What is slate made of. Asbestos-cement corrugated slate roof sheets. How to work with slate? Roof manufacturing process

Such roofing as slate, we all know from childhood. Some 50-70 years ago, this coating was actually the only roofing material. However, in our time the situation has changed radically.

What is this roofing made of these days!

Today, under the general name "slate", the construction market offers us a huge number of coatings that differ from each other not only in material or manufacturing method, but also in physical and aesthetic characteristics. In this article, let's take a look at how all these materials differ from each other and what they have in common.

Slate is a rigid corrugated sheet with a high margin of safety and manufactured using various technologies.

Types of slate

All species that exist today can be divided into two groups:

• According to the type of material used for their manufacture;
• By production technology.

Natural slate slate

This roofing material is made from slate sheets of various shapes and sizes. Original appearance in combination with the unique structure of this material, they make it possible to form elite roofs with a high aesthetic appeal.

Natural slate is characterized by unique properties, as well as high technical and operational features that make it virtually an ideal roofing material.

But unfortunately, even this coating is not without some drawbacks that must be taken into account when choosing a material for arranging the roof.

The main advantage of slate is a truly unique appearance, thanks to which it is possible to build roofs of unique beauty with its help.

Another important advantage of this material is considered to be its durability, which is calculated for centuries.
Its significant disadvantages include the significant weight of slate, the high fragility of the material and its relatively high cost.

Asbestos-cement slate

This species is rightfully considered the most famous among all the rest. It is profiled sheets made from a mixture of asbestos with cement, having standardized dimensions.

An essential advantage of this material is its high resistance to fire, due to which it can be used in a fairly wide temperature range.

Long service life, high strength and affordable price make this coating today the number one roofing material on the construction market.

This type may be such that its laying can only be carried out using mobile lifting equipment.

Despite the fact that the weight of this type is much greater than its modern counterparts, in private construction, its installation is carried out without the use of special construction equipment.

Euroslate

The Euroslate group includes a lot of materials that differ slightly from each other in terms of manufacturing technology. This coating is made on the basis of cellulose impregnated with bitumen. This is one of the most controversial materials that the construction market offers us today.

Officially, it has a long service life, which in fact does not exceed 15 years. And with the temperature stability of this material, not everything is so simple.

Manufacturers claim that it has excellent resistance to temperature fluctuations. However, when the temperature rises, it becomes soft, and when it decreases, on the contrary, it becomes brittle.

When heated above 60 degrees, it completely begins to exude an unpleasant bituminous smell.
Its advantages include high flexibility, absolute water tightness and ease of installation work.

An important advantage of this type is the low weight of slate, due to which it can be used for laying on rather dilapidated truss systems.

PVC slate

Plastic slate appeared relatively recently; it is made from polymers with different properties. physical properties. Most often you can find PVC slate transparent or with light tinting.

Transparent slate, as a rule, is used in the construction of roofs on construction sites with a specific purpose, the architectural design of which provides for unimpeded penetration of daylight into the under-roof space. It can be greenhouses, verandas, pools.

PVC slate has high moisture resistance, low weight, significant margin of safety and ease of installation. Its most important advantage is that it has excellent light transmission.
Its significant disadvantage is the ability to linear expansion under the influence of high temperatures.

Rubber slate

This kind roofing It is made from fiberglass industry waste and recycled rubber by crushing and pressing. Rubber slate has high tensile strength and low weight, which greatly simplifies the process of its installation.

Just imagine how much a rubber slate sheet weighs if the weight of one square meter of this material is only 6.5 kg. Due to the low aesthetic appeal, this type of roofing is used for arranging roofs on outbuildings.

Whatever transparent, asbestos-cement, slate or rubber slate you choose, carefully study it before purchasing it specifications material, as it will help you make the right choice.

To all of us, the familiar name of this roofing material comes from the German word Schiefer, the so-called naturalness of shale, which was formed in the bowels of the Earth about 400 million years ago. Once upon a time, slate was used by women even as decorations, but men could not help but pay attention to those qualities that make slate an excellent material for construction.

