Help - roofing problems - outside my scope of ability

[Antix]

aha...

"A freshly extracted 5 tonne slate block from Berwyn"

[Christian McArdle]

Yes, pretty for floors, but hopeless for roofing.

Christian.

[Staffbull]

I stand corrected !! thought Mcalpines had it all !!

[Peter Johnson]

That's not so. J.W. Greaves, owner of Llechwedd slate caverns, is still quarrying slate. McAlpine's also own, and quarry, the former Oakeley quarry, across the road from Llechwedd, as well as Bethesda.

[nightjar]

Greaves have still got an active web site, advertising roofing slates.

Bignell

[Stuart Noble]

When we had our slates re-fixed, about 20% needed replacing (i.e. they didn't "ring" when tapped with a hammer). Pretty cheap 2nd hand from a local roofing firm though.

[nightjar]

The ones I bought new were cheaper than second hand, and were vastly superior in quality, even compared to the original Victorian slates. The roofers said they had never worked with such good slate, which allowed them to complete the job much faster than anticipated, with almost zero losses. I was also able to order 15" x 20" slates, to overcome the problems of using half-width slates at the ends of the roof and around openings. If my current roof were slate, rather than tile, I would be going back there for more.

Colin Bignell