How to paint a slate roof: choose a paint

Gusevsky Andrey Anatolyevich

Roof slate painting

Painting the slate on the roof will make the coating attractive and protect it from the environment. Today you will learn how to paint the slate on the roof and how to do it correctly.

On the video in this article you can see a lot of useful information and do the job efficiently.

Why paint slate

Over a long period of time, slate has been one of the most popular materials for roofs of houses and buildings. Such fame is easily explained by its affordable pricing policy and long service life.

Today, flat slate, like wave slate, is often used in the construction of various structures. But, like every building material, it has not only advantages, but also a number of disadvantages.

For instance:

• Slate does not have an aesthetic appearance, which does not allow it to belong to the category of decorative or elite building materials. It is destroyed in an aggressive environment. Under the influence of moisture, it can grow with lichens or mosses.
• To cope with a number of such problems, as a rule, timely painting of the roof helps. Similar application of coloring compounds can be done with your own hands. The layer that is formed during painting protects the asbestos cement from the effects of wind, preventing its weathering, and does not allow it to undergo biological destruction.
• In order for the lifetime of such a roof to be longer, it is necessary to process the slate roof with special protective solutions, and only after that with paint. But, in fact, such measures can be carried out not only when the slate is new, but also when it has already acquired a black color and the process of its destruction will begin.
• In order to protect the roofing and prepare for staining, the following measures should be taken:
• removal of moss and lichens from the roof.
• Cleaning it from dirt and dust particles.
• Treatment with antiseptic compounds and water repellent.
• Primer for roofing.
• Staining it twice with drying between the layers of applying paint and varnish products
• If the slate is prepared correctly, then the paintwork lays evenly, does not chip, does not lag behind, which protects from external environmental influences, but also gives a presentable appearance to the building.

Attention: Coloring the slate roof will allow to eliminate a number of disadvantages.

Rules for completing roof painting

How to paint a slate roof will now be considered in detail. If you do everything yourself, then the price of the work will not be significant.

Roof cleaning

Before deciding what to paint the slate roof, you need to understand the principle of coating. After all, technology is important here, otherwise the coating will not hold.

Making a plane sweep

So:

• If asbestos cement does not lie on the roof for a single season, it is best not only to sweep the material from the debris and wipe it, but also to remove the moss and lichen that has grown on it. Most often, they spread on the slopes of the roof.
• A hard brush will help to cope with the growths, but processing should be carried out exclusively on the dry surface of the roof. Of course, you can clean it by hand, but a grinder with a nozzle in the form of a hard wire brush will help to optimize the process. You can purchase at any hardware store.
• If you use a power tool in your work, it will facilitate your work, increase speed and improve the quality of cleaning of roofing material. After all the slopes are cleaned, cover the top with a regular brush, and then rinse with warm water and allow to dry before proceeding to the next step.
• Those places that are difficult to access and cannot be cleaned are cleaned by hand with a grinder, very carefully so as not to damage the coating.
• You can clean the slate with a high pressure water jet. This method can only be used with special equipment. With this cleaning technique, you can perform the procedure in any weather, regardless of precipitation, the main thing is that the air temperature is positive.
• Before cleaning, the correct pressure should be selected, it should not exceed more than 250 atmospheres. If it is higher, it can negatively affect the slate and lead to destruction. But it is worth considering that the water pressure should not be weak, otherwise it simply does not eliminate moss and lichens on the roof.

Slate Roof Processing

Before coating with asbestos-based materials, asbestos-cement material, it is necessary to carry out a number of procedures that will increase its resistance to aggressive external environment.

Slate primer

Attention: It is important to remember that when painting and processing the slate must comply with safety rules when wearing gloves, goggles and a respirator to protect hands, eyes and lungs from harmful chemicals and fungus.

• In order that biological destruction does not occur, the coating should be thoroughly lubricated with an antiseptic composition. This can be done without the help of professionals, applying it with a brush or a special spray.
• The older the slate, the more pores therein arising from freezing in the cold season and thawing in spring and summer. This contributes to an increase in the number of microcracks with a humid environment, which are a breeding ground for bacteria that destroy asbestos cement.
• Roof paint is possible only after additional treatment with water repellent. It is best to use such compositions on slate, which is laid over a year ago.

Preparation of asbestos cement for staining

Ideally, the material should be painted before installation, when the roof is only being erected. But usually this procedure is aimed specifically at slate, which is already worth more than one year and it is necessary to extend its life, giving the finished roof a more presentable appearance.

Attention: It is important to remember that painting slate is an event aimed not only at protecting it from the effects of the external and biological environment, but also improving operational properties.

• Painting helps make it more durable and less responsive to low temperatures.
• The main aspect contributing to the high-quality application of dyes on asbestos cement is the correct selection of paint. After all, it should not only have a decorative look, but also close microcracks, reducing the impact of the atmospheric environment. Today the market of paints and varnishes offers a wide selection of paints, you can buy paint on almost every corner. But the best in their properties for painting slate will be acrylic paints and enamels, which create a film on the surface.
• If painting is carried out in conditions of variable weather or variable cloud cover, quick-drying enamel is the best option.

Paint application

The staining process consists of several stages: primer coating, applying a paint layer, painting the finish. In order for the work performed to be of high quality, it is necessary to comply with painting technologies.

Paint application

So:

• Asbestos cement is recommended to be primed with the help of compounds designed for deep penetration, the point here is the very porosity of the material.This type of primer allows it to be strengthened and to provide the necessary adhesion of the paint. Indeed, if the material is treated with such a composition, then the paint will need less and it will lie down in a more even layer.
• Priming is best done with a spray gun. Typical consumption is approximately 100-150 grams per sheet, and the paintwork itself is carried out at a temperature of 5 to 30 degrees Celsius.
• It is possible to paint slate only after the primer of deep penetration has completely dried (usually it is 12 hours), and when applying it is necessary to use means protecting hands and eyes.

Choosing a paint for slate

If you choose the right paint, you can not only make the roof beautiful, but also protect it from moisture, wind and destruction. To date, acrylic and enamel roof paints from slate are used.

Attention: Professionals recommend using these formulations in the work because of their properties. The manufacturer took into account all the features of working with asbestos cement and developed these types of paints so that they not only could cover all microcracks with the film, but also protect the material from the aggressive effects of the external environment.

• Paint components contain binders that are suitable specifically for this type of coating. If the building stands in a place where pressure, temperature and other adverse conditions often occur, then quick-drying enamel is the best option for paint. It is best before painting roofs from slate to seek the advice of professionals who will help you choose the paint not only by color and other important characteristics, but also take into account the age of the roof and its condition in general.

Attention: Remember that for high-quality staining it is not enough to choose a good coloring composition, but it is also necessary to observe the technology of the staining process. It is divided into several main stages, including: priming the surface, staining with the first layer, staining with the second layer.

• Priming is best done with compositions designed for deep penetration into the material, they strengthen the porous structure of asbestos cement.
  Roof painting, which was previously primed easier to perform, due to the fact that the paint layer lays down, and the amount of its consumption will be less than untreated slate.
• It is recommended to apply about one hundred and fifty grams of the primer to one sheet. The temperature for the work to be carried out should be from +5 to +30 degrees Celsius, and the drying cycle will be about 12 hours. Only after the primer is completely dry can it be covered with paint.

Caution: Do not work with deep penetration formulations with your hands on without gloves on. The penetration of primers into the eyes should be avoided. If the surface is prepared correctly, the paint tightly adheres to the surface and does not need to be repainted for a long time.

It is best to primer the slate in the afternoon, and paint it only the next day.

Correct painting of asbestos cement

You now know how to paint the slate roof, now everything needs to be done according to the technology. Starting to paint the material, you need to take into account that this layer is the main one and the consumption of the coloring composition in it is two-thirds of the total amount of necessary paint.

So:

• When staining, there should be no gaps, you need to paint over the ends and corners of the sheet, especially paying attention to hard-to-reach spots. After the first layer, the slate will gain an aesthetic appearance, but you can not stop there and should be painted on the second finish layer.
• The final coat of paint is applied after the base coat has completely dried. Using the finish layer, minor flaws, stains are corrected, the slate becomes more monophonic. This layer carries the paint consumption by one third of the volume that was planned for the entire roof.
• Dyeing asbestos cement with your own hands is a process that does not require special professional knowledge and skills, but it is rather laborious in nature.
  The above technology should be used not only for flat, but also for corrugated slate.

Attention: It is thanks to the quality work on the preparation, priming and staining of the roof that becomes presentable and becomes an adornment of any structure and building. A coating with a correctly selected composition will improve its operational properties when exposed to the external environment.

If you do everything yourself, then how much it costs to paint the slate roof will not interest you at all. The instruction will help you do everything right and not miss anything.