Project 01
Full strip and re-roof in slate
A tired slate roof stripped back to the rafters, rafter feet spliced where they had rotted at the wall plate, and re-laid in reclaimed Welsh slate on new treated battens.
The problem, and the number
The slates had been re-bedded twice and torched underneath, which is what people did before breathable membranes existed and what quietly rots the battens above your head. Once it was off, three rafter feet at the north eaves had the softness you can feel through a boot but cannot see from a ladder. They were spliced before anything else went back.
There was no ventilation path at all, so the roof space had been holding moisture every winter. New breathable underlay, a 10 mm continuous eaves gap and a dry ridge sorted it, and it is the reason the roof will now age evenly.
Scope: full strip, timber repairs, ventilation, re-slating
- Covering
- Reclaimed Welsh slate, full strip
- Timber
- 3 rafter feet spliced at the wall plate
- Battens
- 25 x 50 mm, graded and treated
- Ventilation
- Dry ridge, 10 mm continuous at eaves
- Fixing
- Double-nailed, uplift checked to BS 5534
- Completed
- March 2025
