Why Slate?

Slate is over 300 million years old, and a good slate roof will last your building over 130 years. The art of slate roofing involves the laying of individual pieces of slate on the line of the roof pitch. It is an ancient craft, which has lead to the evolution of working methods as the trade has been passed from father to son throughout the UK.

Aside from the natural good looks of a slate tile, there are many additional benefits to using slate as a roofing or flooring tile in your home or commercial project :

• a very long lifespan
• good fire protection
• low maintenance
• invulnerable to rot and insects
• comes in a good selection of sizes and colors

Correct design of a roof must take into account many inter-related factors. You might like to ask your roofer some of the questions on the right.

When the slate arrives on site, each piece is inspected and graded, if the roof is being nailed, each piece has two holes punched through it at what ever headlap the roof is being slated to, this can vary with the pitch or the exposure and the size of slate, the eaves have to be cut.

Traditional slate roofs can seem expensive at the time but they are very labour intensive, if a good quality slate is chosen and fixed with good quality accessories it should last well in to the next century, it then becomes very reasonable.

You may find a new product that claims to be as good, cheaper and better looking than a traditional slate roof, they come every few years then disappear only to be replaced by another new and better product and so it goes on, its called progress, some now have there own interlocking channel, if you want an interlocking look a like traditional slate roof, there is nothing wrong with that as long as you get what you want and get what you think you are getting.

Our service also allows us to supply and fix Eternite man made slates laid in the traditional way all fixed with copper nails and crampons, man made interlocking slate as well as terracotta interlocking roof tiles and, we also supply and fix the 10.5 x 6.5 plain tile terracotta shingle type roof tiles as seen on Redan St, Mosman.

Should you have any enquires please phone Vic or Rob.

For independent advice you may like to ask Joe by clicking on this link www.joseph-jenkins.com. But remember that, although the basics are the same, there are some differences to certain areas and practises where Joe is.