What is a slate? Natural slate - these are slate plates of various widths and heights, designed for different types masonry. Depending on which masonry, square meter slate on the roof can weigh from 20 to 40 kg, on the facade about 30 kg. Today, shale is mined both by open and closed methods. The main country engaged in its extraction and export is Spain, since on its territory this material lies at a relatively shallow depth, it is not difficult to extract it, therefore Spanish slate is cheaper than in other European countries.

The surface of natural slate is decorative in itself. Slate is found not only in the usual blue-black or dark gray, but sometimes in red, green and some other shades. This stone has amazing properties: it does not lose color, has high thermal conductivity, noise insulation, frost resistance, slightly absorbs moisture from the air, has good hardness, and its surface is not slippery. Among other things, slate has a very long service life - it can be hundreds of years.

Surfaces of any configuration can be given a unique look with the help of natural slate. The most common use of slate is for roofing. This provides both attractiveness and reliability. Whatever masonry is used, slate tiles are attached to one another, like fish scales, so water will not flow through such a coating.

In order to optimize the use of the material, when it comes to natural slate, the laying of tiles can be done arbitrarily. First, a solid crate is made, tiles are overlapped on it, each nailed with several nails. Tiles may vary in height and width, so this kind installation work require a great deal of skill from workers. Before starting laying, the tiles are sorted by height. Laying begins from the bottom of the roof, from the drain, first the highest tiles are laid, then the smallest ones go closer to the top of the roof. Such masonry is suitable for roofs of any shape, and as a result of all efforts, only original roofs are obtained.

Covering roofs with slates with standard masonry provides that tiles will be used standard sizes. But there are many patterns for such masonry: scaly, acute-angled, pointed, with a smooth edge, octagonal, “fish scales” and others. Additional elements: edges, ridges, grooves - are completed with tiles for standard masonry, which greatly simplifies the work. Masonry according to patterns is most often used for roofing roofs of simple shapes.

In addition to natural, other types of slate are also widely used in construction.

Types of slate

First of all, the usual "Soviet" comes to mind. asbestos slate. It is made by forming a mixture of Portland cement, asbestos and water. Its characteristics: low thermal conductivity, high frost resistance, fire resistance, easy machining, sufficiently long service life (tens of years). Today, not only classic gray is produced, but also colored asbestos-cement slate. For painting, special silicate paints or paints on a phosphate binder are used, various pigments are used. But such slate will not fall on the roof of a complex shape, moreover, the use of slate with asbestos cement is considered by many to be unhealthy. However, manufacturers of slate paints claim that the slate surface covered with a dense layer of paint will not dust with asbestos, and besides, it will protect its surface from external influences.

Despite the potential health hazard, roofing with asbestos cement slate is a very widespread phenomenon in the CIS countries, because this material is practical and not expensive, which plays a decisive role for our consumer. In European countries, the production of asbestos slate was abandoned, and with the development of technology, it became possible to produce slate on safe plant, mineral, and synthetic components.

There are other types of slate that are not yet so widespread, but are gradually entering the market and competing with asbestos slate. For example, the so-called soft slate. This is a light and fairly durable material made from mineral fiber, which is impregnated with bitumen and coated on the front side. decorative paint. Soft slate is quite widely used for roofing roofs. simple designs due to the fact that its installation is quite simple, it does not require much time and large cash costs. A roof with soft slate will have a fairly attractive appearance.

metal slate made from galvanized steel sheet polymer coated or without it, the sheets are profiled on special machines, giving them a wavy shape. Profiles are transversely bent or arched. The use of metal slate was considered appropriate for large industrial premises, like warehouses or hangars, but with the help of polymer-decorative coatings, it is increasingly found today on roofs country houses and cottages.

We hope that this article has become useful for you, giving answers to questions about what slate is, what its varieties are, and how one type of slate differs from another. You can summarize everything that has been said by mentioning once again the advantages of this roofing material, but not forgetting to say a few words about its shortcomings, and everyone will decide for himself what plays a more important role.

