Roof Slates

tinofapples

Folks ,
It's coming close to decision time now for slates for our self build in Co.Galway and was wondering what are peoples opinions on the various slates available ?

My Bro in-law has mentioned price ranges from 99c upwards , I'm not not looking for anything fancy just a plain black/dark coloured slate that will do it's job and not cost the earth , as there will be a couple of thousand slates on the house and gararge any price difference between slates will add up.

Opinions greatly appreciated.

dras

We are using a capco slate (they have a place towards the airport between Oranmore and the Monivea road) which has a slight ripple on it (but still cheap). Depending on the type of house you are building (traditional, modern) and whether you can see it from ground level (bungalow, dormer or 2 storey) - maybe you have higher ground beside the house so you will be able to see the tiles?

As we were likely to be seeing the tiles we didn't get the perfectly flat ones - I also think IMHO that they look a bit fake and lego house-like.

G'luck

tinofapples

Thanks Dras,
I have heard those Capco slates mentioned alright, what exactly denotes cheap ? What's the name of the guys you got the slates from ?

We're building a dormer house by the way.

Cheers.

sakigrant

We got Tegral Thrutone slate - 2,500 tiles for our timber frame. Cost around €1.20 per tile. Worked out at about €4000 for the ridge tiles, lead, flashings etc. Very happy with the slate, pretty similar to real slate and a hell of a lot cheaper.

iplogger1

sakigrant wrote:

We got Tegral Thrutone slate - 2,500 tiles for our timber frame. Cost around €1.20 per tile. Worked out at about €4000 for the ridge tiles, lead, flashings etc. Very happy with the slate, pretty similar to real slate and a hell of a lot cheaper.

I am interested in this also.
We've received our first builders quote as part of a mini-tendering
process which I started a few weeks back.
I asked the builder to quote for natural slate or tegral trutone.
He quoted for the tegral slates and provided a guideline PC sum
amount of 12k Euro for natural slates. I spoke to him and he said
the 12k amount was at the higher end. We would need to source
the slates and he mentioned a few good suppliers in the region.

He said he could subtract off the cost of the tegral man made
slate off the main figure he quoted for the build but that the labour
involved in slating using natural slates was considerably higher
because they need to employ a more specialist/experienced roofer
for the sorting and handling of the natural slates.

I know natural slates look very well and I've heard the trutone
slates are a good job as far as looking almost like the real mccoy.
My father in law feels that natural slate is more resistant in the
long term to debris/fungal mossy growth that you often see
attacking roofs. He suggests that he sees much less mossy/fungal
debris on the natural slate roofs in his town. Is there any
scientific reasoning to this ? What I'm wondering is if there is
more than pure aesthetic advantage in going with natural
slates versus the modern trutone man made slate ?
It is a big price difference for sure.

~ipl

sakigrant

The natural slate does look better but for the price difference I was willing to go with the Thrutone! As far as being more resistant to moss etc I don't really know, I suppose in the long run natural slate is going to look better and not discolour. I do know that my father has a similar slate to the Thrutone on his house which he put on in the Seventies, he repainted them with some product a couple of years ago and they still look great. Horses for courses really, if I had a limitless amount of money I would have gone for natural slate but it was just out of question for us and I'm delighted with the finish we got on our roof for a fraction of the cost.

stapeler

Have you seen the rubber slates? Look very convincing and are lighter, quicker and easier to install. There is a company called Autentic roofs..
http://www.authentic-roof.com and they have an Irish importer. I'd be very tempted to try them on a new build. Where's Roofer Pete for ideas?

muffler

You could also have a look here

rooferPete

Hi,

Truetone over anything Capco have to offer unless I actually see the Penryhn slates loaded and follow their truck fro Wales (maybe I don't trust them ?).

Authentic Roof ? forget them, even the Americans who love the slate look alikes are having trouble with them, one Irish supplier who was importing them dropped them when I gave him the hard evidence.

