Slate roofing in Chesham and the surrounding villages
A slate roof laid properly outlasts the person who laid it. We re-slate whole roofs, patch storm damage, and match reclaimed slate on Chiltern properties where the planners want like for like.
What we do
The detail on slate roofing
Welsh, Spanish and reclaimed slate
Welsh slate is the best material you can put on a roof in this country and it is priced accordingly - it will outlast the battens, the felt and probably the people who fitted it. Spanish slate is the sensible middle ground and makes up most of what goes on around Chesham: good Spanish slate from a reputable quarry gives you sixty to a hundred years, poor Spanish slate delaminates in twenty. The difference is not visible on the pallet, which is why we name the quarry and grade in the quote rather than writing "natural slate" and leaving it at that. Reclaimed slate matters when you're patching an existing roof or working somewhere the planners want the appearance kept - we'll source and grade it, discarding anything with a soft edge or a ring that sounds dead when you tap it.
Nail sickness - why old slate roofs fail
Most slate roofs in this area don't fail because the slate has worn out. They fail because the nails have. Iron nails corrode, the slate loses its fixing and slips, and once one goes its neighbours follow. That's nail sickness, and it's why you can have a roof full of perfectly sound hundred-year-old slate that is nevertheless coming off in the wind. The tell is that the slates on the ground are undamaged. Once it starts across a slope, patching is throwing money away - the roof needs stripping, the slate sorting for re-use, and re-laying on new battens with copper or aluminium nails that won't do the same thing again.
Torching, membranes and what's under the slate
Older Chiltern roofs were often torched - lime mortar buttered on the underside of the slates to seal the gaps before roofing felt existed. When it perishes it drops into the loft as sand and stops doing anything useful. We strip it out and fit a breathable membrane, which keeps wind-driven rain out while letting moisture from the house escape rather than condensing on the underside of the roof. If we're re-slating we replace the battens as a matter of course; there is no sense putting sixty-year slate onto forty-year-old timber.
Pitch, verges and the details that leak
Slate needs pitch. Below about 25 degrees the headlap has to increase to the point where it stops being economic, and below 20 degrees slate is the wrong material - we'll tell you that rather than take the job and watch it leak. At verges and abutments we use slate-and-a-half rather than cutting narrow slivers, because a narrow slate has only one nail hole in the wrong place and will work loose. Valleys get lead, not cement fillets. These are the details that decide whether a roof lasts sixty years or fifteen, and they're the first things to get skipped on a cheap price.
Conservation areas and listed buildings
A good part of our patch sits in conservation areas - Amersham Old Town, parts of Chesham, Great Missenden, Berkhamsted, Wendover. Re-roofing in one usually means matching the existing material and coursing, and sometimes means planning consent. We've done enough of it to know what gets waved through and what gets refused, and we'll tell you before you commit rather than halfway through. If your property is listed, assume you need consent and talk to us early.
How it works
Four steps, in this order
01
Free inspection
We come out, get up and look properly, and photograph anything you can't see from the ground. If it turns out you don't need the work, we'll say so.
02
Written fixed quote
You get the price in writing with the materials named and the scaffold and waste included. It doesn't move unless we find something hidden and agree it with you first.
03
Scaffold and works
We book the scaffold, give you a start date and keep to it. The site gets cleared at the end of every day, not just at the end of the job.
04
Sign-off
We walk you round the finished work with the before and after photographs, clear the scaffold, and leave you the details of what was used and where.
What it costs
How we price slate roofing
Slate work is priced by the slope, not by the square metre off a price list. What moves the number is the material you choose, whether the existing slate can be salvaged and re-laid, the state of the battens and rafters underneath, and how much scaffold the property needs. We'll come and measure it, tell you which of those apply to your roof, and put a fixed price in writing.
Questions
The things people ask
Can you match the slate on my existing roof?
Usually, yes. If we're patching we'll either salvage sound slate from elsewhere on your roof or source reclaimed slate of the same size and colour. A perfect match on a weathered roof is rarely possible with new slate - new slate is a different tone until it has weathered a few winters. We'll show you a sample against the roof before we order.
How long does a slate roof last?
Good Welsh slate will do a hundred years or more. Good Spanish slate will do sixty to eighty. The nails and battens will usually need attention before the slate does, which is why a lot of re-slating jobs re-use most of the original material.
Do I need scaffolding?
For anything more than a couple of slipped slates, yes. It's a working-at-height requirement, not an upsell, and the cost is in our quoted price rather than added afterwards.
Can you repair rather than replace?
Often. If a handful of slates have slipped and the rest of the roof is sound, a repair is the right answer and we'll say so. If the nails have gone across a whole slope, repairs will keep failing and you'll spend more in patches over five years than the re-slate would have cost.
How long does a re-slate take?
A typical semi-detached roof is around a week to ten days once the scaffold is up, weather permitting. We won't strip more than we can make watertight the same day.
Do you work in conservation areas?
Yes, regularly. We'll tell you at the quote stage whether we think consent is needed and what the planners in your area usually ask for.
Where we work
Slate Roofing across Buckinghamshire and west Hertfordshire
We carry out slate roofing in Chesham, Chesham Bois, Ley Hill, Hyde Heath, Amersham, Ashley Green, Latimer & Chenies, Little Chalfont, Bovingdon, Great Missenden, Berkhamsted and Chalfont St Giles, and everywhere else within 10 miles of Chesham. See the full list of areas we cover.
Related services
Need slate roofing doing?
Tell us what the roof is doing and we'll come and look at it. Free inspection, written fixed price.