The benefits of slate

- hardness in comparison with other materials, such as ondulin. Slate can easily withstand the weight of an adult;
- unlike metal tiles and corrugated boards, it heats up a little in sunny weather;
- high service life, proven in practice, other materials cannot yet boast of this parameter, since they have come into use relatively recently;
- fire resistance;
- anti-corrosion, unlike metal coatings;
– good electrical insulating properties;
- good sound insulation, compared with metal roofing;
- cheaper than most other roofing materials;
– ease of repair and replacement of damaged parts.

Disadvantages of slate

– content in the composition of asbestos, which is harmful to human health;
- over time, the slate is covered with moss. However, this disadvantage can be easily eliminated with the help of penetrating primers, which also enhances water resistance and increases service life;
– slate has relatively big weight, which complicates its installation manually, since this requires sufficient physical strength;
– the slate is fragile and requires careful handling during transportation and installation.

Slate is called building roofing material, with certain properties and degree of strength. Slate production takes place on special lines. The raw material for the manufacture of slate is cement mortar with the addition of various impurities, the main of which is asbestos.

And wavy. The latter is more often used for the roof of a house. Flat - widely used for the construction of fences, fences, foundation cladding and other purposes.

Common roofing materials slate takes its position on the market and continues to be in demand. In many roofs of houses, slate is used, both classic and modern of its types (ordinary wavy, reinforced wavy, as well as flat, durable and unified).

During the production of slate use asbestos, Portland cement or ordinary cement mortar mixed with water. Asbestos fibers act as bonding material. This allows you to make durable structures that can withstand high loads. Asbestos is distributed evenly throughout the structure and occupies up to 18% of the entire slate composition.

Portland cement gives better properties - fire safety, a certain degree of resistance to moisture, fracture strength and tension.

Coloring slate allows you to give it waterproofing properties, as well as provide resistance to winter frosts.

As a material for roofing, slate has been used for a long time. We can say that slate became the first durable material for the roof of a house. Initially, it was made from particles of crushed slate.

Now technology has advanced, which has contributed to the emergence of several of its types:

• Natural slate slate. Made from slate. Happens different forms. Among the main characteristics, it should be noted its low thermal conductivity, it can provide additional sound insulation to the house, it has waterproofing and fire-fighting properties. It belongs to the category of heavy and expensive materials.
• Asbestos-cement slate. The most widely used slate. This artificial material. It has a number of advantageous properties (frost resistance, fire safety, waterproofing, ease of installation). Thanks to innovative technologies, slate can be purchased in all sorts of colors and colors. For the price - the most best option, although many European countries have long abandoned this roofing material.
• Rubber and plastic euroslate. Such roofing materials replaced the classic ones. They are light in weight and installation. You can even mount them with your own hands, adhering to the instructions and operating requirements.

Classical wave slate before today decorates roofs private houses. Some homeowners continue to use it as a roofing material. The first types of slate had a slate base, although now it is used less and less because of its high price and bulkiness.

If we are talking about slate, they mean asbestos-cement composition.

As for the dimensions of ordinary wave slate, they have the following parameters, according to GOST:

• Slate for 6 waves. Overall parameters are leveled in the ratio of 1125x1750 cm. The thickness can vary from 0.6 mm to 0.75 mm. In this case, the step of the waves can reach 20 cm. This is a production version of slate. It is widely used for roofs of buildings of industrial enterprises and factories.
• Slate for 7 waves. Dimensions are 175x98 cm, with a thickness of 5-8mm. This is the most popular type of slate. It is used for private housing construction and for other types of industrial roofs.
• Slate for 8 waves. Produced in sizes 175x113 cm according to GOST. Thickness can have parameter 5-8mm. Rarely used. It can cover a large area.

Video lesson from the master - slate for many years.

Initially, slate was called plates, which are split slate. But over time, many roofing materials began to bear the same name. IN modern construction slate refers to materials used for roofing of various designs and having common feature- sheet form, as a rule, profiled. What is modern slate made of?

Slate roofing has gained great popularity due to its durability and strength.

