Slate roof repair

Slate roofs, common on Victorian and Georgian properties across the Fens and Cambridgeshire, can last well over a century, but the copper or galvanised nails originally used to fix each slate corrode over decades, letting individual slates slip out of position even when the slate itself is perfectly sound. That distinction matters, because it means most slate repairs are about refixing, not replacing.

Why slate roofs slip rather than crack

Where a concrete tile roof more often fails through cracking, a slate roof more commonly fails through slipping, individual slates working loose as their fixing nails corrode. A slipped slate leaves a gap that lets water track sideways under the surrounding slates, which is why a single slipped slate is worth fixing quickly rather than waiting until several have gone.

How we repair a slipped or broken slate

We do not nail through the face of a slate to refix it, that risks cracking a slate that survived a century intact. Instead, a lead tingle, a small strip of lead, is used to hold the replacement or refixed slate in position, hooked over the batten below and dressed over the slate's lower edge. This is the traditional and correct method, and it is worth checking whether a roofer intends to use it before they start.

Walking a slate roof also needs care, slates can crack underfoot if stepped on incorrectly, which is why access is planned properly using crawling boards or roof ladders rather than walked across directly, protecting the slates around the repair area as much as the ones being fixed.

Matching slate

Welsh, Spanish and other natural slates vary in thickness, colour and texture, and a mismatched replacement stands out visibly on an older roof. We match slate as closely as possible, sourcing reclaimed slate of the correct thickness and colour where the original quarry source is no longer available, which is common on roofs of this age.

When it is more than a repair

If nail corrosion has affected a large proportion of the roof, sometimes called nail sickness, slipping can become widespread across many slates rather than isolated ones, and at that point a full re-slate with the existing slates refixed on new battens and membrane, or a new covering, becomes the more durable answer. We will tell you honestly if that is what your roof needs.

What you get

Slate repairs carry our 10 year written workmanship guarantee. See our slate and tiled roofing page for the wider picture, or roof tile replacement if your roof is concrete or clay tile rather than natural slate.

Because a slate roof this old often has more than one thing worth attending to at once, we check the ridge, valleys and any leadwork nearby while access is already there, flagging anything relevant to the roof's overall condition.

We take particular care with roofs that carry any listed building or conservation area status, keeping the repair sympathetic to the property's character rather than treating it like a standard modern re-roof.

Where a conservation area applies, planning restrictions can affect what materials are acceptable, and we will flag this before ordering slate rather than leave you to discover it after the event.

Areas we cover

Slate roof repair across Wisbech, Cambridge, Ely, Bury St Edmunds and the rest of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, west Suffolk and south Lincolnshire, where period properties are common.