Slate -vs- tiles?

Mr. Clueless · 2 Jan 2016

All the houses around this area are slate roofs. A house a bit down the road (same style as ours) has just had a re-roof but they opted for tiles, which stands out a mile.

Now i know it depends on the type of slate & the type of tile. Our place stocked some Estillo slate which was god awful. About 0.000000000000001mm thick (exaggeration of course). Nasty stuff. We've moved on to other stuff now.

I did ask a roofer that was out roughly how much it would be to do our roof. He said approx. the £4,000 marker.
That'd be slate.

If you went for a tiled option, what sort of price difference are you talking?

I guess tiles are cheaper than slate. Are there any advantages for tiles over slate other than cost?

freddiemercurystwin · 3 Jan 2016

You need to check your existing rafters would cope with the additional weight of tiles before it becomes a valid option. Many a tiled roof that was slate originally has sagged.

terrypin · 3 Jan 2016

freddymercurystwin said:
You need to check your existing rafters would cope with the additional weight of tiles before it becomes a valid option. Many a tiled roof that was slate originally has sagged.

Absolutely +1

A lot of slate roofs were done like this with no consideration to additional weight.

This practice was at its worst in the 80/90s when tiles were approx 50p and slate were £1.75 each, this resulted in some roofers cashing in on cheap re-roofs(tiles).
Using an average terraced house as an example, back then a slate roof would cost about £800 to roof in tiles, cost of tiles was around £275-£325. The slate from this roof would be sold for about £400(ish).
Makes economic sense to the roofer(win win)but not good practice for reasons mentioned by previous poster.

Slate rules.

Mr. Clueless · 3 Jan 2016

Thanks for the tip.

But that aside - the difference? In terms of money & also pro/con?

catlad · 3 Jan 2016

There are no pro's

Mr. Clueless · 3 Jan 2016

So it'd purely be down to price then as to why people go tile (unless the area they live in is tile also & they don't want their roof to stand out a mile)?

It's a job for a good few years down the line hopefully.

noseall · 3 Jan 2016

Slates are a nightmare maintenance wise. Horrific backwater way of tiling a roof. Hick country stuff.

terrypin · 3 Jan 2016

noseall said:
Slates are a nightmare maintenance wise. Horrific backwater way of tiling a roof. Hick country stuff.

Why a nightmare?
A good quality slate roof(done properly)won't need maintenance for a long, long time, far less frequently than tiles.

catlad · 3 Jan 2016

I can see your point Nose all these new houses being built today will be ready for demolition in less than a century so why bother putting a slate roof on that will last 200+yrs

noseall · 4 Jan 2016

Do architects actually specify the stuff these days? I can understand using the stuff way back when, just like they used to use wattle and daub and cob walls. We can build proper roofs now so no need for that ancient stuff.

catlad · 4 Jan 2016

Its going to depend a lot on what area you live I guess as to whether they get specified or not. Individual houses still get Slated, but you don't see new builds being Slated and if they are they are they use man made slates

jontop · 6 Jan 2016

Slate. Depends on the building of course but if it suits, slate is my preferred

noseall · 7 Jan 2016

Must be a Welsh thing.

mark vincent · 14 Jan 2016

noseall said:
Do architects actually specify the stuff these days? I can understand using the stuff way back when, just like they used to use wattle and daub and cob walls. We can build proper roofs now so no need for that ancient stuff.

Natural slates last longer than concrete tiles, most people use tiles simply because they are cheaper and easier laid.

noseall · 14 Jan 2016

mark vincent said:
most people use tiles simply because they are cheaper and easier laid.

Can't think of two better reasons to use them.

My gripe with slate or slate style roofs is the fact that they do not lend themselves well to maintenance or renovation/alteration work. Absolute shoite in that respect. And the fact that they look very drab and belong on farm houses.

Give me a clay plain tile roof any day.

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Slate -vs- tiles?

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