Slate tiles - the oldest type of slate

Natural slate is a tile chipped from a block natural stone, which is a type of shale. This material has been used since the Middle Ages. Shales are rocks that are characterized by an almost parallel arrangement of lamellar or elongated minerals, which are easily split with little effort.

Roofing material is made from clay slates, which are dark gray or black in color with different shades: reddish or greenish, depending on the type of inclusions. Impurities in the clay mass can be feldspar, coal, brown iron ore. The sheen inherent in slate tiles makes the roof look unique from a decorative point of view.

Slate can be painted, so you can pick it up for any facade of the building.

In the extraction and processing of this material, as a rule, manual labor is used, therefore slate slate is expensive and belongs to the elite category. Slate, being a natural stone, has a number of valuable operational advantages:

• good sound insulation, when rain and wind noise is not transmitted to the interior;
• lack of response to frequent temperature changes and the ability not to deform when heated;
• density, strength, high resistance to wear and abrasion;
• uniformity of structure;
• low water absorption.

This material is fire resistant, resistant to acids and biologically active media. The service life of slate roofing material is more than 100 years.

Roof tiles with a thickness of 4 - 6 mm can have a trapezoidal, rectangular or triangular shape.

A square meter of such a roof weighs 28 - 35 kg. Due to the variety of laying methods and the unique natural properties of slates, roofs of any configuration and complexity can be made from this material, covering all its details: ridges, valleys, junctions. The rich color range of tiles makes it possible to arrange roofs with drawings and ornaments.

Production and properties of asbestos-cement slate

Asbestos-cement slate was and still is the most widespread among roofing materials. Its main types are wavy ordinary, wavy reinforced, wavy unified, flat. Sheets are made by forming a solution that consists of asbestos, Portland cement and water. The properties of the resulting roofing material largely depend on quality characteristics and quantitative content of asbestos, its mineral and chemical composition, grinding fineness.

By coloring slate, an additional layer is created that increases its frost resistance.

To increase the operational properties and give decorative qualities, asbestos-cement sheets are painted with silicate or phosphate-binder compositions containing various kinds of pigments. With the help of staining, a protective layer is created, which significantly reduces the water absorption of the sheets, increases their frost resistance, and protects the surface from destruction. Painting partially reduces the release of asbestos harmful to human health into the atmosphere and several times increases the life of the roof.

For fixing asbestos-cement sheets, screws, roofing nails are used, and anti-wind brackets are used on overhangs. Anti-corrosion coatings are applied to open places of fasteners: paint, epoxy resin, drying oil, varnish. The vulnerability of a roof made of corrugated sheets increases sharply in the presence of gaps that form at the interface. Gaps larger than 7 mm must be sealed mounting foam or other sealants.

Euroslate - modern non-asbestos roofing material

It is customary to call euroslate profiled roofing sheets, which in shape resemble traditional asbestos-cement slate. But in its composition and properties, the new roofing material is fundamentally different from the progenitor.

Euroslate is a soft, deformable material, for the basis of which glass or polymer canvases, pulp and cardboard fibers are used, impregnated with bituminous or rubber-polymer compounds. The euroslate group includes sheets of homogeneous polymers made by extrusion, including transparent and translucent.

Advantages of using euroslate:

• light weight, no need to arrange a powerful crate;
• relatively low cost;
• high performance during installation;
• high environmental friendliness of the materials from which this roofing material is made;
• the ability to lay on curved surfaces with a bending radius of more than 5 meters.

Slate has excellent sound insulation.

The most common type of euro slate is hard ondulin, which is made from processed cardboard production waste impregnated with bituminous materials. In addition to these substances, ondulin contains thermosetting resins, mineral fillers and pigments. Initially, ondulin was supposed to be used only for the repair of existing roofs, but later it stood out as an independent roofing material.

The color scheme of ondulin is very diverse, it includes matte shades of red, brown, green, and also black. Working palette - 14 colors. For ondulin, a non-continuous crate is made, the step of which depends on the slope of the roof.

Ondulin sheets are durable in operation, the service life of the roof is about 50 years, they are able to withstand snow blockages weighing up to 300 kg per square meter, they resist pressure hurricane wind, the speed of which reaches 200 km / h, resistant to significant temperature changes, the effects of acids and other chemical substances do not contain asbestos.

