Slate Roofing in Plymouth

Slipped slates, repairs and re-slating. Free roof check, no obligation: pick the job, then leave your name and number.

Slipped and broken slates re-fixed, the ridge, valleys and lead on a slate roof put right, and whole roofs re-slated, across Plymouth and 10 miles around it. Book a free roof check and we get up and look before we price anything.

Call 07376 442 795

5.0 on GoogleFully insuredCovering Plymouth and 10 miles around

Slipped and broken slates re-fixed
Ridges, hips and valleys put right
Lead flashing renewed or redressed
Re-slating, the sound slates kept
New roofs in natural slate

What Our Customers Say

Full re-slate and lead flashing job on our bungalow. Kyren explained exactly what needed replacing without trying to upsell unnecessary extras. Scaffolding went up and came down on time, and the roof looks great. Good, hard-working local crew.

Had Kyren and his team out to sort a leaking roof valley on our terrace after the heavy rains last month. They turned up when they said they would, got straight to work, and cleaned up all the old tile debris properly before leaving. Fair price and solid work.

We needed composite cladding put on the back extension to replace some old timber that was rotting. Kyren gave us a straightforward quote with no hidden extras. The finish is spot on, and the lads worked right through a couple of miserable weather days to get it finished on schedule.

Kyren and his team repointed the entire side gable on our cottage. Very tidy workers, raked out the old crumbling mortar cleanly, and matched the new pointing nicely with the rest of the brickwork. Polite, punctual, and easy to deal with.

Called Roofsure after noticing a couple of slipped tiles and loose mortar around the chimney stack. Kyren popped round to take a look, gave a reasonable estimate, and had the job done by the end of the week. Honest, reliable service.

Do We Cover You?

Plymouth and 10 miles around it

And the villages in between, from Kingsand and Cawsand on the Rame peninsula to Cornwood on the edge of Dartmoor, and from Bere Alston down to Newton Ferrers and Noss Mayo. If you are not sure whether we reach you, book the free roof check anyway and we will tell you straight. The towns, and the villages covered from each, are on the areas page.

The Job

A slate roof rarely fails because of the slate. Natural slate will outlast the house if it is left alone; what gives out is everything holding it on. The nails rust through, and on a city that sits on the Sound the salt in the air gets to them sooner, so the slates start to slide one at a time, usually after a windy night, and you find one on the path or see a pale gap from the street. That is nail sickness, and it is the most common thing we are called out to on a slate roof. A few slipped slates are a repair: each one goes back on a slate hook, or a lead tingle where a hook will not sit, and the roof is checked around it for the next ones that are about to go. When they are slipping across the whole slope, re-fixing one at a time is money spent on a roof that has told you it needs re-slating. Then the slates come off and get sorted, the sound ones are kept, the battens and the felt underneath are replaced with new treated battens and a breathable membrane, and the roof goes back on with new fixings, made up with matching slate where the old ones were cracked or too thin to reuse. The ridge, the hips and the valleys are where the water gets in on most slate roofs we look at, because the mortar has cracked or the lead has split, so we look at all of them on every visit and photograph what we find. You get the photos with the written price, so you can see the slipped slate or the open valley for yourself before you decide anything.

Signs Your Slate Roof Needs Us

A slate on the path, the lawn or in the gutter, often after a windy night
A pale gap or a crooked slate you can see from the street
Slates held on with hooks already, and more slipping every winter
Water or staining in the loft round the chimney, a valley or a roof window
Ridge or hip mortar cracked, loose or missing
Lead in a valley or at a wall split, lifted or patched with sealant

What We Check

Every slate on the slope, and whether the nails are holding or rusting through
Slates already on hooks or tingles, and how many more are about to go
The ridge and hips: bedding, fixings, and whether they lift by hand
Valleys, lead flashing and soakers at the chimney and any abutting wall
Battens and felt from the loft, where we can see them
Gutters and outlets, because blocked ones hold water at the eaves

What We Do

Slipped and broken slates re-fixed on slate hooks, or lead tingles
Missing slates replaced with a slate that matches in size, thickness and colour
Ridge and hips re-bedded or dry-fixed
Valleys re-lined and lead flashing renewed or redressed
Re-slating: slates stripped and sorted, sound ones reused, new battens and membrane, new fixings
A re-roof in natural slate, with the fascias and gutters done while the scaffold is up
Photos of every stage handed over with the job

On the Day

For a few slipped slates on a two-storey house we come with a ladder or a tower if it is safe to, and it is a short job. Anything across the slope, or a re-slate, needs scaffold, which we arrange, and you get a start date before anything begins. On a re-slate the old slates come off and are sorted on the scaffold rather than thrown in a skip, and the site is left clean on the last day with the gutters cleared.

The Cost of Leaving It

One slipped slate leaves a gap where the rain runs straight onto the felt and the batten below it, and on a roof with nail sickness one slipped slate means others are about to follow. Felt that has been wet for a winter rots, battens go soft, and by the time water shows on a bedroom ceiling the timber under the slates has been wet for a long time. Left long enough, a roof that needed a dozen hooks needs re-slating, and a re-slate that finds rotten battens and rafter feet becomes a bigger job again.

Our Slate Work

The full gallery

Photographs of our slate jobs will be added here as the team sends them.

Questions About Slate Roofs

Can you just put back the one slate that fell off?

Yes. A slipped or broken slate goes back on a slate hook, or a lead tingle where a hook will not sit, and we check the slates around it while we are up there. If we see more about to go, we tell you and show you the photos.

What is nail sickness?

The nails holding the slates rust through, so the slates slide one at a time while the slate itself is still sound. It is the usual reason slates slip on an older roof, and once it has started across a slope a re-slate fixes the cause instead of chasing slates.

Do I need a new roof or can it be repaired?

It depends how many slates are moving and what state the battens and felt are in. A handful of slipped slates is a repair. Slates slipping all over the slope, or felt you can push a finger through in the loft, is a re-slate. We tell you which, and why, with photos.

Will you reuse my old slates?

If they are natural slate and most are sound, yes. We strip, sort and re-lay the good ones with new fixings and make up the difference with matching slate. It keeps the look of the roof and the cost down.

Can you match the slates on my roof?

We match size, thickness and colour as closely as we can, from new slate or from good reclaimed slate, and we tell you which before the job starts rather than after.

Is a slate roof in a conservation area a problem?

Like-for-like repairs and a re-slate in natural slate are normally fine. Changing to a different material, or adding roof windows on a front slope, is where you check with the council first, and we tell you if that applies before you commit to anything.