About Slate
B-Raines Slate & Solar Roofing Co. is an expert in slate roofs. The durability and beauty of slate continues to make it one of the most desirable roofs available. However, removing old slate roofs and installing new ones is no easy task, often reserved for only the most experienced installers. Our membership in the National Slate Association founded in 1922 is testament to the fact that our slate installers are specialists with this kind of roofing, and their experience and attention to detail shows on every job. We start with the highest grade of products available: Titanium UDL underlayments made of NASA developed materials, and finish with Vermont Slate, the hardest and most highly graded slate in the world.
Of course, a 100-year rated roofing material will only function over time if it is installed with equally high quality accessories, so we use nothing less than copper nails and copper flashing on every slate roof! From start to finish, our commitment to Personalized Service and Expert Installations make your roof the best it can be.
Slate is a natural material formed during the geologic time period known as the Early Paleozoic era, some 435 to 570 million years ago. As such, the vast majority of slate shingles present on our roofs today, and which continue to be quarried, originated some half-billion years before humans roamed the earth.
The color of slate is determined by its chemical and mineralogical composition. Since these factors differ in various localities, it is possible to obtain roofing slates in a variety of colors and shades. Upon exposure to the weather, all slate is changed slightly in color. The extent of this color change varies with different slate beds, being barely perceptible in certain slates. Those slates in which the color changes but slightly are classed as “permanent” or “unfading.” Those in which the color change is more marked and varied are known as “semi-weathering” and “weathering” slates.
This vintage footage shows the removal of slate from a slate quarry, circa the early 1900’s.
Greenstone Slate Quarry Tour – Slate Roofing Contractors Association 2010 Conference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-2Rxlgmjqw
Kraftwerks Sheet Metal & Slate, Inc. watching cutting of large quarried slate to smaller pieces.
In this month’s episode of This Old Hall, we watch as roofers add a new slate roof, which is expected to last 75 years or more. There’s a craft to the work, as you will see.