Start with the roof plan and the issued Section 07 31 26: confirm that the drawings show the slope of each slate roof, the deck or nailable sheathing the slates are nailed into, the extent of the underlayment and ice dam membrane, the hip, ridge, and valley types, crickets behind chimneys and other projections, snow guards, and on existing roofs the slate to be removed, reused, and replaced. Then check that the section keeps one slate paragraph per roof with its blanks filled in, that the flashing, nails, and cricket sheet metal are one metal, that the leftover tile wording and the self-contradicting underlayment requirement are corrected, and that the warranties name who stands behind a natural slate roof.
Assemble the review package
Gather the roof plan with slopes, hips, ridges, valleys, crickets, dormers, chimneys, penetrations, and snow guard locations, the roof framing plans and building sections with the deck type, sheathing, and any nailers, the eave, rake, ridge, hip, valley, dormer, and chimney details, the wall sections at gutters and at overhanging eaves where the underside of the deck shows, the sheet metal details for flashing, gutters, and downspouts, the existing conditions survey and historic preservation documents on a repair or reroofing project, the design analysis with snow, ice dam, hail, and wind exposure, and the issued Section 07 31 26 with Section 07 60 00, the steel deck or wood framing and sheathing sections, and the project’s edition of UFC 3-110-03. Follow one valley from the ridge to the gutter and one chimney from its cricket to its counterflashing before assuming the others match.
WBDG publishes UFGS 07 31 26: Slate Shingles as a public guide-specification reference (accessed November 13, 2026). Use your project’s issued specification and amendments for the actual comparison; the guide specification does not automatically govern your project. The checklist below is an original suggested review workflow, not a reproduction of the UFGS requirements.
Eight checks to run against the issued set
Use one record per location or system. The CSV contains the same eight prompts plus fields for source revisions, observed evidence, the review owner, the decision, and closure references.
| Check | Sources to compare | Question to resolve |
|---|---|---|
| What the drawings must show | System Description (natural slate on steep-slope roofs; in accordance with UFC 3-110-03; units of work including underlayment, nailers, and flashing) + Membrane Application (ice dam membrane extent per the drawings) + Metal Flashing (as shown) + Snow Guards (as indicated) and note + Hips bracket (as indicated) + Repair and Replacement (slating as indicated) + Protection of Roof Surfaces (breakage of existing slate beyond what is indicated) + roof plan and details | Does the roof plan give a slope for each slate roof that meets the steep-slope criteria of the edition of UFC 3-110-03 the project uses, are the ice dam membrane extent, the flashing, the snow guards, and the hip types shown where the section says they are indicated, and on a repair project, do the drawings mark which slate is removed, reused, or replaced, and what breakage of existing slate is expected? |
| Slate type, thickness, size, and color | Slate paragraph (ASTM C406/C406M; grade written as “Grade A, (ASTM S1)”; punched or drilled for nails; impact resistance sentence to UL 2218 or FM 4473) and note (keep the impact sentence in hail-prone areas) + Standard Thickness Roofing Slate (texture, thickness, and size brackets) + Graduated Roof Slate (thickness and length ranges and proportions left blank) + Slate Colors (unfading or semi-weathering) + SD-04 Shingle Samples + elevations and historic documentation | Has the issued section kept the standard thickness paragraph or the graduated paragraph, or assigned each to its roof, since neither is bracketed as an alternative, are the size, thickness, and graduation blanks filled in and consistent with the coursing on the details, does the grade wording match the designation in the edition of ASTM C406/C406M the project uses, is the impact resistance sentence kept where the design analysis records hail, and on a historic roof, do the color and texture choices match the existing slate the drawings ask to be matched? |
| Underlayment and ice dam protection | Underlayment Membrane (self-adhering membrane on all surfaces to be covered with slate) + Elastomeric Membrane Underlayment (a tensile value “no less than” a figure, then values that “are not acceptable”, and no elongation value) + Membrane Application (ice dam protection to a point above the highest expected ice dam; extent per the drawings) + Protection of Elastomeric Membranes (manufacturer’s exposure limit) + Surface Preparation and Primer paragraphs + roof sections and eave details | Does the membrane cover the whole slated roof, as the Underlayment Membrane paragraph says, or only the eaves up to the ice dam line drawn, and if only the eaves, what goes under the rest of the slate, has the specifier rewritten the tensile and elongation requirement so it states what is acceptable, and does the construction schedule cover the membrane with slate within the manufacturer’s exposure limit on a large or phased roof? |
