Slate Roofing and Slate Roof Repairs Sunderland
Slipped slates, failed fixings and full re-slating. Forthcoming Group works out whether your slates are the problem or whether the nails holding them have simply reached the end, because the answer changes the job entirely.
- Over 500 Projects Completed Across the North East
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Slate Roofing Specialists
The slates usually outlive the nails
Slate is the longest-lasting roof covering in common use. Welsh slate on a Victorian terrace can be well over a hundred years old and still be perfectly serviceable stone.
What does not last that long are the two nails holding each slate in place. They corrode, lose their grip and let go, and slates start sliding out of the coursing. The trade calls it nail sickness, and it is the reason most slate roofs come to the end of their life with the slates still good.
That matters because it changes what the right job is. A roof with one slipped slate needs a repair. A roof losing slates in different places every winter needs stripping, renewing underneath and re-laying, usually with a good proportion of the original slates going back on.
Telling those two apart is the point of an inspection, and it is not something that can be judged from the pavement. Our guide on what a roof inspection finds shows these faults photographed close up.
What We Do
Slate roofing work we carry out
Much of the housing stock across Sunderland, Newcastle and the wider North East was built with slate, so slate work ranges from replacing a single slipped slate to stripping and re-laying a whole terrace roof.
- Slipped and broken slate replacement
- Slate hooks and tingles where nails have failed
- Full slate roof stripping and re-slating
- New and reclaimed natural slate
- Ridge and hip repointing, and dry ridge systems
- Lead valleys, soakers and chimney flashings
- Underlay and batten renewal beneath slate
- Period and Victorian terrace slate roofs
We also carry out roof repairs on tiled roofs, full roof replacement where a roof has reached the end, and flat roofing on the extensions and dormers that often sit alongside a slate main roof.
When to Act
Signs your slate roof needs work
Slate gives clearer warnings than most coverings, because a slipped slate leaves a visible gap in an otherwise regular pattern. The thing to pay attention to is not the first one but the pattern after it.
Worth getting looked at:
- Slates slipping out of the coursing in ones and twos
- Broken slates on the ground after high winds
- Slates that are flaking or splitting along their layers
- Rust-coloured staining running down from the fixings
- Daylight through the roof seen from inside the loft
- Mortar falling away from the ridge or verge
Slates slipping in two or three separate places over a couple of winters is the signal that matters. It almost always means the fixings rather than the slates, and that is a whole-roof problem rather than a repair. Our guide on the signs a roof needs replacing includes a loft checklist.
Repair or Re-Slate
Repairing slates, or re-slating the roof
Replacing a slipped slate is straightforward. Because the nails on the slates around it cannot be reached without lifting them, the new slate is held with a slate hook or a lead tingle rather than nailed. Done properly that is a permanent repair, not a bodge.
Re-slating is the bigger job, and it is what nail sickness eventually requires. The roof is stripped, the slates are sorted into sound and spent, new underlay and treated battens go on, and the salvaged slates are re-laid with new fixings. Any shortfall is made up with reclaimed or new slate matched to what is already there.
The decision point is usually arithmetic. Once you are paying for scaffolding two or three times to chase individual slates, the money has gone into access rather than into roof, and re-slating starts to look like the cheaper option over any reasonable timescale.
What tips a roof from re-slating into full replacement is the slate itself failing: widespread delamination, where the stone splits along its natural layers and can no longer be reused.
What Sets Us Apart
Why choose Forthcoming Group
We work out why slates are slipping
One slipped slate is a repair. Slates slipping across the whole roof is nail fatigue, and that needs a different answer. Knowing which you have changes everything.
Slate matched properly
Replacement slates matched for size, thickness and colour, and your existing slates reused where they are sound rather than skipped and replaced with something cheaper.
Work done once, properly
Lead where lead belongs, correct head lap for the pitch and exposure, and nothing bedded in mortar that should be mechanically fixed.
Respect for your property
Slate roofs are often on older houses where the detailing matters. We work carefully, keep the site tidy and keep disruption to a minimum.
Our Process
How slate work is handled
On a slate roof the question that decides everything is whether the fixings have gone. Working to a clear process means that gets answered before anything is quoted, so you are not paying for a repair on a roof that needs re-slating.
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Step 1Tell us what you have noticed
A slate on the path, a gap in the coursing, a stain on a bedroom ceiling. Whether it has happened once or keeps happening tells us a lot.
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Step 2We inspect the slates and the fixings
The condition of the slate itself, whether the nails are still holding and what the battens and underlay are doing beneath them.
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Step 3You get a written quote
Whether individual slates can be replaced, whether a section needs re-slating, or whether the roof has reached the point of a full strip.
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Step 4The work is completed
Slates fixed correctly for the pitch and exposure, junctions detailed in lead, and the site left clean.
Slate Roofing Costs
Prices and quotes
Published UK cost guides put straightforward repairs such as replacing slipped slates at roughly £150 to £500. Slate tends towards the upper end of that, because the slates have to be matched and the surrounding course lifted carefully rather than simply unhooked. Those are industry ranges rather than our prices.
Re-slating a whole roof costs more than re-covering the same roof in concrete tile. The slate itself is more expensive, and laying it is slower because each slate is individually fixed rather than interlocked. What pulls the figure back down is reusing your existing slates, which is usually possible for a good proportion of the roof.
Access matters as much as the slate. Slate roofs are common on terraces and older three-storey properties, where scaffolding is harder to set up and adds more to the price than the roof area would suggest.