Ballymoon ? looks like a resin bonded slate made from the quarry waste, all efforts at similar have failed to date even though they had certificates.

One supplier I do trust is Richmond Building Products, they carry out their own tests and issue realistic guarantees on each natural slate www.richmondbp.com

.

AdrianR

There's a slate called Supersem (That's how it's pronounced anyway), I was recommended it by the guy who roofed my house, The're about €1.15 ea and about as good as you get for the price. I've heard a few scary stories about Tegril, they're having trouble keeping up with demand so quality is suffering or so I've been told.
I used naturals in the end but otherwise I would have used the supersems, I've heard more good reports about them since, they seem to be readily available, in fact one local hardware only stocks these.

When you get your slates delivered make sure the don't get wet while stacked, this can stain them. Sounds mad, but I was warned about this by more than one source.

rooferPete

Hi Adrian,

Supercem is another Tegral brand, they are the cheaper of the truetone line sometimes mixed up with the dreaded undercloaking fibre cement slate (when used as the finished roof).

The advice about keeping the slates dry is correct, it should also have included further advice about mixing the pallets of slates to avoid distinct different colour shading especially with the Supercem.

.

Cushtie

we are also in a dilems as to what slate / tile to use.

we are not gone on the very smooth look of the tegral thrutone slates, even the rivendale is a bit to manufactured looking, even though it does add a bit of interest.

Natural slate is looking like it will definatley be too pricey.

so it looks like we are left with tiles to add a bit of "substantialness" to the roof.

so far we are looking at Plain Concrete Tiles from Roadstone and a Clay tile from Capco.

the Capco is by far the nicer looking tile but again very expensive.

anybody know of any other type of Slates or Tiles we should consider.

I am really nervous about this as it is the a large enough roof so we don't want to cost the earth but want it to be safe, duarable and asthetically pleasing.

rooferPete

Hi Cushtie,

Take a look at the clay tiles that www.richmondbp.com have to offer, their guarantees are real

.

AJL

Hey rooferpete,

Looking at the richmond slates. Rang them today 50 year guarantee with their silver range. thanks a million for the advise much appreciated.

AJL

Viking House

Hi Pete

Do you know where I can get those toilet vents for a slate roof as I am building a toilet in the middle of a dormer roof with nowhere to vent.

www.viking-house.net

zoom

hi all
just wondering if anyone has dealt with ecostar rubber slates.i am doing up an old school and adding a timber frame extension. i have a load of bangor blue slates but not enough for extension so i'm thinking of stripping old school and selling for salvage .is this sacrilige? any recomandations for slate to suit old stone fronted schoolhouse

Qwerty?

I used the tegral Rivendale. Very happy with the finished look as the edges are chipped to make them look like natural and the surface textured, with a shiny surface helping keep them clean. They are about €1.70 each. There is a natural slate not much dearer in Brooks, can't think of the name of it at the mo. But they are smaller, therefore need way more, much heavier and cost way more to install as Iplogger states.

Hi Iplogger, site looking well;)

In relation to moss etc, I believe the copper crampions? help prevent this growing on the slates.

zoom

thanks qwerty much appreciated

rooferPete

Hi Viking,

The Glidevale range of vents should have something to suit your needs, they are available in Chadwicks, I'm not sure about Brooks.

Hi zoom,

I have carried out a study on eco star (USA) they are just another type of authentic slate, rubber slates = junk and that's not just my opinion, our friends in the USA tend to be very protective about their home grown products and they are they ones who gave them the thumbs down.

Of course the shingle roofers like them because they are easy to install remember the majority of the roofs in the US are sheeted with plywood, eco star will not give them a guarantee if they use the product on battons (skip lathing) yet they change their mind about europe ?

Copper crampions will not prevent moss build up, if they did no asbestos slate roof fitted in Ireland or the UK since the 1930's would have moss on them.

