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Discarded slate roofing tiles
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Posted by Hyperboy Georgia (My Page) on Thu, Jul 21, 05 at 12:12
I recently came across a construction site where workers are completely replacing a gigantic old slate roof.
I came across the site again... and again... early in the evening and am in the process of gathering broken and discarded tiles from a huge on-site skid.
I know nothing of slate, but I'm learning. The first thing I learned was why the tiles were being removed: where they were overlapped, many had "rotted" to the point of becoming as soft as chalk. I scraped this soft part away, using a slab of rough concrete. Many of these same pieces of slate had formed a "skin" of sorts on top, which I removed by blasting it sideways with a garden hose. I didn't measure, but I'd say a completely intact piece of slate measures, perhaps 8" by 15"... but that's just a guess. These old tiles are uniformly dark grey.
Now that the NEW slate is being installed, I have access to thicker, pale grey pieces of slate tile.
OK, that's my situation. Now my question. What can I DO with this slate? I got it expressly for the purpose of making a border abound a hillside flowerbed that was washing away in the rain. I dug a 4"-6" trench and overlapped the slate so the water would flow past the bed. It worked great and I love the way the tiles look, sort of like an old cemetery. But I wonder how long the buried slate will last.
I have many garden beds in the backyard, and if my source doesn't dry up, I should have enough slate to border all of them.
Even the new slate is too thin to walk on, but does anyone know of another use for this beautiful stone?
Hyperboy
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Discarded slate roofing tiles
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| Many of the walls I saw in Korea were made of roof tiles (straight or curved) embedded in cement so 1/2 inch or so stuck out. |
RE: Discarded slate roofing tiles
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| I realize that this is an old post, but I'm in a similar situation myself -- I may have access to a bunch of slate roofing tiles. How did they work out for you? Have you used them for anything else? I was hoping to use them as pavers, set into the lawn. Will they take foot traffic, or break up quickly? I'm in the northeast U.S., if that makes a difference. |
RE: Discarded slate roofing tiles
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| Slate is very fragile and chips/breaks easily. They would make great pavers backed with cement, either individually set into the lawn or severally set into a walk. Using them by themselves as paver stones they would degrade very quickly. Once set, it might be an idea to seal them so that they will not suffer from the freeze thaw cycle so close to the ground. This would also help in the warm months in preventing them from becoming slippery with moss. |
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