Slate Roofing Melbourne

Title

Slate Roofs Explained

Domestic slate roofing

What is roofing slate?

Slate is a natural sedimentary rock that is ideal for roofing tiles. It is split along it’s natural lines or fractures to create the perfect material to keep weather out of your homes and buildings. These thin sheets are not man made and have a long history over the centuries in buildings around he world. It is the best and one of the highest quality and longest lasting roofing materials used today. This beautiful and natural stone gives homes their unique and individual appearances. It is a very durable material and is famous for it’s long lasting qualities around the world.

People love slate because of it’s beauty and appearance offering homeowners varying thicknesses and sizes with a range of colours in greys, blues, blacks and purplish hues. A reasonable life span that a slate roof can be expected to last is over one hundred and fifty years old. In industry standards that makes it a very desirable roofing material. With proper maintenance and restoration these roofs will last for generations. Other roofing materials last far less time needing replacement and ending up in landfills making them also environmentally unfriendly. Slate is also fire resistant. Making slate tiles completely fire proof.

What is the best slate for Melbourne?

Spanish and Welsh slate is the best quality slate used in Melbourne. It is not affected by heat, frosts or damp weather. Welsh and Spanish slate is beautiful and regarded as the best and most desirable slate in the world.

What colour and types of roof slate are available in Australia today?

Many people assume slate roofs are the one general colour when looking at most of Melbourne’s Edwardian and Victorian period homes today. After over one hundred years of being exposed to pollution, most of Melbourne’s homes from this era have changed from their original colours to a grey-brownish shade which although appealing and not unpleasant to the eye is not representative of their original range of colours. The durability is obviously still there as a multitude of historic homes across Melbourne display. Owners who wish to do so can remove the pollution with a caustic soda mixture diluted in water and some elbow grease. This doesn’t effect the slate at all but will reveal the original colours. People looking for examples of the different colours that historic Melbourne displayed need only to visit country towns with very little pollution to effect them over the years.

Slate is not man made. It is a completely natural stone roofing material. In today’s Australian market there are a few colour choices of slate available that will suit  all architectural periods from historic to modern builds. People wanting the best roofing material and an aesthetically stylish and long lasting roof choose slate. Listed below are the best Spanish and Welsh slates available for the Australian market.

  • Spanish slate known as ‘Del Carmen Ultra’ is very desirable with a charcoal, black and very deep blue colour mix.
  • Spanish slate from the North West region of Spain known as ‘Cupa’ famous for its deep blue colour.
  • Welsh slate known as ‘Bugail’ which has been widely used over the last century displays an appealing blue-grey colour.

Welsh slate called ‘Penryhn’. Again widely used in a pale purple plum colour.

One Response