Natural slate: Nail or Hook

sas

Taking exposure conditions or any other factor out of it, which is a better way to fix natural slate, nail or hook?

I'm being advised by some suppliers that hook is the best way to go, some have said it doesn't matter. None have said that hook was a bad idea.

Opinions?

FergusD

My roofer wanted hooks on the exposed side of the house (he may have nailed them too) with the other side being just nailed. I gather that some types of slate (Brazilian?) may also not take kindly to being nailed.

Fergus.

windyboy

Hi SAS,

Building 2 storey ICF house in north west 2km from atlantic. We used Capco Nova Black 20x10 brazillian natural slate. It is essential to hook them around here. I visited a new build where the guy didn't hook them and I could hear the slates falling off on the windy day I was there. We have 5800 slates on house and garage and all are intact to date and we have had a fair bit of wind.

Some slates that are heavier may not require like a Cupa heavy 3.
I think for the relatively small additional cost it is a no brainer. Do to the delicate nature of the thinner slates I wouldn't like to have to go back on the roof to fix slates as it would be a difficult and expensive job.

My roofer took great care and the roof looks great.

Windyboy

soldsold

Definitely hook all brazilian slates, as this allows them to expand and contract without cracking. I believe with spanish slates there is no need to hook them from a brittleness point of view.

Mine are brazilian, all nailed at the perimeters and hooked everywhere else. Same slates are used on a private house and a two year old housing estate a mile away and the roofer is constantly up and down removing cracked slates.

The hooks can either be seen as an eyesore, or many think they add to the look of the roof, giving it a kind of old world look.

You quickly begin to see them through rose tinted glasses when you look at them as a team of soldiers on the roof saving your slates from cracking, I haven't started to salute them when I'm passing them yet, but can see that day coming over the years as I get older and more senile.

liswoj

In my opinion hooks are ok when advised for brittle slate such as brazilian.As there is no alternative.But I doubt they do much for uplift,as far as i'm aware they are only another method of fixing.Also i dont think they sould be used in conjunction with nails.My main concern is that a broken slate cant be spotted until water ingress occurs.This is just my opinion on an old post!

NewBeefFarmer

Cupa heavy nailed here.

Solid