new slate roof goes "snap, crackle pop" in the cold

[RobertL]

Background: In the summer we had the back bedroom roof of our
victorian terraced house reroofed. It has the original rafters but
eveything else is new. It has slate/impermeablemebrane/air gap/
celotex/thinsulex/plasterboard .

The problem: On clear nights, when the temperature drops fast, the
roof starts to "crackle and pop". The sound come from all over the
ceiling and is quite loud. It's as if someone is dropping small
stones onto the roof from a great height. If you go out in the back
garden you can hear it clearly and it seems to be coming from the
slates. It does this for about 20 minutes and then it stops; last
night it began at about 11 pm (in Cambridge).

Another thing: when I went in the garden to listen, I noticed that I
could hear a similar noise from another house that also had recently
had the roof redone (by a different contractor).

Is this a well-known problem? How do I cure it? We couldn't sleep in
that room. In fact, it's so loud it wakes us up in the front bedroom!

Robert

[d...@gglz.com]

MY whole roof replaced on a chapel conversion (slates, battens,
breather) on original joists, 18 months ago - yes, mine did that too
for the first 6 months, less so now Nighttime after a very hot sunny
day would do it too.

AFAICT it's just settling, and does diminish after a few months. In
fact with mine it was like a little wave of tinkling sounds running
back and forth across the roof.

If there was visible distortion of the roof, or loud cracks like an
imminent failure of a timber, I'd worry.

Otherwise, best not to focus on it - it will only seem louder and more
intrusive because you do.

I'm also getting creaks from the 6 velux windows I put in whilst
having the roof done, or rather from the paneling around them. This
seems to be because of differential thermal movement between the
timber inside the insulation, and the joists outside.

These aren't going away, so I think I'm going to have to change the
way I've paneled in between the joists/velux on the outside and the
studwork inside, so one side has a sliding joint.

[RobertL]

On Feb 15, 9:50 am, "d...@gglz.com" <d...@gglz.com> wrote:
> MY whole roof replaced on a chapel conversion (slates, battens,
> breather) on original joists, 18 months ago - yes, mine did that too
> for the first 6 months, less so now Nighttime after a very hot sunny
> day would do it too.
>
> AFAICT it's just settling, and does diminish after a few months. In
> fact with mine it was like a little wave of tinkling sounds running
> back and forth across the roof.

I wonder if it's ice freezing the slates together but then cracking as
further cold makes everything contract and move a little. I can't
think that just shrinkage would make such pronounced "crack" sounds.
Nothing structural seems to be moving. At first I was worried it was
frost heave moving the walls about but it doesn't seem to be.

The roof pitch is very shallow (16 degrees) and this might encourage
water to get held between the slates I suppose.

I do hope it stops after a while! The room is unusable for sleeping.

Robert

[Kipper at sea]

Are you sure there slates as slates dont go down to 18 degs. The
recommended lowest pitch for slates is 22 1/2 degs. 24" x 12" with 4"
head lap. On the other hand some single lap interlocking slates and
tiles do go down to 17 1/2 degs.

[RobertL]

> tiles do go down to 17 1/2 degs.- Hide quoted text -

yes, i am sure they are plain slates. It was an existing roof
(victorian back of house) with a very shallow pitch and BC allowed it
with a completely impermeable membrane under the slates. there is a
50mm air gap under this membrane but I guess there can be wetness
between it and the slates which could freeze.

Robert

[eastmans...@gmail.com]

Hi Robert,

We extended our house over a year ago, installing a new section of slate roof. We are experiencing the same "snap, crackle, pop" sound you described whenever the temperature drops at night. We now sleep in the old part of the house whenever it is cold. Did your roof settle down eventually or are we going to have to do something to fix the problem?

Douglas

[MM]

On Tue, 4 Mar 2014 13:23:02 -0800 (PST), eastmans...@gmail.com
wrote:

>Hi Robert,
>
>We extended our house over a year ago, installing a new section of slate roof. We are experiencing the same "snap, crackle, pop" sound you described whenever the temperature drops at night. We now sleep in the old part of the house whenever it is cold. Did your roof settle down eventually or are we going to have to do something to fix the problem?
>
>Douglas

I should have thought it's all part of that olde worlde feel?

[Brian Gaff]

I dunno but after getting new plastic guttering, there is snap crackle pop
from that on hot sunny days and as it coold s in the evening.


I've never heard of slate doing it though.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"MM" <kyli...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:19idh9lpfp5eompsi...@4ax.com...

[Tim Watts]

On 05/03/14 09:02, Brian Gaff wrote:
> I dunno but after getting new plastic guttering, there is snap crackle pop
> from that on hot sunny days and as it coold s in the evening.
>
>

That can be cured with a little silicone grease on the joints (plumbers
grease).

