He by no means put in a roof earlier than. However that didn’t cease Desmond Tse, aka The Siding Man. A siding contractor with greater than 20 years expertise, when he noticed DaVinci’s Province™ Slate composite roofing on the 2023 Worldwide Builders’ Present and fell in love.
“I needed to have that roof on my dwelling,” mentioned Tse. “It’s essentially the most reasonable wanting composite slate I had ever seen. I used to be so impressed with all the pieces concerning the product. I knew it was time to switch my siding set up skills up onto the roof.”
Roofing Set up Assist
Tse, who lives in Alberta, Canada, shouldn’t be your common contractor. In reality, there’s nothing “common” about him in any respect. A self-taught solo siding installer, Tse enjoys tackling duties and sharing his development web site adventures on Instagram. His 169,000 followers faithfully comply with him by means of each day initiatives, together with his newest roofing problem.
To organize for his first-time roofing expertise, Tse reviewed the DaVinci directions and set up movies. He additionally video chatted with Eric Salvesen within the DaVinci Tech Division.
“There was loads to be taught and Eric was at all times there to assist,” says Tse. “Since I’m a detail-oriented individual, I used to be ready to make use of my previous expertise to make it work.
“The best factor about working with the DaVinci tiles was positively the ‘stack and nail’ course of. That is one purpose I particularly selected the Province Slate tile within the Fortress Grey shade. I discovered it installs very equally to vinyl shake siding, however with out the ‘click on’ that I’m used to.
“The Province Slate is 12-inches vast with an 8-inch publicity. There’s consistency there with the single-width tile. It’s sturdy to work with and truly seems to be like actual slate.”
Siding Contractor Turns Roofer
Even with roofing set up help from DaVinci, for Tse, the true problem of the challenge was placing the entire image collectively. Since he had by no means put in a roof earlier than (and he had the strain that this was occurring his own residence), he had heaps to decide to reminiscence.
“I wanted to recollect the format, correct steps, how you can lower a diverter notch within the valleys, snow guards, and so forth.,” says Tse. “As a primary timer, these steps didn’t come naturally. Nevertheless, after awhile it received simpler and simpler. There was a sigh of reduction every time I achieved one other step. And, I stored going again to the instructions. I’d contact DaVinci to examine in and ensure I used to be heading in the right direction!”
Snow Guards Important
Tse lives in Edmonton, an space of Canada that may stand up to 48 inches of snow a 12 months. Due to that, it’s essential that he put in snow guards on the artificial slate roof. The ST 9 snow guards he chosen from Rocky Mountain Snow Guards will assist stop the amassed snows from avalanching off the roof all at one time.
“We usually get our first snowfall round Halloween,” says Tse. “And the snows can final till Could. So I understand how essential the snow guards are going to be. We’d like the snows to return gently off the roof, not in large downfalls!
“Nevertheless, I used to be so targeted on getting the primary areas of roofing tiles up that I utterly forgot about putting in the snow guards. Then I had to return in and begin over on the roofing. That’s actually the one slip up I had through the set up. Different parts of the roofing challenge had been difficult, however I used to be in a position to work by means of every step.”
Movies from the Rooftop
As every day glided by, Tse’s followers had been handled to “movies from the rooftop” on Instagram. Tse coated matters like snapping chalk traces and dealing on a number of row installations, working with starter blocks and putting in ridge items. He additionally confirmed how the composite tiles simply dealt with his weight whereas strolling on them. And, he took time to elucidate the advantages of artificial slate to his viewers.
“Now that every one the arduous work is completed, I don’t suppose I’d change a factor,” says Tse. “I’ve completely no issues relating to the product. That’s as a result of DaVinci has been round lengthy sufficient that I believe it’s going to hopefully final past my lifetime.
“The challenge itself appeared overwhelming at first. Nevertheless, now that it’s full, it was positively consistent with what I anticipated and anticipated. The drone aerial footage actually exhibits how fabulous the roof seems to be. No marvel I’ve had a dozen neighbors ask if I’d take into account reroofing their houses!”