarding. We used two nails but found the
facility of not being able to pivot the slates for maintenance when we
fitted sky lights a bit of a pain. Will we see a difference in roof life?,
too soon to say but with the weight and large overlap our slates do not move
much so rubbing hopefully will not be an issue.

Gio

On Jan 25, 8:31*pm, "george [dicegeorge]"
wrote:
The roofers appear to be nailing the slates without first countersinking
the holes.
Is this a new technique or are they being lazy?
I expected them to knock 2 holes from the back of each slate so there's
a 'countersink hole', or 'bevel', which the head of the nail will sit in
and so not rub against the slate on top and (eventually) rub a hole in it..

Am I worrying unnecessarily, is there something I've missed, or must I
have words with them before they fix any more slates to my roof?

[g]

Unless the slates come pre hole, they should be holed using a gauge
scribed mark and the slate put across a brake iron and a hole punched
through the back of the slate with a slate holing pick. The slates
should be sorted for thickness into 3 or 4 grades, thick at the bottom
and thinner at the top. Also the bottom of the slate should be holed
with the thick end at the bottom.