Any roofers on here?

[dmcsweeney]

Hi all,

just wondering if any members on here are roofers, or have had a roof replaced recently. I'm currently planning to re roof the house and could do with some opinions. The natural slate currently on there (12" x 24" slates) is delaminating badly and starting to come apart. The house was built in about 1925/6. My options at present are;
1. Re claimed Bangor Blues
2. Natural Spanish slate
3. Fibre slate

Any thoughts? I'll need to replace about 75% of the roof (1200 slates) as the rear of the house was only built in the '80s. It's a steep pitch and the house is exposed to the south and west so I need something tough. I'm hoping 99% of the timber work is ok so I'm hoping to just install felt or membrane and re batten before slating. I'm going to do a run about the builders providers after work to get some samples.

regards,
Dave

 

[christopher storey]

Forget fibre slates. They are really only intended for commercial applications and have a limited expected life which from recollection is about 12 - 15 years . Have you considered slate lookalikes - there are now one or possibly two ceramic tile manufacturers who do ceramic ( rather than concrete ) tiles which are a very good substitute for slates - the only real difference is that they are thicker

 

[dmcsweeney]

Forget fibre slates. They are really only intended for commercial applications and have a limited expected life which from recollection is about 12 - 15 years . Have you considered slate lookalikes - there are now one or possibly two ceramic tile manufacturers who do ceramic ( rather than concrete ) tiles which are a very good substitute for slates - the only real difference is that they are thicker

Thanks for the advice, I'd never heard of those. The only reason I considered fibre was a carpenter told me that the natural slates can delaminate or become porus. He also felt that natural slate was much more labour intensive to install, and of course much heavier. I was late finishing work today so only got one quote from a supplier at €3 per slate for Tegral natural slate. Going back in the morning to a sample.
Regards,
Dave