Cheapie natural slate versus fibre cement

sas

Hi,

Struggling with a budget constraint so I'm looking for advice.

In peoples opinion, would a cheaper brazilian natural slate be likely to have a longer life than fibre cement of the well known brand? There are some available that are similarly priced.

Open ended question of course but just in general. Are the cheaper natural slates really that bad?

What makes them bad apart from difficulties fitting them?

For example I'm told that it would be safer to use hooks to fix cheaper more brittle slates.

SAS

windyboy

Hi,

I am currently getting my 2 storey house slated with Capco Nova Black Brazillian slate at the minute and in my opinion think they look every bit as good as a Bangor Blue at a fraction of the price. You must use wind hooks to prevent movement otherwise they will crack at the nail holes with chatter/movement caused by wind as they are a more delicate slate. You must only cut them with a grinder, if your roof is complex they may not be suitable.

I saw a house which was only built recently with another suppliers Brazillian slate and they didn't use wind hooks. It is an exposed site like mine and the slates are coming off.

My roof is straight forward T shaped with no velux's or dormers. You should get someone who will take time to grade the slates on the ground (there is not much on the Nova Black as they are pretty uniform). 5600 slates took him 3 days, he sorted them into bundles of three thickness sizes, heavy for bottom, medium for middle, and light for top near ridge. He tied them in bundles with baling twine and placed them back into crates and teleported them on to the roof spread them out between the battens.

I think the key thing is to get a guy who knows what he is doing and will take time and care fixing them.

Cheers,
Windyboy

Naux

A neighbour of mine put up cheap natural slates and they look terrible. The colour has just washed out of them and they were original blue black - ish they are now a pasty grey black colour.

IMO if you are not able to get a good quality slate within your budget then I would look at putting up concrete tiles. There are some very decent looking roofs done with concrete tile.

soldsold

I asked my roofer about grading slates and his reply was that they have put up about 100,000 nova black slates and they never needed grading, was a complete waste of time in his opinion, and he tends to be on the cautious side. He said that if they are too thin or too thick they are not put on any particular course but are kept for later (I think that was the gist of it), I even offered to sort them over this weekend and he said it would be a waste of time, there isnt enough variation

Will wait and see!"

Steve

DaireSVK

Just to clear a few things up:

Brazilian slates are fine but must be hooked, they are a weaker slate then a Spanish or Welsh slate as it is quarried from river bed sediment rock which is brittle. Don't get me wrong they are still a good slate just be aware of what your buying. I would be more concerned about Pyrite in the slate which can discolour the slate even after 10 years (Check with supplier). A good natural slate will outlive you and I if fitted correctly.

Fibre Cement slates are a good alternative. Most manufactures carry a structural guarantee of 30 years and a colour guarantee of 20 years. With plenty of colours and textures available on the market. They are being made for over 100 years and examples of this can still be seen in europe.

Bare in mind the labour cost when choosing, fibre being the cheaper of the two.

Natural slates see- Rocslate, Tegral, Capco etc.
Fibre cement see- SVK, Tegral, Capco etc.