A long time ago I came across the Nu-Lok roofing system. One of the issues was that I could not slate the roof in a traditional way as the sarking layer would pose a major design issue in terms of ventilation, strength etc so in looking for a clip in slate system like the French use, I came across Nu-Lok.
I was also not keen on ‘imitation slate’ as my experiences of this have been very poor. Nu-Lok do a ceramic slate that is to all intents a tile that is the same as the tiles you put on a floor or wall. They are a great imitation of slate and generally cheaper than real slate. Planning were happy with them but when it came to getting them installed, Nu-Sustainable had run out. The offer was therefore, for a real slate roof at the same price as the ceramic. In all honesty, I had mixed emotions on this but decided to take the offer.
The ceramic tiles do have an advantage that they are virtually impossible to break and will last for ever (literally!). Interestingly the team who are fitting the roof prefer them!
The problem then was they did not have enough steel batten either! They eventually started the roof on the 6th Nov (2 and a bit weeks later than planned). I had arranged for the tiles to be delivered using transport with one of the small Moffett fork-lift trucks that attach themselves to the back of the lorry as I do not have any Mechanical Off Load (MOL) on site. As it happens the number of pallets was far less than I expected and could possibly have been done by HIAB, but never mind.
Roof has gone on well. Only real issue was that I had got Velux Flashings for a tiled roof and not a slate roof. They do seem to be OK though (Phew!). Well that was the only issue right up until they discovered on Friday that they did not have enough slate!
I think this fascia detail is my favourite. It took a while to work out how to finish the counter battens and provide the leveling to bring the membrane to the level of the fascia and provide a batten for the steel tile batten to be fixed to against the fascia (a unique feature of this system).
Secret Gutter
The last photo is one of the most interesting as the method they use is different to the manual but is better. They also do not use a preformed hip soaker, but a piece of DPC that is cut to shape then bedded on some silicone on the last full length metal tile soaker. It seems to be effective but it remains to be seen long term!
All we need now are some more slate………