| Author | Message | ||
     Old_school (Old_school) Junior Member Username: Old_school Post Number: 17 Registered: 01-2009 |
It looks like the old Johns Manville asbestos slate. There are a couple of houses here in Kalamazoo that stille have them on the roofs. I would say about 70 years old. | ||
| Joe Jenkins Senior Member Username: Joe Post Number: 336 Registered: 07-2006  |
Find an area of the roof to "cannibalize," if possible, and use those tiles to repair the remainder of the roof. Put either new or salvaged slate on the cannibalized roof section (or asbestos if you prefer). A good candidate for cannibalization is a dormer roof on the rear of the house, for example. | ||
| John Chan Junior Member Username: John_chan Post Number: 15 Registered: 08-2006 |
Durable Slate has most of the standard sizes of Asbestos between our Columbus and New Orleans yards. | ||
| Kurtis Hord Senior Member Username: Kwhord Post Number: 115 Registered: 10-2006 |
I repaired a couple of tiles on an asbestos roof with some black penn slate. We used slate hooks to make the repairs, and it's a decent match. | ||
| Slate Affair Inc. Senior Member Username: Slate_man Post Number: 294 Registered: 01-2007 |
I sure you could use slate, if you can't find any. | ||
| James Moran New member Username: Grnjp92 Post Number: 7 Registered: 11-2008 |
It is indeed an asbestos roof. They are repairable if you can find tiles. And someone who is willing to do the work! Or do as Tim said. | ||
| John Arnold New member Username: Inspector_john Post Number: 2 Registered: 11-2008 |
Thanks Tim. There were numerous areas of the roof that looked like the photo. The seller had an inspection report that was only a few months old that described this roof as being asphalt shingle and in reasonably good condition and about 15 years old! That inspector also noted that he only viewed the roof from the ground, so... I didn't walk on it, of course, but at least I put my ladder up and got up to the eave for a close-up view. It was raining at the time. | ||
| Tim Dittmar Intermediate Member Username: Tim_dittmar Post Number: 36 Registered: 05-2008 |
John- at your stated age and from the photo, I'd say it's likely asbestos/concrete you're looking at. It is probably still doing most of the job it was installed for but only if it can remain undisturbed- repairs at this point of life-cycle and including just accessing the roof can do more harm than good- it's likely become quite fragile by now- don't breathe the dust or fibers. Over time the shingles have become more absorptive/less dense from water, sunlight, freeze/thaw effects and the like. To repair obvious problems like the one pictured, use a piece of flashing to stop the leak and cement/glue that and the broken piece in place- a minimally disruptive technique that also puts off the problem of what to really do to replace this hazmat roof. I've wondered if those who live under these roofs should take special care on exposure issues- like about the opening of windows and whether or not the "stuff" comes in in meaningful amounts... | ||
| John Arnold New member Username: Inspector_john Post Number: 1 Registered: 11-2008 |
 Home I inspected this past summer. Supposed to be 70-80 years old. My feeling is that this is the original roof and may contain asbestos and is at the end of its life, but, it's the first of its kind I've seen, so I'm interested in the opinions of others. |
