Tar on Slate

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Author Message   thinkinaboutitmakesmetard Posted on Thursday, July 31, 2003 - 01:19 am:        The prior owner of this house covered the entire slate roof with thick tar about 40 years ago. Is there any hope of restoring it? Or must I remove it and start from scratch?   SlateGuy@neslate.com Posted on Thursday, July 31, 2003 - 01:30 pm:        Methinks that it must be completely removed... SlateGuy   admin Posted on Saturday, August 02, 2003 - 12:09 pm:        Most people simply wait the fifty years or so that it takes to wear off . They have to look at the tar all their lives, however. Once slate has been tarred you can't do much with it other than replace it if you want it to look good.   Darren bessey Posted on Monday, August 25, 2003 - 09:44 am:        Good Day: I have a similar problem, though not nearly as extenisve. My previous owner put some tar in between some slates near the edge of the roof. I was wondering, is it safe to uise a solvent to dissolve the tar from the slates? I assume most lacquer thinners etc would have no detremental effect on the slates??? (House and roof are 100 years old,(built 1902) slate supposedly shipped from Wales,,,dark grey in colour...no signs of delamination yet) Thanks Darren Bessey Darren Bessey   Anonymous Posted on Wednesday, March 08, 2006 - 03:54 pm:        Hello. We jsut had extensive slate repair done, and our roof has 2 hexagonal bays that stand out the full height of the house, so they meet the actual roof, not just the lower wall. the contractor tarred over the joints on top of the ridges, which looks ugly to me, but is that even the proper way to install slate on a "peak"?   Anonymous Posted on Wednesday, March 08, 2006 - 06:22 pm:        NO-WAY, NO-WAY and NO-WAY That is only a temporary solution to a permenant problem. Folks that do that, do not know what they are doing. Especially a restoration or a new slate roof job. It should (the slate) butt at the ridge with copper under-neath it. Or have a slight overlap towards the rear side of house. Or a "showing" copper ridge cap-with maybe a vent system built in. We never tar the ridge slate--NEVER. The only time we may--may do it, is when we are trying to hold someone's roof over from leaking until we can get there to do the job PERMENANTLY.