Slate Roofing

Natural Slate

Real stone with an extraordinary lifespan, and the most demanding roof to install correctly. It is heavier than tile, so any conversion needs a structural evaluation. On a century old slate roof the slate is usually fine and the copper flashing and nails are not, which makes restoration a flashing and fastener job rather than a tear off. Hail cracks slate, and a shingle crew walking a slate roof does damage.

Why Synthetic Usually Wins Here

• A fraction of the weight, so no structural reinforcement on a shingle framed house
• Most quality synthetic slate carries a Class 4 impact rating, which in hail country is the whole argument
• Consistent thickness and no waste sorting, so installation is faster and cheaper
• It does not crack under foot traffic the way natural slate and tile do

The trade-off is that it is not stone. On a historic property or where a district specifies natural slate, that matters. On a new build wanting the look, synthetic is usually the better buy, and we will say so against our own higher ticket.

Repair

Most slate work we do is repair: individual broken slates, copper valley and flashing replacement, and re-hanging slipped slates where fasteners corroded. Done properly that extends a slate roof by decades. Broken slates get replaced with slate hooks or copper straps, never face nailed, which is the shortcut that guarantees a leak.

Heat Is Harder On This Roof Than You Think

Slate itself does not care about a Texas summer. Everything holding it up does. A dark roof deck in the Metroplex runs brutally hot through the afternoon and sheds that heat overnight, and the assembly expands and contracts with it every single day from May through September.

On natural slate that cycle works at the nails and the copper. Fasteners loosen, slates slip, and soldered copper valley seams open where the metal has nowhere to move. On synthetic slate the question is whether the product was formulated for this kind of UV load, because a composite tile that performs in Ohio can chalk, fade unevenly or grow brittle at the nail hole in North Texas. Ask the manufacturer for the color fade and the UV data, and ask us where the product has been installed locally and how long it has been up there.