Slating

creedp

This may seem like a facile query for people who are familiar with the building trade, but how do roofers/slaters normally protect the breathable felt when working on the roof, i.e. working on a chimney before slating or during slating itself?

In my case the breathable felt was badly scuffed during the building of the chimney by the brickies climbing up and down with materials etc. I thought that was bad enough but now its being slated and the felt along routes the slaters are taking to climb up the roof is very badly scuffed/frayed and has cracked along the rafter in a number of places. I asked the builder how the felt should be protected and he said they would cover it with plastic. However, that's only as the point where they climb up from the scaffolding onto the roof as obviously its not possible to cover all the roof!

Is this damage to the felt necessary collateral damage when slating or should the felt be protected in some way? I envisaged the slaters using roof ladders - the ones used to work on a finished slate roof - which would keep their size 12s off the felt. Is this practical when slaters are constantly up and down the roof as well as moving across the roof?

Thanks for your help

Regards

cork2

usually the chimney is bulit completely from the ground, just scaffold it all the ways up then knock the scaffolding to roof, then you lath and felt the roof and take care when plastering the chimney and be sure to plaster before you slate. roof ladders are never used till the very end for the last of the slating and then the ridging. scuffing of the felt isnt the end of the world but should be avoided as much as possible. tears and cracks id be worried about alright and id be more inclined to seal them with silcone than plastic because over time pieces of plastic will slide down the roof.