Slate roofing in Sutton Coldfield

Sutton lost a lot of its slate in the 1970s. Around the town centre and out towards Maney there are whole runs of Victorian and Edwardian houses that were built in Welsh slate and are now sitting under concrete interlocking tile, because that was the fashion and the price. Some of those roofs are fine. Some of them are carrying twice the weight the rafters were cut for, and we spend a fair amount of time in Sutton lofts explaining that.

Where the original slate did survive, it is generally in good order, because that is what Welsh slate does. What has not survived is the nails. A Sutton slate roof dropping slates one at a time from all over the pitch — not from one patch — is telling you it has nail sickness, and that is a re-lay job, not a replacement. We strip it, sort the slate on the ground, and re-hang the sound ones on new battens and copper nails. You keep the roof your house was designed to have.

For the houses that lost their slate fifty years ago, going back to slate is a real option and people are often surprised it is on the table. It takes weight off the structure rather than adding it, which on a house that has been carrying concrete since 1974 is worth something on its own. It costs more than another concrete re-roof. We will price both, we will not push you, and we will be honest that the concrete option is not a bad roof — it is just not the roof the house was built with.