.

zoom

thanks rooferpete
i'll have to strip the slates off old school to examine rafters, install insulation,batton and felt etc. a roofer i was talking to was saying that taking off the bangor slates would weaken them and if i put them back on it would be hard to get an even finish . i've also been told that breakage can be anywhere from 20% to 50%.the school was built in the 1880's.i've been getting a lot of advice, some to restore and some to strip and sell slates. i think the cost of restoration would be too high. any thoughts?

rooferPete

Hi,

Stripping the slates will not weaken them however it will show up any imperfections caused by roof settlement, acid rain etc.

If you employ a real slater you will have no problems with the appearance of the finished roof, the same could be said for any of the newly quarried slates.

The breakage figure does depend on the condition of the existing slates, I have re-used slates over two hundred years old, they didn't use nails back then the slates were held in place using oak pegs.

Depending on the location I would allow 50% for replacements, it's up to the customer to decide on what is expensive, why not submit two proposals showing the different specifications and costings.

Regards,

Peter Crawley, M.I.o.R.

FrankGrimes

I recently removed the chimney from my house to make way for an extension and need to buy about 30 roof tiles to match what was already there since 1949 to cover the gap. I can upload a picture of the tiles if necessary but does anyone know of any place that might stock reclaimed old roof tiles? I tried MacSalvages but that didn't have them, and have heard mention of some place in Irishtown that might sure but don't have contact details.

The roof for my extension will be done in the next few weeks so its time to start thinking of slates or tiles for the roof. I'm attaching some images of the plans and house (as it was pre-renovations including brick restoration, man that photo feels like a long time ago ) for context.

We want the tiles/slates to look well as so much of the extension roof is visible but can't afford to go crazy on it either. I wouldn't be worried about matching the existing roof tiles as they are not the prettiest and I think with the right finish the extension roof can really improve the house as it will be continued right across the house at first floor level and will replace the existing flat roof on the bay window.

Whats the main differences between tiles and slates and what type of things should I take into consideration? Just how pricey are natural slates? If it was you and money was no object what would you go for? And likewise if you had a budget limiting you to middle of the road options?

Thanks.

muffler

Just a quickie - did you consider removing tiles from back of roof and using them on your new extension and then replacing the back of the roof with whatever

FrankGrimes

good idea, but the existing tiles are really ugly so I'd rather not.

rooferPete

Hi Frank,

They look like 15 x 9's I know we have some in the stores is there a brand name on the back ?

I think you are looking for Hamiltons in both Irishtown and Blackrock (not related as far as I know).

.

Builderwoman!

Cushtie wrote:

we are also in a dilems as to what slate / tile to use.

we are not gone on the very smooth look of the tegral thrutone slates, even the rivendale is a bit to manufactured looking, even though it does add a bit of interest.

Natural slate is looking like it will definatley be too pricey.

so it looks like we are left with tiles to add a bit of "substantialness" to the roof.

so far we are looking at Plain Concrete Tiles from Roadstone and a Clay tile from Capco.

the Capco is by far the nicer looking tile but again very expensive.

anybody know of any other type of Slates or Tiles we should consider.

I am really nervous about this as it is the a large enough roof so we don't want to cost the earth but want it to be safe, duarable and asthetically pleasing.

Hi All,

We used Clay tiles (blue/black finish) with all the verges and hips on our roof and they look FAB. Loads of people have stopped in their cars to look at our roof. We have received so many compliments about them. We bought them through the Blue Bangor Slate company in Dublin. Highly recommend them for service. Richmond's rep was excellent but could not match the price. Would really recommend Cushtie and others that you look at them. Roadstone concrete tiles will fade and become green within a year or two the clay tiles have a 30 year guarantee on the colour alone. Can't beat that. Well worth the few extra bob to have a nice clean looking roof. Start looking at the amount of rooves done in concrete and slate (other than natural slate of course) and see how dirty they become after a few years. Clay tiles are a natural product and hence at a fraction of the cost of natural slate you will have a lovely roof.

