Reroof — Slate vs Concrete Tiles?

paperclap

Hi all,

We’ll soon (hopefully!) be having our roof reroofed.

We and our neighbour have old, aged Redland 49 concrete tiles.

Our initial thought was to replace our old Redlands for new Redlands. We were thinking grey – being nice and modern, and all that.

I’ve always liked slate roofs, but hadn’t really considered it. A friend of mine thinks a slate roof would look pucka. The join between us and the neighbour’s roof would be accomplished by a bonding gutter.

I know everything in life is personal preference… but, would it look weird? Us having slates, and our neighbour having the Redlands?

Thanks!

stuart45

Have you worked out the extra cost in labour and materials?

paperclap

stuart45 said:

Have you worked out the extra cost in labour and materials?

Well much to my surprise, there was no difference.

£7,500 for using either new Redland 49s, or for using new (real, not man made) tiles.

I spoke to my roofer in person about the idea that slates would be more costly, but he said there wasn’t much in it. I guess being a small roof, it makes the difference less costly… so he simply hasn’t changed the price?

Megaross

Slate every day. The property I'm due to move to the neighbours have a slate roof and it looks the badgers nadgers.

The rest of the roofs in concrete tiles just look tired and a bit naff by comparison.

stuart45

What type of natural slate? Welsh, Canadian, Spanish, Brazilian or Chinese?

TELLIT01

Check with your local council that there aren't any controls on what may be used.

koalakoala

I have concrete tiles, I think they are horrible

paperclap

This is kind of what I’m feeling too – that concrete tiles are just a bit old hat.

Plus, I don’t know if this is true or not, but a slate roof (in comparison to most concrete roofs) feel like they would be far less prone to let rain run past them, due to the huge overlap.

I think they’ll be Spanish slates we’re getting. Canadian, Welsh, etc are crazy money!

stuart45

Spain has a lot of quarries, and the quality does vary a fair bit. The good ones are pretty good, although some of the poorer quality ones don't fair so well in our climate.
A good slate roof is better than a concrete tile one in looks and performance.

paperclap

TELLIT01 said:

Check with your local council that there aren't any controls on what may be used.

True. However, given I’m hiring a roofer to do my roof (and I’m not DIYing it), would this not fall under his responsibility?

Section62

laurencewhymark said:

TELLIT01 said:

Check with your local council that there aren't any controls on what may be used.

True. However, given I’m hiring a roofer to do my roof (and I’m not DIYing it), would this not fall under his responsibility?

No.  The householder is ultimately responsible for complying with planning and building control requirements.  You can ask a trader to advise, but you can't always rely on their advice.