Keeping a SOUND ROOF

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Fasten the new slate with a slate hanger under its lip - nail through underlying slate layers - or a single long copper nail placed at the top of the seam between the two original slates that lie on top of the new one. (Be sure to use copper or soft aluminum naffs in repairs so they can be cut easily to repair if need be.)

To make a hole in slate, rest it on as flat and even a surface as possible (working on the roof, shim slates with wooden wedges - wood shingles - as needed to eliminated wobble). With a pointed steel prick-punch, finishing-nail set or center-punch, tap gently on the hole site at a shallow angle until the slate begins to flake. Flake out slate in a nail-shaft-size through-hole with a shallow funnel shape around it large enough to hold the nail head so its top is even with the slate surface. The nail head for a replacement slate must fit down through the seam between the inside edges of the two slates that meet on top of the new one ...and then, through the middle of the new slate below. Tap gently and go slow and its a cinch.

It is best if you sink the nail firmly into solid wood sheathing under the layers of slate. But if you don't, nails running through all that slate should hold for another 100 years or so. Dab the nail head with roofing cement and slip sheathing in under the slates to cover it over.

ADVANCE PREPARATION

If you are building, remodeling or landscaping a house, there are several precautionary steps you can take to keep the roof on in a high wind.

First, most rafters are toenailed (nails hammered in and down at an angle) to headers with two big 16d nails to a side. These nails aim down and work fine to keep a roof on under normal conditions. But high storm winds can get under the roof eaves and push up; the roof can fold or, worse, the rafter nails all around can pull out and off goes the roof into the barnyard or the next county.

To keep the roof attached during high winds, install hurricane straps (high-wind brackets) on the rafters during initial framing. Little known outside the hurricane and tornado belts, these inexpen sive metal stampings belong on every building that might have to endure a high wind. They are simple galvanized sheet steel brackets, similar to the joist-hangers and other nail-on metal brackets used in place of weak butt joints or complex inlet mortise joints in framing most modern homes. The 18"- to 24"-long, 2"- or 3" wide steel strap is bent over the top of the rafter and brought down to be fastened at each end to the top and/or inside face of the 2 x 8 header - the horizontal board that forms the top of the wall framing (see illustration). Nails or screw fasteners running from inside out or at angles into the header oppose the uplifting force of a strong wind and keep the roof on when ordinary vertical fasteners would pull right out. If you can't find hurricane straps for sale, you can tin-snip your own out of any sturdy galvanized-steel strapping, ribbon or sheet. Cut each steel sheet three and a half tunes the width of your rafter. Nail one end to the inside of the header beside a rafter. Bend it at an out-facing angle so it will twist a quarter turn to fit flat to the rafter top, then bring it up, over and around the rafter. Twist and fasten to the header on the other side of the rafter.

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