Natural slate on Victorian, Edwardian and Federation roofs
Slate usually outlives the nails that hold it. The typical failure is slipped slates and nail sickness, not the slate itself. Repair, partial re-slating or full replacement depends on how far that has gone.
The slate is often still sound. The fixings are not.
Natural slate on inner Melbourne houses - Victorian, Edwardian and Federation stock - is there because it lasts. A century later the slates themselves are often still good. What fails is the iron or steel nails: they rust, the heads let go, and slates slip down the course. That is nail sickness. It looks like a covering problem. It is a fixing problem.
A repair only works if the replacement matches what is already on the roof - profile, colour and coursing - so the patch does not read as a patch. Canadian Glendyne is the common replacement slate in Melbourne. Lead flashings, decorative ridge capping and finials belong with this covering, not as extras bolted on afterwards.
Walking a slate roof without proper access breaks more slates than it fixes. The decision between a targeted repair, a partial re-slate and a full replacement is made on the roof, looking at how many slates have moved and whether the battens and remaining fixings will still hold.
Signs a slate roof may need work
These are typical reasons people get in touch. They may indicate the covering needs looking at - they are not a diagnosis from the ground.
- Slipped or missing slates Slates sitting low in the course, stacked in the gutter, or gaps you can see from the ground. Often the slate is still intact and the nail has gone.
- Nail sickness Rusted fixings that no longer hold. Once it starts in a run of courses, neighbouring slates follow.
- Water through the ceiling A stain that appears in rain, or damp in the roof space. The entry is often a slipped slate some distance from the mark indoors.
- Broken slates after someone walked the roof Slate is brittle underfoot. Uncontrolled access cracks more of the covering than it inspects.
- Victorian, Edwardian or Federation stock Original slate on inner Melbourne houses. The covering can look even from the street while the nails have already started to let go.
What slate work can involve
Repair where the surrounding slates and fixings will still hold. Re-slate a plane where they will not. Replace the covering when the whole roof has gone.
Work starts with how the roof is actually failing. Isolated slipped or broken slates, with sound neighbours and fixings still holding, is a targeted repair. A run of courses or one plane with widespread nail sickness is a partial re-slate. When the nails have gone across the roof, or the battens will not take new fixings, full replacement is the job that will last. We tell you which of those you have before quoting.
Replacement slates have to match profile, colour and coursing or the repair shows. Canadian Glendyne is the common replacement slate in Melbourne, and it is what we use where it matches the roof. Lead flashings at chimneys, abutments and valleys, decorative ridge capping and finials are part of the covering on this housing stock - they are quoted where they belong with the work, not as a catalogue add-on.
Access is part of the work, not an afterthought. Slate cracks underfoot. We use proper roof access so the inspection and the repair do not become a second round of breakage. Walking the roof to "have a look" is how a small job becomes a large one.
- The covering inspected, including slipped slates, fixings and battens
- Cause of any leak traced where it can be seen from the roof
- Targeted repair where the surrounding slates and nails will still hold
- Partial re-slating or full replacement where nail sickness has gone further
- Matching slates, lead flashings, ridge capping and finials where they belong with the job
When the slate itself has gone
Most failures are the nails. Sometimes the stone has delaminated or holed, and a local repair will not hold.
Find how far the fixings have gone, then do that job
Nothing is stripped by default. The first look is whether a repair will still hold.
Why choose Kestrel for slate
Slate is roofing, not a novelty covering. The value is in matching what is there, and in telling you when a repair will not hold.
Repairs, re-slating and replacement handled as covering work, including lead, ridge capping and finials where they belong.
If nail sickness has gone beyond a local fix, we will say so before work starts. Repeating slipped slates on a roof that is letting go is not the right job.
Hands-on work on Melbourne roofs, including the older coverings that fail at the fixings rather than at the slate.
Cover in place on every job. You deal with the person doing the work.
Slate on the house
Finished covering, weathered slate at a chimney, and slate that has gone.
Related roofing services
If this is close but not quite the work you need, these are the usual next pages to look at.
Questions about slate roofing
If the answer you need is not here, call and ask. We would rather explain it than have you guess.
Need a slate roof looked at?
Tell us what you have noticed - slipped slates, a stain in rain, a Victorian or Federation covering. We will look at the roof and quote the work it actually needs.