The high bearing capacity of ondulin is provided by the multilayer structure. The essence of the manufacturing method consists in pressing a cellulose thread laid in 14 layers at a layer-by-layer intersection.

A variety of euroslate - sheets of homogeneous polymers

This group includes transparent acrylic and translucent - polycarbonate.

Acrylic is elastic, has the ability to withstand significant loads, and can be deformed at elevated temperatures, which makes it possible to obtain the required shapes. Acrylic, like glass, is colorless, it has a second, more common name - plexiglass. For roofing, acrylic sheets with a special structure are used.

In the sheet there are channels that are filled with air, they are separated from each other by stiffening ribs. Such materials, along with low weight, have structural strength and good thermal insulation properties. The warranty period is about 10 years. Acrylic transmits ultraviolet very well. This property makes it possible to use the material for roofing solariums and swimming pools. However, for furniture, acrylic roofing is not a protection against fading.

Polycarbonate is a more common material than acrylic. roofing sheets made of polycarbonate have low flammability, chemical resistance, resist wind loads and impact.

One of the advantages of polymeric materials is high plasticity. This quality allows them to produce not only individual elements, but also complete dome structures with various base configurations - square, round, rectangular. Polymeric materials can be used in the construction of small vaults and arches, which do not require the presence of load-bearing structures, since the roof is self-supporting.

However, polymeric materials have a number of properties that somewhat limit their scope. The fact that the coefficient of thermal expansion of polymers exceeds that of load-bearing structures requires careful calculations in the design of structures, especially with a large roof area.

In modern domestic construction, there is a tendency to move from traditional asbestos-cement slate to its more advanced modifications that do not contain substances harmful to the atmosphere and human health and allow creating attractive roof structures.

What is slate made of and in what ways?

What is slate made of? From slate tiles, asbestos cement, from polymeric materials. The latter represent the most advanced, affordable and secure technology.

What is modern slate made of?

Most people are convinced that they know what slate is made of. An image of a roof covered with gray and wavy asbestos concrete immediately appears in my head. Some represent a colored metal or polymer roof. However, these materials have not always been used and will not always be used. Over the centuries, when slate was the most popular roofing material, the technology of its manufacture, keeping pace with progress, has undergone dramatic changes.

Advantages of slate: low cost, light weight, good heat and sound insulation properties.

"Schiefer" is a German word with Roman roots.

Slate translated from German language means "slate". It is from this rock began to produce flat roofing material in the days of the Roman Empire. The structure of the slate made it relatively easy to split it into flat plates 4-6 mm thick, which, after being given a rectangular, triangular or more complex shape, were used to cover roofs.

Since all operations in the processing of slate are carried out manually, natural slate in former times was available only to the nobility, and even now it belongs to the elite class. building materials, giving sophistication and originality to any building, thanks to the possibility of a wide variation of shapes and colors.

The naturalness of the stone gives slate a number of valuable advantages:

• good sound insulation;
• resistance to temperature extremes and moisture;
• durability (service life of 60-200 years or more);
• incombustibility;
• immunity to the effects of the biological environment.

Among the disadvantages are:

• fragility;
• heavy weight requiring a reinforced frame.

The most common natural slate is dark gray, but the presence of impurities in slate can give it black, reddish or greenish hues with an invariable unique brilliance.

Available roof

With the development of urban infrastructure, the need for slate increased. Limited in quantity natural material due to the slowness of its processing, forced to look for artificial substitutes available for mass production. A real revolution was made by the emergence of technology for the manufacture of asbestos-cement slate.

The composition of slate includes inexpensive components: Portland cement, 10-12% of asbestos fibers reinforcing it and water.

Slate mounting scheme.

During production, you can get a sheet with a wave of different radii or flat material. Slate is additionally painted to increase frost resistance, reduce water absorption and reduce the release of asbestos harmful to humans into the atmosphere. Various dye pigments make it possible to obtain sheets of various colors.