FrankGrimes

Builderwoman! wrote:

Hi All,

We used Clay tiles (blue/black finish) with all the verges and hips on our roof and they look FAB. Loads of people have stopped in their cars to look at our roof. We have received so many compliments about them. We bought them through the Blue Bangor Slate company in Dublin. Highly recommend them for service. Richmond's rep was excellent but could not match the price. Would really recommend Cushtie and others that you look at them. Roadstone concrete tiles will fade and become green within a year or two the clay tiles have a 30 year guarantee on the colour alone. Can't beat that. Well worth the few extra bob to have a nice clean looking roof. Start looking at the amount of rooves done in concrete and slate (other than natural slate of course) and see how dirty they become after a few years. Clay tiles are a natural product and hence at a fraction of the cost of natural slate you will have a lovely roof.

Sounds good Builderwoman. Would you mind letting me know what it cost per clay tile? I do like the sound of them.

Rooferpete - whats your take on clay tiles? Actually, if I phrase it like this it might be better - what would your preferred roof tile/slate option be if natural slate is ruled out due to cost?

I'll take a photo of my existing roof tile and post it up to see if you can identify it (and I'm not gonna bet against that )

roofer

choosing the right slate for your roof can be quite daunting. everyone claims to have the best.from my experience as a slater i would recomend tegral thrutone for a man made slate or blue bangor welsh slate as a natural alternative.(but be careful to examine your slates when you get them, some suppliers tend to show you exceptional examples when they sell them to you and tell you that they were picked at random. dont believe that.)

i know these slates are expensive ,but you will get longevity from your roof and once properly installed you should not have to worry about them for the life span of the house.

supercem, as my colleague has explained is a tegral product, a slightly cheaper alternative to thrutone. tegral are a big company with a good support network and can be trusted to deliver a good product.

as far as other natural sale is concerned, "beware". i find spanish slate to be below par and with many lumps bumps and corkscrews throughout their pallets. whenever i install them i make sure the owner knows exactly what type of finish the owner can expect.

if you are looking for a smooth clinical finish,thrutone are the ones for you.
if your put off by the price of slates ,think about clay tiles,my personal favourite. youcan have a very contemporary finish without losing that old style charm.

the bottom line is tegral for man made slates.... and i would strongly agree with rooferpete and go with richmondbp for your natural slates or clay tiles.most importantly.....the product is no good if the man installing it is not a full professional be very thourough when choosing your roofing contractor.

"good work is not cheap....cheap work is not good":D

roofer

choosing the right slate for your roof can be quite daunting. everyone claims to have the best.from my experience as a slater i would recomend tegral thrutone for a man made slate or blue bangor welsh slate as a natural alternative.(but be careful to examine your slates when you get them, some suppliers tend to show you exceptional examples when they sell them to you and tell you that they were picked at random. dont believe that.)

i know these slates are expensive ,but you will get longevity from your roof and once properly installed you should not have to worry about them for the life span of the house.

supercem, as my colleague has explained is a tegral product, a slightly cheaper alternative to thrutone. tegral are a big company with a good support network and can be trusted to deliver a good product.

as far as other natural sale is concerned, "beware". i find spanish slate to be below par and with many lumps bumps and corkscrews throughout their pallets. whenever i install them i make sure the owner knows exactly what type of finish the owner can expect.

if you are looking for a smooth clinical finish,thrutone are the ones for you.
if your put off by the price of slates ,think about clay tiles,my personal favourite. youcan have a very contemporary finish without losing that old style charm.

the bottom line is tegral for man made slates.... and i would strongly agree with rooferpete and go with richmondbp for your natural slates or clay tiles.most importantly.....the product is no good if the man installing it is not a full professional be very thourough when choosing your roofing contractor.

