The roof of the cottage began to leak. Do not postpone its repair for a long time, because moisture destructively affects even the most durable build materials. To repair the roof is quite simple and on your own.
It began to rain, and you sadly noticed a wet spot on the ceiling. So it is - the roof leaked. Do not groan and gasp. The best thing you can do is immediately go up to the attic to determine where it is going. Indeed, in good weather, it is quite difficult to find a leak. But now, a hole in the roof was found. You can hire craftsmen, or you can block the roof do it yourself.
The most common roofing material is slate. If your country house has a slate roof, then no special problems are expected with either the material or the repair itself. But, before you get started, familiarize yourself with the minimum safety requirements.
Firstly, do not work in wet or windy weather, as there is a danger of slipping, and materials will constantly slide down a sloping roof. Clothing should be comfortable and shoes should have non-slip soles. Choose a more authentic staircase so that you do not have to balance on the last crossbar. In addition, it should have a special bracket for fixing. And, of course, take yourself an intelligent assistant who will serve tools and materials and move the stairs.
Slate plates are attached to the rails with special nails. It is in the attachment points that a leak usually appears. All you need to do is replace the plate. To do this, you must first remove the damaged slate, carefully cutting the nails under the hat itself. If you don’t have a slate on hand suitable for size and thickness, you can put a temporary metal patch. To do this, you need to cut out a sheet of aluminum, which will be twice as wide as the slate plate and 10cm longer. In the middle of the patch it is necessary to apply cement and push it onto the damaged area with cement down. If the patch tightens into place, carefully knock it out with a wooden block.
But here the necessary slate sheet is found, and you can do the repair seriously. Adjust the sheet to fit exactly first. This is done very simply.Circle the outline with a sharp chisel and break off all the excess. Then a metal guide is installed. This is a fairly long strip of metal, about three centimeters wide. You need to install it in such a way that its edges are under the sheets of slate of the upper row, and the lower end is 5 cm out from under the layered sheet. Now you need to nail the plate to the rail, so that the nails fall into the gap between adjacent sheets of slate. Well, here, almost all the difficulties, only left buy a hookah and enjoy the work done!
Now all that remains is to slide the new slate piece into place and bend up the protruding piece of the metal tape with a gentle sliding motion.
And finally, let me give you a little advice. When leaking the roof, first of all, examine the most “sore” places. These are usually the corners of the roof and places adjacent to chimneys and ventilation holes. Therefore, do not be lazy to provide reliable waterproofing of such problem areas. Do not forget to periodically check and update it, and you will not be afraid of any bad weather.