| The deck, nailers, and nail length | Opening coordination note (Section 05 30 00 Steel Decks) + System Description (nailers as part of a unit of work) + Preparation of Roof Deck Surfaces (loose boards, projecting nails) + Primer paragraph (pine wood decks covered with plywood before the membrane) + Nails (copper or stainless; length set by slate thickness; ring shank at rakes, hips, ridges, and eaves) + Nailing (penetration of the nailing surface or through the deck; not through deck exposed at overhangs; heads not driven home) + Delivery, Storage, and Handling (stored materials must not overstress the deck) + framing sections and eave details | What do the slates nail into on each roof: where the structure is steel deck, as the coordination note suggests, do the sections show nailable sheathing or nailers over it, and which section specifies them, where the underside of the deck shows at overhangs, does the detail give a deck thickness the nail length rule can work with, on existing board decks, does the drawing call for the plywood overlay the primer paragraph requires, and has the structural engineer confirmed where slate may be stockpiled on the roof? |
| Flashing, crickets, and like metals | Flashing (copper, lead-coated copper, or stainless steel; like metals on fastening systems and flashing to avoid galvanic action; per Section 07 60 00) + Nails (ring shank nails “to retain copper flashing”) + Crickets or Saddles (copper sheet metal per Section 07 60 00; slated where large and exposed to view) + Vertical Surfaces (crickets behind projections square to the slope) + Metal Flashing (walls, parapets, dormers, and chimneys) + Vertical Membrane Flashings + sheet metal details | Has one flashing metal been chosen, and do the nails, the cricket covering, the gutters, and Section 07 60 00 use the same metal, since the cricket paragraph names copper whichever flashing is chosen, does every chimney, dormer, and projection square to the slope have a cricket on the roof plan, and are large visible crickets slated with the open valleys the Valleys paragraph asks for at cricket areas? |
| Coursing, hips, ridges, and valleys | Slate Coursing (projection at eaves and gables; headlap unless otherwise indicated; joints broken; a doubled eave course canted on a wood cant strip; under-eave slate) + Hips bracket (fantail, saddle, mitered, or Boston) + Ridges bracket (comb, saddle, or strip saddle; combing slate projecting on the side away from prevailing storms) + Valleys bracket (closed, open, or round) + Nailing (hip and ridge slates bedded and pointed in elastic cement) + Valley and Ridge Application + eave, rake, hip, ridge, and valley details | Do the eave and rake details show the cant strip, the doubled course, and the overhang the coursing paragraph describes, does the headlap on the drawings agree with the section or is it noted where it differs, are the hip, ridge, and valley types kept in the brackets the same ones the details draw, and does the ridge detail or the roof plan show which side faces the prevailing storms? |
| Existing slate on historic roofs | Opening note (replacement, reinstallation, or repair of slate on historic buildings) + Slate Removal (each slate tested with slater’s pliers; slates marked for replacement or reinstallation, for approval, within a set time after notice to proceed; fastener samples) + Repair and Replacement (salvage and reuse; slate from the original quarry where possible; old and new slate intermingled) + Acid Neutralizing Wash and note + Extra Stock + preservation documents | Do the drawings or the preservation documents identify the repair areas and the roofs where the acid neutralizing wash applies, and has the wash been kept where existing slate stays in place, is the marking of slates for approval listed in the submittals article, since the paragraph asks for approval but the list has no matching item, and does the slate source named in the historic documents agree with the color and texture brackets kept? |
