Slate Roofing in Reading
Roof repairs, re-roofing and flat roofs across Reading and the Thames valley. Free surveys, fixed written quotes, tidy workmanship.
Reading Roofing Company repairs, re-fixes and re-lays natural slate roofs across Reading. The Victorian stock either side of the town centre is almost entirely slate, and the streets were roofed a terrace at a time, so a repair that does not match reads from the pavement like a missing tooth.
Matching is most of the craft. Before anything is fixed we measure the slate on your roof, identify the size and the type, and source to it.
Knowing what is on your roof
Size before anything else
Reading terraces mostly carry Welsh slate at 20x10 or 24x12 inches, with 16x8 on smaller rear slopes. Get the size wrong and the head lap goes wrong with it, which is a leak rather than an aesthetic problem.
Nail sickness, not slate failure
Good slate outlives its fixings by decades. A slope shedding slates after every gale has usually lost its nails, and the slate itself is fine — which is why stripping and re-laying the same slate is a legitimate job.
Torching and its absence
Many original roofs were torched with lime and hair underneath instead of felted. When it crumbles it drops into the loft and leaves the roof with nothing behind the joints. Felting means stripping, so it is a re-slate decision, not a repair.
Slate-and-a-half and detail pieces
Verges, valleys and abutments need wider slates rather than cut-down ones. Cutting a standard slate to fill a gap puts a nail hole where the water runs.
Slate options and 2026 prices
| Slate option | Per m² fitted | Rear slope of a 2-bed terrace | Life expectancy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reclaimed Welsh slate, graded and matched | £100 – £150 | £3,200 – £4,800 | 60+ years, and it has already proved itself |
| New Welsh slate | £130 – £190 | £4,200 – £6,000 | Around 100 years |
| Spanish slate, e.g. Cupa | £85 – £120 | £2,700 – £3,900 | 60–80 years |
| Fibre cement slate, e.g. Marley Thrutone | £60 – £90 | £1,900 – £2,900 | 40–50 years |
Based on a rear slope of roughly 32 m² including membrane, battens and access. Front elevations in a conservation area are priced in natural slate as a matter of course. Free survey, fixed written price.
How slate work is carried out
Single slipped slates go back on a copper tingle or a stainless slate hook, never on mastic — a smeared repair fails within a couple of winters and takes the neighbouring slates with it. Where a patch has gone, we lift back to sound work and re-lay properly with the correct head lap for the pitch, which on the shallower Reading rear slopes matters more than most people expect.
On a full re-slate the roof is stripped, the slate graded on the ground into re-use and reject piles, and the rafters checked while they are open. It goes back over breathable membrane on treated battens with copper or aluminium nails, fixed to BS 5534, with code 4 and code 5 lead at the valleys and abutments. Ridge is bedded or dry-fixed depending on what the rest of the street carries.
Slate is slow work and it should be. A good slater lays perhaps 12 to 15 square metres a day, which is why a slate roof takes longer than a tiled one of the same size and costs what it costs.
Full re-roof costs
What a complete strip and re-cover comes to.
Terrace-specific work
Shared valleys, party walls and parapet gutters.
Frequently asked questions
Ready for a free, no-obligation quote?
Call 0118 230 9278