One of the lightest slate is the man made fibre, they are a ideal choice for a old terraced house ect.....how-ever, they are not a replacement for natural slate, but a cheaper alternative. They are nice looking with a copper disk rivet holding the bottom of each one, as well as nails (this ensures wind will not lift the bottom). Some manufacturers offer a lengthy colour guarantee as standard, for example our Ardonit Plus and Cromleigh slates offer a 20 year colour and a 30 year structural, manufacturer backed guarantee. This offers clients and specifiers peace of mind that they are installing a quality roof system providing many years of high performance. all our fibre cement slates conform to Class B in accordance with European Norm EN 492, the highest level of European standards.

Natural slate is by far still the best, giving you a great life-span from 60 years to a 120 years, this all depends on what slate you have laid eg     Spanish.......Chinese.........and Welsh (being a blue in colour and said to be the finest quality in the world { but also may show in price ! } ).

Do I need a new roof ??

Only so many times can you repair your roof. Once the nails start to rot, it is like a chain reaction. The nails used years ago was not galvernised or copper.....meaning they will rust! In some cases the slates are in good condition meaning you can strip them of and re-fix them using a good underlay such as Tyvek......add new treated battens and re-fix existing slates using copper nails. If the nails have rusted on a few, you can get away with a roof over-all and proberbly save you thousands ££££££££, this may entail changing the lead....replacing broken slates....re-bedding ridge....pointing/re-bedding gables and cleaning out the guttering.

If you have a roof like the picture above, be very carefull as debris and broken slate can fall and are very sharp, have your roof serviced as soon as possible.