projects
Landis Slate Roof
We are getting close to wrapping up the Landis Slate Roof project in Rochester, Indiana. Slate installation is somewhat tedious, but the finished product leaves a lasting impression. Mr. Landis says that there has been a parade of walkers in the evening checking on the progress and he has received nothing but positive comments on the work. We’re always pleased to hear that!
Completed section showing random color and width of slate shingles
This project was challenging as the slate is random width and has a 70-30 color mix in a random pattern. That makes a lot to keep track of. We have used copper flashings over ice and water shield to keep all transitions water-tight. The original nails were galvanized cut nails. We are using a combination of copper nails and stainless steel nails. New aluminum gutters are being installed. Gutter straps are hidden and protected using slate bibs.
Spire showing copper flashing detail
We are currently working on the spire as you can see in the pictures. We used a flashing with a crimped standing seam in the center of the hip. Unlike the rest of the roof where we used a slate cutter, we used a saw to cut the pieces so they could be installed with less waste at the hip transition.
The ridge details you see are galvanized metal pieces that were pop riveted together and nailed in place. They had deteriorated and rusted. Mr. Landis had a local body shop sand blast them, fill any holes and paint them with an auto quality paint. He commented, “I don’t want to have to have anyone on this roof again in my lifetime!” The silver color really shines in the sun and provides a wonderful highlight.
Community Garden
Culver Community Garden at the corner of Slate and Lewis Streets
The Grace United Church of Christ and the Wesley United Methodist Church have started a Community Garden in Culver as part of their outreach ministry. The garden is at the northeast corner of North Slate Street and West Lewis Street in Culver. This is the first year for this project at this location. It will be interesting to observe its success since it is just down the street from our office.
Easterday Construction Co., Inc. has helped support this effort by donating steel stakes for tomato cages and wood stakes for row markers. We received a nice thank-you note from the organizers. We are happy to support this community effort and wish the two Churches every possible success with this new undertaking. We take pride in our community and participate in community efforts where we can. Many of our employees volunteer their time and skills to make Culver a better place.
As you can see in the note, the organizers need worker bees to help tend the garden. If you have a green thumb and time to donate, step up to the plate and get your hands dirty! It’s for a good cause.
Kevin
Landis Slate Project Makes the Papers
The Landis Slate Roof Project we're working on in Rochester made the front page of the Rochester Sentinal on April 20, 2009.
This project was previously discussed here.
Slate Roof
Home on Pontiac Street in Rochester, IN
We are currently working on a project to replace a slate roof on a turn of the century home in Rochester, IN. It has the original slate on it, though it has been patched in places over the years. We have been surprised at just how badly the existing slate has deteriorated. We had anticipated taking the slate off shingle by shingle with some breakage, but what we’ve ended up with are pieces not much greater than a couple of inches in diameter and the rest even smaller if not out right disintegrating into a fine powder. It would appear that a good hail storm would have removed most of this slate without our having to touch it!
Deteriorating flashings around turret
Another thing of interest we have found is that the fasteners and flashings are galvanized in lieu of copper. We were aware that the cap flashings were not copper, but we had anticipated the other flashing to be copper. That would have been the standard for the era. Instead, the flashings are fairly thin galvanized sheets, generally cut into small pieces. The nails are gavanized cut nails. The cut nails have held up well, but most of the flashings have deteriorated and begun to rust where they have been exposed to the elements.
The turret in the picture above has slate in reasonable condition, so it was determined to leave this portion of the roof untouched. The cutting of the individual slate pieces with the constant changes in size as the turret reduces in diameter would have been extremely time consuming – probably taking nearly as long as half the rest of the roof. You can see some of the existing flashings around the base of the turret. Where these flashings are deteriorating, we will installed galvanized step flashings that we can slip under the existing starting course of slate.
Russell Voss with Easterday Construction using a Slate Ripper to remove old slate from the roof.
The slate is being removed using a Slate Ripper. This is a versatile tool that slides up under the slate and is used to rip through the nails. It has sharp hooks to accomplish this and is designed to actually cut through copper nails. With the galvanized nails, it has generally pulled them out. This tool is used during slate installation to repair slate pieces that get broken in the process. It can also be used on completed roofs to help replace damaged slate shingles. The process is similar to when you remove the nails during demolition. The Ripper also works as pry bar to lift the shingles when you slide the replacement into place.
Installation of slate is not a quick process. On this roof we are installing random width slate in two different colors using a 70%-30% mix of purple and green. This further complicates the installation, but should make for a great look! I will post more pictures here or on our website when this project is completed.
A Garden Court for Culver
I was asked to write an article for the Culver Citizen explaining a little about Garden Court and the positive reasons for bringing one to Culver as well as the obstacles preventing the project. It was printed in the paper last week along with a sidebar I wrote giving a little description of the umbrella group that is Garden Court. I have copied the article and sidebar below:
