Where the slate holes come from when there are no trees nearby or tall buildings from which something could fall, remains a mystery to me personally. Nevertheless, this is a fact. Now many varieties of various adhesives are sold for a wide variety of materials, including slate. However, many of them are not as effective as we would like. Some run off the roof with rain during a rainfall, others, at best in spring, along with snow. In the end, I decided to make the glue myself, with my own hands. The glue was not bad. Patches with its use have successfully survived the winter and still cope with their work. Climbing the roof in the spring in search of new "surprises", and surprised to find patches safe and sound, I decided to share useful advice. That's what the year-old patch looked like.
I easily torn it off to demonstrate how to install a new one.
Will need
- PVA glue.
- Alabaster.
- Asbestos fabric.
- Spokes for a bicycle wheel (or similar wire).
- Sandpaper on wood (coarse-grained).
Close up slate hole
The patch will be reinforced. For this, we first prepare the knitting needles (if they are not, cut the steel wire) and asbestos fabric. Now we dilute the glue itself. Pour 180-200 grams of PVA glue into the dishes in which we will knead. Then, in small portions, continuously stirring, pour alabaster until the mass acquires the consistency of thick sour cream.
After the mixture is ready and there are no lumps left in it, immerse the prepared asbestos patch in the mixture.
You can leave the mixture alone for ten minutes, let it brew. During this time, we will prepare the place for the future patch. With coarse-grained emery paper, we clean the fields around the hole over the entire area on which the mixture will lie.
Lubricate the sanded surface with PVA glue. Now we take two or three knitting needles and put them on the hole, along the edges of the slate.
On top, on the knitting needles, apply an asbestos patch soaked in the mixture. Next, spread the mixture around the patch in an even layer. We level it with a spatula. We close the dish with the mixture with a lid so that it does not start to dry out and wait an hour and a half, until the patch is slightly grasped. Then a second layer, not too thick, we fix the patch.
You can sprinkle light alabaster on top. It will dry for a day, so before you start work, find out the weather forecast for the next day, since even small precipitation can all work go down the drain. But then you can safely forget about the hole, until you decide to change the coating on the roof.