Advantages of asbestos-cement slate:

• cheapness;
• good insulating properties;
• incombustibility;
• strength and durability when used correctly.

The main disadvantage of classic slate is the presence of asbestos, which can cause serious lung diseases. And although, according to experts, during the operation of the roof, a safe amount of asbestos is released for humans, alarming information was launched into the masses and became the reason for the refusal of many consumers from asbestos-cement slate. In fairness, it should be noted that the production, installation and especially the disposal of sheets using asbestos is really unsafe - for the people doing the work.

To eliminate the risk factor, some manufacturers have launched the production of slate, in which synthetic, vegetable or mineral fibers are used instead of asbestos. hinders transport and repair work) and surface porosity, which is fraught with the appearance of moss and destruction when water freezes.

Euroslate: safety and convenience

The scheme of the roof covered with euroslate.

The presence of unhealthy asbestos in classic slate has prompted manufacturers to look for an alternative. The development of the chemical industry made it possible to develop a new variety - euroslate.

This name brings together several various kinds materials with common criteria: high environmental safety, in accordance with current European standards (hence the prefix "euro"), as well as a modern level of performance.

The standard form of sheets of roofing material of the European quality class is similar to the form of an ordinary asbestos-cement sheet, but its composition and, accordingly, operational properties differ dramatically.

As the most common basis for the soft roofing material of Euroslate, pulp and cardboard fibers, glass or polymer canvases are used, which are impregnated with bitumen or polymer compounds under industrial conditions.

• light weight allows you to abandon the bulky crate;
• the possibility of laying on curved surfaces;
• cheapness;
• environmental Safety;
• non-waste;
• resistance to environmental influences;
• good heat and sound insulation properties.

Ondulin: results exceeded expectations

Technical characteristics of ondulin.

Among the varieties of euroslate, hard ondulin is the most common. This slate is made from waste cardboard production (other synthetic fibers can also be based) with their subsequent impregnation with bituminous materials at high temperature and pressure. Thermosetting resins and mineral fillers are necessarily added to the composition of ondulin, which give the material the necessary performance properties. Slate is painted twice: before bitumen treatment and at the final stage, which gives the sheet a rich color.

Ondulin has a multilayer structure: 14 layers of pressed cellulose or synthetic thread with its layer-by-layer intersection. Such a base provides the best strength properties of the material, which was originally developed only as an auxiliary or repair, but then, thanks to high performance, stood out as a separate type of euroslate.

having various color solutions, ondulin, according to manufacturers, can serve up to 50 years, while without loss of quality, resisting natural disasters: snow, strong wind, moisture, and even harsh chemicals.

Another type of modern euroslate is sheets made of homogeneous polymers, such as transparent acrylic and translucent polycarbonate.

The first is elastic and able to withstand significant loads. Flexibility at high temperatures allows you to give the sheet the most bizarre shapes.

Roofing acrylic has a complex structure: inside the sheet there are channels connected by stiffeners, which provides good thermal insulation.

Transparent acrylic transmits ultraviolet, which allows it to be used for the roofs of swimming pools, solariums or greenhouses.

Polycarbonate has all the inherent polymer materials characteristics: incombustibility, resistance to chemical attack and strength.

metal slate

This type of roofing has been used since the 19th century. Corrugation (creation of stiffeners) by presses or rolling made it possible to significantly increase the rigidity of the material, therefore the metal profiled sheet is initially stronger than other types of slate, and the application of polymer protection makes it immune to aggressive external environments. Among the disadvantages of iron material are high thermal conductivity and low sound insulation .

Despite the variety of existing roofing materials, the emergence of new, even more functional, is inevitable. Even today, it is not uncommon for roofs with photovoltaic cells to generate solar energy. What will happen next? The use of nanoparticles in the sheet that instantly repairs the roof in case of damage, a “smart” roof that reacts to changing weather conditions, or anything else that even futurologists do not know about? One thing is clear: these progressive roofing materials will be called habitually, i.e. "slate".

What is slate made of: composition

Most people are convinced that they know what slate is made of. An image of a roof covered with gray and wavy asbestos concrete immediately appears in my head.