Slate Roof Repair Is Usually Possible after Hail Damage

Posted: Jan 30, 2013
Author: Race City Roofing

Hail storms are not welcomed in North Carolina. Some bad storms even leave hail stones the size of softballs! These giant balls of ice often leave destruction in their wake, especially to roofs of homes, businesses and other buildings – resulting in the urgent need for roof repair. In this article, we’ll focus on the impact of hail damage to slate roofs.

Hail can puncture, dent or break the metal flashings and/or the slates. A slate roof can be perforated from the outside or the inside. A common example of impact damage from the inside is bullets shot by farmers at pigeons in the rafters. Another example of damage from the interior is nail heads that work loose in the roof deck, slowly pushing through the slate. Objects that cause external impact damage include golf balls, rocks and hail stones.

See these images:

They clearly show that hail damage is easily identifiable and that roof repair is needed.

Although slate is usually resistant to hail damage because of its durability, there are three conditions that will exacerbate damage caused by hail stones:

1. Soft, deteriorated or thin slates that have become fragile – for example, older soft black slates.
2. Very large hail stones.
3. Side-lap style slates where most of the roof only has one layer. A combination of fragile slates and unusually large hail stones, especially on side-lap slate roofs, will create the largest amount of damage.

However, the good news is that, in most cases, slate roof repair is successfully performed after a hail storm.