"good work is not cheap....cheap work is not good":D

FrankGrimes

rooferPete wrote:

Hi Frank,

They look like 15 x 9's I know we have some in the stores is there a brand name on the back ?

I think you are looking for Hamiltons in both Irishtown and Blackrock (not related as far as I know).

.

Hi Pete -

You were right on money - they are 15 x 9" and I managed to pick up the 50 I needed in ST Salvage on the South Circular Road.

So now just left with the slightly daunting matter of choosing a slate/tile, I've done a lot of searching here and elsewhere and have narrowed it down somewhat.

We like the look of the plain clay tiles on the Richmond DB site and will contact Blue Bangor on these too. We also like the look of the Thrutone Plus, Thrutone Plus Relief, and Rivendale from Tegral, all in blue-black. Would be very interested in hearing prices for these and comments on installation costs versus concrete tiles.

Our extension roof pitch is 33 degrees - does this rule out any particular options?

What are the downsides to concrete tiles versus clay tiles? Is it that they discolour after a while?

How do I calculate how many slates/tiles we need so I can compare costs? Do I take surface area of roof (by measuring rafter lengths) and multiply this by the number per sq. metre on the websites and add a percentage for waste?

Thanks again.

secman

Very interested in debate on roof slates, Have probably decided on Tegral Trutone, judging by comments from Roofer Pete and others. My roof pitch is 54 degrees quite steep, had great difficulty in getting prices. To a man they all ruled out tiles and advised strongly on using slates. Whats the best price anyone has got for the tegral trutone and where ?


Thanks
Secman

FrankGrimes

Right, made some progress on the slate/tile pricing front.

My total roof area on the extension is around 37 square metres so I'm planning on buying slates/tiles for 43 sq m to give a 15% allowance for breakages/cuts - does that sound right?

Richmond BP quoted 80 cent ex VAT per small clay tile. At 60 tiles per sq m that works out at €48 per sq m ex VAT. I need 43 sq m so thats a total of €2,064 ex VAT (€2,497 inc VAT).

They do large tiles at €2.20 each ex VAT and 11 needed per sq m. Thats €24.20 per sq m, giving me a total of €1040 ex VAT (€1258 inc VAT).

Blue Bangor do not do any tiles in a blue/black colour similar to that of a slate so that rules them out for me - the terracotta would just be out of place in my scenario. Their quote of 65cent per small tile at 60 per sq m works out at €39 per sq m ex VAT. This would give me a total of €1677 ex vat (€2029 inc VAT) if the colour was an option for me.

Chadwicks quoted me at €1.61 per Thrutone Plus man made slate and I'm almost sure this included VAT, though I need to double-check. At 14 slates per sq m (from brochure) thats €22.54 per sq m and I believe thats inc VAT.

We were only looking at clay tiles as a cheaper alternative to our first choice (Thrutone Plus), so if the Thrutone is cheaper overall we'd be very happy.

However, my main question is - for an area of 40 square metres (on a relatively straightforward roof - see images I attached in this thread) would there be significantly higher installation costs for the Thrutone compared to the clay tiles (which are marketed as being as easy to install as concrete tiles)?

As I mentioned, my roof pitch is 33 degrees. Richmond mentioned I would need to increase this by a degree or two to use the small tiles, though the large tiles would be ok as they are interlocking. The Thrutones seem fine for a 33 degree pitch.

The internal ceiling in the extension will follow the pitch of the roof (i.e. plasterboard screwed directly onto the underside of the rafters) - do I need to ventilate the ridge or is this only required for a roof above an uninsulated attic?

Many thanks for your help and hope these prices are a useful guide to others looking about (I had someone call Richmond and Blue Bangor on my behalf so would be hopeful of getting the price down further if going ahead with the deal). By the way, Tegral sent me a very impressive sample and brochure pack when I requested it from their site (www.tegral.com).

rooferPete

Hi Frank,

Now compare the brands and colour of the clay tiles, Blue Bangor is a natural slate and has no relationship to clay tiles.

