Open Or Gapped Slating

[NORTH GRANGE]

I am refurbishing a cattle byre(cow shed). The original roof would have been open slated to allow steam and condensation from the animals to percolate through. There seems to be a lot of guidance on how to build a normal close slated roof but so far I've been unable to find guidance on open slating. I would appreciate some pointers please. Thanks for your help.

[pesda-slate]

Hello

Is the property going to remain a cow shed or is it becoming a living space?

If it remains a cow shed then there is no problem in replicating what you already have, that is opening up the 'perps' of the slate to allow extra ventilation. However this system may well allow wind blown rain or snow to pentrate into the roof space under certain conditions, but being a cow shed, that wouldn't really matter if it wasn't too often.

Open slating wouldn't be recommended on a pitched roof above a living space for the reasons above. Open slating loses 'side-lap'. Having the correct minimum side-lap in slating is an essential part of keeping the roof weathertight, as a rule of thumb the minimum side lap should be about half the gauge or margin (a bit less for steeper roofs and a bit more for shallower roofs).A

It would be possible to achieve a weathertight roof with open slating, provided the roof has a decent pitch, but you would need to increase the headlap significantly and use much wider slates than you would have seen on the original, making it look all wrong.

Hope this helps

Jon