Joseph Jenkins climbed on his first stone roof in 1968 in Butler, PA, at the age of 16, under the tutelage of a 63-year-old Ukrainian roofer, Peter Odrey. Jenkins—himself now 63—has collected a lifetime of experience about slate roofs and published it in the third edition of The Slate Roof Bible, subtitled, “Everything you need to know about the world’s finest roof.”
Following up on his second edition, which earned NRCA’s Gold Circle Award, the third edition includes almost 900 illustrations relating to virtually every facet of slate roofing. The full-color, hardcover book completely updates and expands on the material in the second edition, with more emphasis on the craft of slate roof installation. Dozens of new photos have been added, as well as step-by-step illustrations and line drawings.
The 21 chapters cover the history of slate, the regions in the U.S. where slate originates, and how stone roof shingles are quarried and fabricated. There are chapters on safely working on slate roofs, tools, installation, repairing and restoring slate roofs, slate roof inscriptions and designs, recycling slate roofs, international slate, flashings, chimneys, valleys, slate siding, and other more obscure topics such as box gutters and snow guards.
Hardcover: 374 pages, 900 photos and illustrations.