Specialty Roofing • Bucks County, PA
Slate Roof Repair & Restoration
A slate roof can last a century when it is cared for by someone who knows slate. Most crews do not. We do.
- Single slate replacement instead of a full tear-off
- Copper flashing, valleys and snow guards
- Matching salvaged and new slate to your existing roof
- Honest answer on repair versus restoration
New Hope • Solebury • Buckingham • Upper Makefield • Washington Crossing • Doylestown • Newtown
What this work looks like
Real slate is stone. It does not wear out the way shingles do. What wears out is the metal around it and the nails holding it up, and those are different repairs with very different prices.
What this material does well
- Slate can last far longer than any shingle roof
- Fire does not bother it
- Single pieces can be swapped without touching the rest of the roof
- It is the correct look on an older stone or brick home
Where it actually fails
- Flashing and valley metal rusting through
- Nails rusting, so slates slide down out of place
- Cracked slates from someone walking the roof wrong
- Mortar and flashing at the chimney
- Old repairs done with tar or caulk instead of metal
How the roof gets checked
1. Tell slate from look-alikes
Some roofs look like slate and are not. Fake slate is repaired a completely different way, so that gets settled first.
2. Check the metal before the stone
Valleys, chimney flashing and step flashing. On most old slate roofs the metal is the problem and the slate is fine.
3. Count the broken and slipped pieces
Each one is a separate replacement. Counting them is how the job gets priced honestly instead of guessed at.
4. Match material
Salvaged slate and new slate both get considered. Color and thickness are never a perfect match and you will see samples.
What changes the price
We do not post prices, because a roof nobody has looked at cannot be priced. These are the things that make the job bigger or smaller.
- • How many slates are broken, missing or slipped
- • How much valley, chimney and step flashing needs replacing
- • How hard your slate is to match
- • Roof height, pitch and how the work has to be staged
- • Whether old tar repairs have to be undone first
Questions homeowners ask
- My roofer said the whole slate roof has to go. Is that right?
- It might be, and it often is not. A roof with sound slate and failed flashing is a metal job, not a tear-off. Get that answer in writing with photos before agreeing to anything.
- Can single slates be replaced?
- Yes. That is the normal way slate is repaired, using a hook or a hidden fastener so nothing is nailed through the face.
- Why can't people walk on my roof?
- Slate cracks under weight in the wrong spot. Careless walking causes more slate damage than weather does.
- Can slate be mixed with copper?
- Copper is the usual choice for valleys and flashing on a slate roof, because it lasts on the same scale the slate does.
Straight talk: Specialty work goes to partner roofers who do this kind of roof. If your job is not a fit for them, you will be told instead of sold.