A worn slate roof on a terraced house, stripped back to the rafters and rebuilt with new breathable membrane, treated battens and grey slate-effect tiles. Here is how the job came together, photographed by our own team on site.
This terraced house re-roof started with a slate roof that had done its time. The slates were weathered, dull and spotted with lichen, and on a roof that age the problems you can see from the street are usually only part of the story. Rather than keep paying for repairs, the owners had the whole roof stripped and rebuilt.
The house was scaffolded front and back, the Stanley & Son team took the old roof off down to the rafters, and the new roof went back on as a complete modern system: breathable membrane, new treated battens and grey slate-effect tiles finished neatly up to the chimney stack. The neighbouring roofs either side were left exactly as they were.
The slates had weathered badly and were spotted with lichen across the slope. Slate itself can last a very long time, but the fixings, battens and underlay beneath an old slate roof wear out long before the stone does, and that is when slipped slates and damp patches start.
A free drone survey shows that kind of wear clearly, so you can see for yourself whether a repair will hold or whether the roof needs replacing.
With the scaffold up, the old slates came off first, then the battens, taking the roof right back to the rafters. Stripping a roof fully is the only way to see the timbers properly and make sure the new roof is going onto something sound.
Waste is cleared as the job goes, so the house and the street are left tidy at the end of each day.
New breathable membrane went across the whole roof. It is the real waterproof layer under the tiles, and because it breathes, moisture from the house can escape instead of condensing in the loft.
New treated battens were then fixed to gauge over the membrane, so the new tiles sit straight, the courses line up and every fixing goes into sound timber.
The roof was finished in grey slate-effect tiles, which keep the look of a slate roof on a terraced street while giving a modern, fully fixed covering. The tiles were taken neatly up to the brick chimney stack, which was kept.
Every Stanley & Son re-roof is backed by our 15-year insurance-backed guarantee, and the team that quotes your roof is the team that fits it.
Got an old slate roof that keeps needing repairs? Book a free drone survey and we will tell you honestly whether it needs a re-roof or just a repair. See our re-roofing, slate roofing and tile roofing services, or read our Milton Keynes re-roof case study.
See the real condition of your roof before deciding between a repair and a re-roof.
Learn moreBook a free drone survey and get straight advice on whether it is time to re-roof.