Slate roofing in Swindon

Slate is a family of materials, not one product, and the right choice starts with the roof you already have. A repair has to match what is there. A full reslate gives you room to decide, within what the building and the council will accept.

Q1.1How do Welsh and Spanish natural slate compare?

Welsh slate has long been the traditional covering on British roofs. MyBuilder's slate roof guide, updated in August 2026, says Welsh slate commonly lasts for upwards of 100 years. Spanish slate is usually the lower-priced natural option, and the same guide gives it a lifespan of 75 to 100 years. Both are natural stone, so every slate varies a little, and a good slater sorts them as they go up. Thickness and splitting quality matter as much as origin: a thin, well-split slate lies flat and sheds water cleanly, while a poorly split one can twist, chip at the tail and let wind-driven rain in under the course above. Our comparison of Welsh and Spanish slate goes through colour, weathering and where each suits.

Q1.2Is reclaimed slate a good choice for a re-roof?

Reclaimed slate comes off other roofs and is graded before it is sold. For a repair on a Victorian terrace it is often the closest match, because it already carries the weathering, the size and the tone of its neighbours. For a whole roof it needs more care: the supply has to be consistent in size and sound enough to give another long stretch of service, so we check the grade and the nail holes before agreeing to it. The page on buying and using reclaimed slate explains how grading works.

Q1.3Where does fibre-cement or other man-made slate fit in?

Fibre-cement slate is a manufactured board cut to look like slate, and MyBuilder quotes synthetic slate at 30 to 50 years. Its uniform edges weather differently from natural stone and sit poorly beside real slate on a terrace, and a council looks closely at that swap on a listed building. Natural against fibre-cement slate sets out the trade-offs, and it can suit an outbuilding or a rear extension.

Q1.4Why choose slate over concrete or clay tile?

Natural slate is dense and durable, and once it is fixed properly it is low maintenance: there is no surface coating to wear off, and the stone usually outlasts the nails that hold it. MyBuilder expects concrete tiles to need replacing after 30 to 50 years, well short of the lifespans quoted for natural slate. As stone, slate does not burn, which counts in a fire. Sound slates can be lifted, sorted and laid again, which keeps good material out of the skip and is the main environmental case for it. On a period street, matching slate also protects the look of the property, and with it the value. Our pitched roofing page covers tile roofs.

Q1.5What are the downsides of a slate roof?

The first bill is higher than for concrete tile, as the price table shows. Weight matters too: changing from tile to slate, or the reverse, alters the load on the rafters, and the Planning Portal says Building Regulations approval is needed where the new covering is 15 per cent or more heavier, so we check the structure first. Slate is brittle, so nobody should walk on it, and old roofs fail at the nails before the stone. Imported slate varies in quality, which is why an experienced slating contractor asks for its origin and test data before ordering.

A reslate is a rebuild of the weatherproof layer of your house, done in the open, so it helps to know what happens in which order. A typical roof takes days rather than hours, and each stage has its own checks.

Q4.1What happens when the old slates come off?

Scaffold goes up first, with a covered way to the front door where one is needed. The slates come off in sections, working down the slope, and are sorted into those fit to reuse and those that are not. Once the roof is bare, the timbers underneath are visible for the first time in decades, and we check rafters, battens and wall plates for rot, woodworm and movement. Where a house has timber boards beneath the slates, called sarking, we look at those too. Our guide to reslating a roof goes through the strip in more detail.

Q4.2Why do underlay, battens and headlap matter on slate?

New underlay and battens go on next, or only the battens where the underlay is recent and sound. Headlap, the overlap between a slate and the one two courses below it, is set by the pitch, the slate size and the exposure of the site. Cupa Pizarras, a slate supplier, cites BS 5534 for a minimum natural slate pitch of 20 degrees, with a 115 mm headlap for a 500 x 300 slate at that angle. Steeper roofs need less headlap and shallower ones are not suited to slate at all. Our short answers on the minimum pitch for a slate roof and slate sizes and headlaps carry the full table.

Q4.3How are fixings, ridges and valleys dealt with on slate?

Slates are nailed with copper or stainless fixings; hooks are used only where the pitch allows, and the supplier's guidance is that hooks are not used below 25 degrees. The choice is set out in nails against hooks. Since BS 5534:2014 a bed of mortar is not trusted on its own for ridge and hip tiles, so we clip or screw them as well as bedding them, and valleys are lined in lead or cut as mitred slate, covered in the answer on slate valleys.

Q4.4What paperwork and guarantee come with a reslate?

Re-roofing normally needs no building control application where less than 25 per cent of the total building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof is affected, according to the Planning Portal. A heavier covering can bring in Approved Document A, and a stripped-back roof Approved Document L, whose insulation upgrade also cuts the energy lost through the roof. We explain which applies and handle any notification to building control. You get survey photographs and one written total price before work starts, photographs of the finished roof afterwards, and a 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing.