Slates -vs- tiles

JustAnotherSaver

I was at the house yesterday. Haven't been in-in for a while due to COVID. The condition of the house has certainly deteriorated massively. I'm told that one of the bedrooms will at times have water running down the wall. Not like a waterfall but you can see wet. That never used to happen when I was there & I lived there for about 30 years +/-. Not sure if it's due to the roof condition currently or whether there's other causes (house suffers from damp big time).

Taking a walk around where I live this morning & paying attention to the roofs of some houses. There's one been done with what I would call tiles and it looks like it's sagging in a section of it. Never noticed it before but this thread made me pay attention.

So if on this 1905 house (I'm going to guess the slate on there is original although that's all it is - a guess) the slate is to be replaced, would you say the link above https://www.cembrit.co.uk/roofing/fibre-cement-slates/westerland would be a decent replacement?

Relative can't find the .pdf that the roofer sent so is pretty vague when I asked what was said - just that they're "a coursed slate" "all the same size" and "a minimum of 6mm thick". I know this doesn't say much.

stuart45

JustAnotherSaver said:

So if on this 1905 house (I'm going to guess the slate on there is original although that's all it is - a guess) the slate is to be replaced, would you say the link above https://www.cembrit.co.uk/roofing/fibre-cement-slates/westerland would be a decent replacement?

It's a lot cheaper than new Welsh slate. Fibre slates are much better looking than years ago.
What's wrong with the roof slates? Are they slipping down the roof?

JustAnotherSaver

stuart45 said:

JustAnotherSaver said:

So if on this 1905 house (I'm going to guess the slate on there is original although that's all it is - a guess) the slate is to be replaced, would you say the link above https://www.cembrit.co.uk/roofing/fibre-cement-slates/westerland would be a decent replacement?

It's a lot cheaper than new Welsh slate. Fibre slates are much better looking than years ago.
What's wrong with the roof slates? Are they slipping down the roof?

They're crumbling in to nothingness.

And update on my last post - apparently they are the original ones.

Question mark is on the age of the house. I really can't remember whether it's basically 1900 or 1800. From a little research I would actually be leaning more towards 1800-1805.

stuart45

If the slates are 200 years old I'm surprised the nails have lasted that long.
Even Welsh slates can turn to powder or delaminate in time, so when buying second hand it's worth checking them.

JustAnotherSaver

stuart45 said:

If the slates are 200 years old I'm surprised the nails have lasted that long.
Even Welsh slates can turn to powder or delaminate in time, so when buying second hand it's worth checking them.

Wouldn't they, for over time, just re-nail anything that's slipping?

stuart45

You can't re-nail them. The traditional method was using lead tingles, although there are newer ways now like hall clips.