I can reveal that we did charge more for installing 10" x 6" clay tiles than we did for slates the amount of lathing and setting out for "Rosemary's" is nothing short of a nightmare.

A little history maybe off topic but I like it

The first Building Bye Law / Regulation / Code was introduced by the King after the second great fire of London prohibiting the use of straw or reeds on roofs in the Greater London Area.

Clay tile being available locally was permitted for roofs as they did not catch fire.

.

FrankGrimes

Hi Pete,

You should write a book with all these anecdotes in it. No, really, I reckon it might be an excellent and interesting format for learning this kind of stuff – information on how its currently supposed to be done followed by a background story of how it used to be done to highlight the rationale would be a readable way of getting lots of info across. Anyways, just a thought.

Blue Bangor are an Irish company that do a range of clay tiles in addition to natural slates - http://www.bluebangor.com/tilingproducts.htm . Builderwoman bought her clay tiles from them I think.

My reading of your post is that the Thrutone Plus are not expensive to fit, when compared to tiles (or is it only clay tiles, with concrete tiles being cheaper to fit?). This would mean the Thrutone Plus is cheaper to buy and cheaper to fit, which I have to say sounds too good to be true. Would appreciate confirmation on this one.

I’ve now learned the correct term for my roof is a ‘warm roof’ – i.e. insulation follows the line of the rafters. The Tegral diagrams seem to indicate this required ridge ventilation – is this correct. As for accessories like underlay and underlay holding tray, are these best bought from Tegral or is it a case that they charge a premium for their versions and there are cheaper products that do the same job available?

I just got a call from a Tegral rep to follow up on the brochure and sample pack they sent me – that’s pretty good service.

roofer

hi all
roofer pete seems to have all the bases covered and is clearly the man you should listen to when it comes to roofing matters. i read his notes and learn something new every day.

by posting these notes i hope to share with others my knowledge and experience as a roofing contractor. what i have to say may give you an insight into how roofers think and how they should behave. i believe customer service is nearly as important as the job itself. i also believe clients should be made fully aware of all ther options when it comes to roofing products and service.

getting to the issue of tiles or slates, i can tell you that to fit small clay tiles can be expensive. the workload is much larger. when it comes to interlocking clay tiles be sure that you get a contractor that has done them before.unlike normal tiles the clay tile has a very small tolerance in the spacing of battons.
to get to the point, if the battons are not spaced evenly and correctly the tiles will not interlock properly.the advantage of clay tiles are the aray of accessories that are provided to finish your roof professionally. these accessories are not as common with your standard concrete tile.
now we come to slates. make sure you get a slater to slate your roof, not a tiler.they are two different things,and dont be afraid to ask for references or about previous jobs he has done. after all you are paying for a complete service. any decent contractor will have no problem with this.( others would disagree vigoursly with me). your fitting price for slates will differ to tiles, the jo requires more skill and more time, so it easy to see where your money has gone when it comes to slates.

from my experiences the order of fitting expense would be as follows: concrete tiles.....large clay tiles......slates.....small clay tiles.

i hope this is of use to you
kind regards
roofer:D

FrankGrimes

Thanks for that insight roofer, very helpful.

I thought that Tegral man-made slates are cheaper to fit than natural slates – would it be fair to break it down as follows: the order of fitting expense would be as follows: concrete tiles (cheapest to fit).....large clay tiles......man-made slates……natural slates.....small clay tiles (most expensive to fit).

Its looking more and more like Tegral Thrutone Plus are the ones for me – have you got a rough idea what the going rate is for a price for 560 thrutones over a fairly straightforward 40 square metres? Just looking for a ballpark – is it normally priced per slate or overall job price?

What would you recommend in terms of underlay and ventilation?

rooferPete

Hi Frank,

I'm not completely out of the roofing scene yet and probably never will be, those skills raised my children and were very "kind" to me

Many would be surprised at who some companies in the retail market really are, I know the blue bangor slate company of old, the original title Blue Bangor came from Bangor in Wales the quarry is now known more as Penryhn beside the town of Bangor about 15 miles from Holyhead.

To a real tradesman the order of pricing would be starting at the cheapest :

Concrete roof tiles.

Natural slate (good quality graded)

Man made fibre cement (trutone etc)

Interlocking clay tiles.

Rosemary clay tiles.

Natural slate (of variable quality)

I know the list appears to contradict the material prices but a roof that is in line and square is easier and faster to slate using quality slates, whereas the Fibre Cement has the crampion and two nails to contend with and very little if any forgiveness on a roof that is not "true".

Underlay I like Starex or similar breather membrane.

Ventilation is interesting personally I still say plastic vents are not needed in a natural slate roof mainly because air can circulate under natural slate but the annoying part is why fit plastic with real stone ?

Sorry for going O/T if using a Tegral slate I would use their complete system because the warranty is then complete with one supplier.

Appears I am not far off what "Roofer" has already posted and I can only fully agree with him about the skills profile of the tradesman you choose.

One thing is this for the same roof you posted the photos of ? if it is there are very similar tiles available that will match up with the existing tiles.

A good roof should never be the focal point of the house, it is supposed to blend with all the surrounding finishes presenting a neat finish to the house at first glance.

.

FrankGrimes

rooferPete wrote:

Hi Frank,

One thing is this for the same roof you posted the photos of ? if it is there are very similar tiles available that will match up with the existing tiles.

A good roof should never be the focal point of the house, it is supposed to blend with all the surrounding finishes presenting a neat finish to the house at first glance.

.

Thanks again Pete. The decision I'm making is for tiles/slates for the roof of the single storey extension to be added to the side of what is in PhotoB.jpg above, as detailed in the Front Elevation jpg. I got the tiles to fill in where the chimney was on the existing roof - 15" x 9"s as you suggested.

As concrete tiles only have a 4 year colour guarantee, and I've seen many look untidy while still relatively young, and we also feel the Thrutone Plus will give a tidier finish on the extension roof, which will be very prominent, I think we've almost made our minds up to go with the Thrutone Plus. Next task is sourcing a decent roofer/slater.

Thanks for all the advice.

ninsaga

Hi Rooferpete,
Given that you have some details on these products, could you specify the details exactly what the problems are with them.....what was the hard evidence that you provided?

ninsaga

rooferPete wrote:

Authentic Roof ? forget them, even the Americans who love the slate look alikes are having trouble with them, one Irish supplier who was importing them dropped them when I gave him the hard evidence.

Ballymoon ? looks like a resin bonded slate made from the quarry waste, all efforts at similar have failed to date even though they had certificates.

I have carried out a study on eco star (USA) they are just another type of authentic slate, rubber slates = junk and that's not just my opinion, our friends in the USA tend to be very protective about their home grown products and they are they ones who gave them the thumbs down.

Builderwoman!

FrankGrimes, we used a large clay tile from B Bangor Co. Can't find invoice at mo. We are very happy with them and the look of them. There is also a 30 year colour guarantee on them. I agree concrete tiles can look appaling in no time. Hope you make the correct decision. We know we did for our situation and budget. Our roofers really liked working with the clay tiles too and loved the finish. (It actually got them a lot of attention when doing it because people were calling and asking what they were using!)

newname

Hi Builderwoman,

Can you give me the name and make of the clay tiles you used and how are they looking now a few years later??

Cheers

lazerian

hi,
i was wondering is it possible to slate a roof of less than 18 degrees? ie 16.5 degrees. If not whats the advice?
Thanks

RKQ

No its not! Due to wind blown rain and capillary action this angle is too shallow for slate.

Consider box metal (rear extension), norman sheets, zinc (expensive) or copper.:)