| Conference, warranties, and the tile wording | Pre-roofing Conference (procedure for the roof manufacturer’s technical representative’s inspection and acceptance of the substrate; attendance by “a representative of the tile material manufacturer”) + Contractor’s Warranty (warrants “the tile roofing system”) + Manufacturer’s Warranty (no-dollar-limit material and labor warranty for the slate roof assembly including flashing) + Preparation of Roof Deck Surfaces (“interlocking areas”) + SD-01 Sample Warranty Certificates + Roof Information Card | Has the specifier replaced the tile wording with slate so the conference attendee, the warranty, and the deck preparation describe the slate roof, is it clear who the roof manufacturer is when the slate, the membrane, and the flashing come from different sources, and can that party give the no-dollar-limit warranty covering flashing the section asks for, and since no article requires a manufacturer’s representative to inspect the substrate, should the conference item on those inspections be kept and an article added, or removed? |
Worked example: a historic chapel reroof, a steel-deck vestibule, and a chimney with no cricket
Illustrative example: a historic chapel at an installation is being reroofed in slate with partial reuse of the existing slate, and a new vestibule addition with a steel roof deck gets a matching slate roof. The issued Section 07 31 26 keeps both the standard thickness and the graduated slate paragraphs with their blanks, keeps the stainless steel flashing option, and leaves the conference and warranty wording on tile. The roof plan shows a brick chimney on the main slope with no cricket, the vestibule sections show slate over the steel deck with no sheathing or nailers, the eave detail stops the ice dam membrane at a line above the wall while the specification puts the membrane on every slated surface, and the ridge detail draws a saddle ridge while the issued section keeps comb ridges. The preservation report asks for the chapel’s acid-stained slate to be washed, and the issued section has deleted the wash.
Ask the architect to add a cricket behind the chimney, to show nailable sheathing or nailers over the vestibule deck and specify them, to decide whether the membrane covers the whole roof or only the eaves and to draw and specify what goes under the rest, to match the ridge type in the section and the detail, and to mark the slate to be removed, reused, and replaced. Ask the specifier to keep one slate paragraph per roof with its blanks filled, to choose one flashing metal and carry it to the nails and crickets, to restore the acid neutralizing wash, to rewrite the underlayment tensile and elongation sentence, to replace the tile wording, and to confirm who provides the manufacturer’s warranty.
Avoid a false conflict
Section 07 31 26 covers natural slate roofing with its underlayment, nails, cement, wash, crickets, and snow guards. Flashing, gutters, and other sheet metal follow Section 07 60 00 and the flashing and sheet metal guide, the roofing criteria follow UFC 3-110-03 and its guide, steel roof deck follows Section 05 30 00, asphalt shingles follow Section 07 31 13 and the asphalt shingle guide, and standing seam and metal panel roofs follow their own sections and guides, so check those before calling a requirement missing. Some of the section’s own wording needs resolving: the conference, the contractor’s warranty, and the deck preparation paragraph still describe tile, the conference reviews manufacturer’s representative inspections that no article requires, the underlayment tensile and elongation sentence contradicts itself and gives no elongation value, one paragraph puts the underlayment on every slated surface while another limits it to an ice dam extent on the drawings, the standard and graduated slate paragraphs are not bracketed as alternatives, and the cricket paragraph names copper whichever flashing metal is chosen. Ask the specifier which wording the project intends before treating a difference as a design conflict.
When requirements disagree, follow the project’s document-control and clarification process. Do not assume that drawings always override specifications, or the reverse. Identify the exact sources and request an authorized decision.
Close the issue across the affected documents
Record the location or tag, drawing and specification references, issue dates, observed difference, and the decision needed. Assign an owner and keep the item open until the response identifies the governing requirement. Check the revised drawings and specification references together; a response email alone may leave the issued package inconsistent.
For the overall process, use the guide to drawing and specification conflicts. Mark an inapplicable checklist row with a reason, and distinguish a verified correction from a question that still needs design information.
Where Groundbook fits
Groundbook’s drawing and specification review helps investigate potential disagreements in the documents you supply. Include the relevant specification sections and drawing references, then verify the cited evidence with the responsible reviewers before acting on a finding.