Slate roofing in Leatherhead, Surrey and South West London

Slate Roofing,Laid the Right Way.

Slipped and cracked slates are re fixed or replaced with matching stock. Nail sickness, where the old iron nails have rusted through and slates start sliding on a sound roof, is the commonest reason a Victorian roof needs work, and we will tell you whether yours is at that stage.

A single slipped slate is re fixed with a lead or copper tingle, or replaced with a matching slate from our reclaimed stock. Cracked slates are replaced. Where the failures are spread across a slope rather than in one place, we look at the nails, because a roof that is losing slates from several courses at once is usually one whose iron nails have rusted through.

Nail sickness cannot be repaired slate by slate. We will tell you when a roof has reached that point and quote for re laying the slope on new battens with new fixings, reusing the slates that are sound.

The commonest slate roofs round here are the Victorian and Edwardian terraces and villas of Wimbledon, Wandsworth, Clapham, Battersea, Richmond and Barnes, and the older streets of Leatherhead, Epsom and Reigate. Most are on their original nails, which is why nail sickness is the diagnosis we make most often on them.

Strip, new breathable underlay, new treated battens, and slates re laid to the right headlap for the pitch, with copper or stainless nails so it does not happen again. Where the original slates are sound we reuse them and make up the difference with matched reclaimed stock.

The roof comes off to the rafters, the timbers are checked and any that are soft or split are repaired or replaced. New breathable underlay and treated battens go on, set to the gauge the slate size and the pitch need, and the slates are laid with a headlap that keeps the roof dry in driving rain.

Each slate is fixed with two copper or stainless steel nails. Ridges, hips and verges are detailed to shed water without relying on mortar alone, and the lead is formed new, because a new slate roof over old lead is a leak waiting to happen.

A full re slate on a typical terraced or semi detached house takes one to two weeks with the scaffold up, and the roof is left watertight every night. Slates are laid to BS 5534 with the headlap set for the pitch, and the job comes with photographs of the timbers, the underlay and the finished roof.

Slate roofs live and die by their lead. We form valleys and flashings on site and use proper ridge and hip details rather than mortar that will crack in two winters.

Valleys carry more water than any other part of a slate roof and they are usually the first lead to split. We replace them in new lead of the right code, laid in lengths that can move, and dress the slates back over them properly. Ridges and hips are re bedded or dry fixed so they stay put in the wind.

A slate valley is laid in Code 5 lead, in lengths of no more than 1.5 metres with a lap between each, so the lead can expand and contract without fatiguing. That detail alone is the difference between a valley that lasts fifty years and one that splits in ten.

Much of South West London and the Surrey towns is Victorian and Edwardian, and a lot of that is slate. We match what is there so the repair does not shout.

On a listed building or in a conservation area the details matter and may be a condition of consent. We match the slate size, the coursing and the lead details to what is there, and we can work with your conservation officer where the roof needs it.

In a conservation area a like for like repair is normally fine; a change of material on a listed building usually needs consent, and the conservation officer will want to see the slate matched in size, thickness and colour. We can put that case in writing for you.