[Andrew Gabriel]

In article <ed7jua-...@squidward.local.dionic.net>,

You can get plastic guttering with a white inside, which significantly
reduces this. I've no idea what the make is, but it's what my brother's
roofer used. Also came with protective film on the outside which you
peel off after fitting, to preserve the high gloss finish.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

[Brian Gaff]

I'm sure it can, but that means getting a bloke or blokess in nowadays.

Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active

"Tim Watts" <tw_u...@dionic.net> wrote in message
news:ed7jua-...@squidward.local.dionic.net...

[RobertL]

Yes it did settle and now makes no noise at all you will be relieved to hear.

It took one hot summer to dry out the timbers in there. We now sleep in that room.

I think it got very wet when they built it - they took many weeks to do it and it did rain directly onto the battens several times. I think that what happens is that the timbers freeze to each other and then the further contraction in the cold breaks the ice going "snap crackle pop". Now the water has all evaporated there is nothing to freeze.

Robert

[Andrew May]

On 05/03/2014 10:00, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
> In article <ed7jua-...@squidward.local.dionic.net>,
> Tim Watts <tw_u...@dionic.net> writes:
>> On 05/03/14 09:02, Brian Gaff wrote:
>>> I dunno but after getting new plastic guttering, there is snap crackle pop
>>> from that on hot sunny days and as it coold s in the evening.
>>
>> That can be cured with a little silicone grease on the joints (plumbers
>> grease).
>
> You can get plastic guttering with a white inside, which significantly
> reduces this. I've no idea what the make is, but it's what my brother's
> roofer used. Also came with protective film on the outside which you
> peel off after fitting, to preserve the high gloss finish.
>

My first thought was that this would lead to differential expansion on
the inside and outside and hence warping. I assume this is not the case.

[jfflkjfl...@gmail.com]

I expect it's the fresh slates rubbing against each other as they contract in the cold. There must be thousands of little points of contact between them all. These will slowly wear down over time as slate is relatively soft, until it goes quiet.

[meow...@care2.com]

It should reduce the temp differential.


NT

[schmidt...@gmail.com]

Hi Douglas,

We have a new house with a slate roof and we have observed exactly the same noise from the roof as you describe when temperature drops below 0 deg. C and the humidity is high. The noise last for 20-30 minutes. I know it is long time ago, since you describe your problem, however, I just wondered whether you ever found an explanation to your problem and if it stille exists ? It has not been possible to finde anyone that could give me an explanation.

Kind Regards,
Majbritt, Denmark

[tabb...@gmail.com]

The thread you're replying to explained it. It's here:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/uk.d-i-y/86aHp0Z7y1U


NT

[Brian Gaff]

Houses have always made noises from my point of view its merely the
expansion and contraction of dis similar materials. Gutters are very prone
to it if plastic and when they start to warm up in the sun, likewise
recently installed roofs do it as there is no build up of detritus that
softens the slight slidings that otherwise occur in jerks. When we had to
have a few wooden items renewed due to rot near the eaves they clicked and
groaned for about a year then seemed to settle down.

Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please!
<schmidt...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:d39683df-bc05-4ef6...@googlegroups.com...

[Andrew]

On 07/04/2018 12:27, Brian Gaff wrote:
> Houses have always made noises from my point of view its merely the
> expansion and contraction of dis similar materials. Gutters are very prone
> to it if plastic and when they start to warm up in the sun, likewise
> recently installed roofs do it as there is no build up of detritus that
> softens the slight slidings that otherwise occur in jerks. When we had to
> have a few wooden items renewed due to rot near the eaves they clicked and
> groaned for about a year then seemed to settle down.
>
> Brian
>

My neighbours UPVC gutter and barge boards make a racket when the sun
comes out suddenly, and they expand. Sort of crackling noise.

One of my joists makes a sudden 'boing' in the winter when the house
has cooled down and the heating makes it expand again.

[Dave W]

Could it be something to do with the fact that modern slates are fakes,
not slate at all but a grey composite?
--
Dave W

[schmidt...@gmail.com]

Hi
I can't get det link to work, so unfortunately I can't see the explanation.
Majbritt

[tabb...@gmail.com]

On Monday, 9 April 2018 12:01:33 UTC+1, schmidt...@gmail.com wrote:
> Den lørdag den 7. april 2018 kl. 13.27.43 UTC+2 skrev tabby

Odd, I've just checked it and it works


NT

[ingri...@gmail.com]

Hi again,
Now it works, however, I can see any clear explanation in the thread.
Majbritt

[The Natural Philosopher]

Works for me too.

Homeowners hubbers are too stupid to use the Interweb or do DIY



--
To ban Christmas, simply give turkeys the vote.