We inspect the roof, tell you how many of your slates we expect to salvage and quote in writing, so you can compare it properly against anything else you have been given.
Customer Reviews
Trusted for slate roofing in Sunderland
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Ruth
North Tyneside
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Sunderland
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County Durham
What To Avoid
Slate work that causes damage
Slate is unusual among roof coverings in that bad work on it is often irreversible. A tile can be lifted off and replaced. A slate that has been glued, foamed or mortared in place is frequently ruined.
The same goes for the roof as a whole. A slate roof that has been sprayed with foam underneath can rarely be re-slated at all, because the slates cannot be salvaged, so a job that should have renewed the fixings becomes a full replacement.
Our guide on the problems spray foam causes covers what it does to a roof and what mortgage lenders make of it.
Mortar where lead belongs
A mortar fillet against a wall or chimney is quicker than forming lead soakers. It also cracks within a few years, because mortar cannot move and a roof can.
Spray foam under the slates
Foam bonds to the back of the slates, stops the roof breathing and makes the timbers impossible to inspect. On a slate roof it also makes the slates unsalvageable.
Mismatched replacement slates
A different thickness or size does not sit down properly in the coursing, which lets wind under the slates around it. A patch of obviously wrong slate also devalues the elevation.
Tingles treated as a permanent fix
A lead or copper tingle is a legitimate way to hold a replacement slate. A roof covered in them is telling you the nails have gone and it needs re-slating, not more tingles.
Recent Work
Roofing projects we have completed
Every project page shows what we found, what we did about it and how it finished, with photographs from the job rather than stock images.
A full roof replacement in Silksworth, stripped back and rebuilt with the chimney flashing and pointing renewed at the same time.
A low-pitch roof fitted with the wrong tiles, a reminder that the covering has to suit the pitch it is laid on.
Areas Covered
Slate roofing across Sunderland and the North East
Our roofing team repairs and re-slates natural slate roofs for homeowners throughout Sunderland and the surrounding areas.
- Sunderland
- Newcastle
- Gosforth
- Darras Hall
- Whitley Bay
- North Tyneside
- South Tyneside
- Northumberland
- Durham
- County Durham
- Darlington
- Hartlepool
- Middlesbrough
FAQs
Questions about slate roofs
How long does a slate roof last?
Natural slate is one of the longest-lasting roof coverings there is. Good Welsh slate commonly lasts well over a century, and Spanish and Brazilian slate are generally quoted at eighty to a hundred years. Fibre cement slate, which is a manufactured alternative, is nearer forty. In almost every case the slate outlives the nails and battens holding it up, which is why a slate roof usually needs re-slating long before the slates themselves are finished.
What is nail sickness?
It is the usual reason an old slate roof starts to fail. The nails holding the slates corrode and lose their grip, so slates begin slipping in ones and twos across the whole roof rather than in one spot. The slates themselves are often perfectly sound. The fix is to strip the roof, renew the underlay, battens and fixings, and re-lay the slates, reusing as many of the originals as are still good.
Can individual slates be replaced?
Yes. Because the nails on surrounding slates cannot be reached without lifting them, a replacement slate is usually held with a slate hook or a lead tingle instead of being nailed. Done properly that is a sound, permanent repair. What it is not is a solution for a roof where the nails have failed generally, because you would be chasing slipped slates indefinitely.
How much does slate roof repair cost?
It depends on the fault and the access. Published UK guides put straightforward repairs such as replacing slipped slates at roughly £150 to £500, with slate work tending towards the upper end because the slates have to be matched and the surrounding course lifted carefully. Where scaffolding is needed rather than ladder access, that adds several hundred pounds on its own. Those are industry ranges rather than our prices. We inspect first and quote in writing.
Is slate better than tile?
For longevity and appearance on a period property, yes. Natural slate lasts considerably longer than concrete tile and looks right on the houses it was originally used on. Tile is cheaper to buy and quicker to lay, which is why most modern estates use it. There is also a structural point worth knowing: slate is lighter per square metre than concrete interlocking tile, so swapping a slate roof for concrete tiles puts extra load on timbers that were never designed for it.
Can my existing slates be reused?
Usually a good proportion of them can. When a roof is stripped we sort the slates, keeping the sound ones and discarding any that have delaminated, cracked or had too much of their head damaged. The salvaged slates go back on the most visible elevation and new or reclaimed slate makes up the difference. It is cheaper than buying a full roof of new slate and it keeps the look of the house.
Is spray foam a problem on a slate roof?
Yes, and more so than on a tiled roof. Foam sprayed under the slates bonds to their backs, which means the slates cannot be lifted or salvaged and the roof usually has to be fully replaced rather than re-slated. It also stops the roof space breathing and hides the condition of the timbers. Our guide on spray foam insulation explains the problems it causes and what lenders make of it.
Which areas do you cover?
We carry out slate roofing work across Sunderland and the wider North East, including Newcastle, Durham, Northumberland and surrounding areas.
Free Guide
Avoid costly mistakes before starting your project
A new roof, driveway, garden transformation or property upgrade is a big investment. Choosing the wrong company can lead to unexpected costs, delays and problems that could have been avoided.
Our free guide explains what to check, which questions to ask and what to consider before making your decision.
Get in Touch
Slates slipping on your roof?
Roof inspections are free and carry no obligation. We will tell you whether it is a repair or whether the fixings have reached the end, and quote in writing either way.