Slipped slate repairs
In short
A single slipped slate is a small job — refixed properly with a copper or lead tingle, or the surrounding slates lifted and it re-nailed. Several slipping at once from different parts of the roof is a different conversation, because that is usually the fixings failing rather than the slates.
Also called: Slate slipped off roof · Slate hanging off · Missing slate · Slate repair
Signs you need this
- A slate visibly out of line, or hanging over the gutter
- A dark gap in an otherwise even slope
- Pieces of slate in the gutter or on the ground
- Daylight visible through the roof from inside the loft
- Slates slipping repeatedly, in different places
- Rust-coloured staining running down from nail positions
Slates are not stuck down; they are hung. Each one is nailed near its head and covered by the two courses above it, so the fixing you would need to reach is buried under other slates. That is the whole difficulty of a slate repair, and it is why the job is not simply a matter of putting the slate back.
There are two correct ways to do it. The proper way is to lift the courses above with a slate ripper, cut out the old nail, re-nail the slate and re-lay the courses over it. The quicker way is a tingle — a strip of copper or lead nailed into the batten below, folded up over the tail of the slate to hold it. A tingle is a legitimate repair, used everywhere, and copper is preferred because it stays springy where lead relaxes and lets go. What is not a legitimate repair is a blob of silicone or a smear of roofing cement, which holds for a summer and then traps water against the slate.
The important question is always why it slipped. One slate in an otherwise sound roof is bad luck — a nail that was slightly short, a slate with a weakness, a knock from a branch. Several slates over a period, from different parts of the roof, is nail sickness: the original iron nails have corroded through and the slates are letting go one at a time, everywhere at once. In that case patching is genuinely throwing money away, because there is no reason for the next one to be the last.
Matching matters more on slate than on tile. The Welsh slate on Macclesfield's silk-era terraces varies in thickness, colour and size, and a modern imported slate dropped into an old roof shows. Reclaimed slate of the right type is usually the right answer for a visible slope, and the old slates taken off elsewhere on the same roof are the best match you will ever get.
The town has an unusual amount of this work because it has an unusual amount of that housing. VOA council tax data puts central Macclesfield at 54.1% pre-1919 against an England average of 20.1% — but Tytherington at 1.5%. The story is not that Macclesfield is an old town; it is that the centre is, and a slate roof job in the centre and a tile job on the edge are barely the same trade.
One slipped slate is not urgent unless it is above a doorway or the weather is coming. It is, though, the cheapest roofing job there is, and the price of ignoring it is a soaked batten, a rotted fixing point and three more slates down by spring.
What the job covers
- Slates refixed properly — re-nailed, or held with copper tingles
- Matching reclaimed slate where a replacement is needed
- A check of the surrounding courses for other loose slates
- An honest assessment of whether the fixings are failing generally
- Battens checked for rot where a slate has been off a while
- No silicone, no roofing cement, no black goo
What it costs
We don't publish a price for this yet, because a number pulled out of the air is worse than no number at all — your roofer has to honour it. On roofing it would also be close to meaningless: access is often the biggest single factor, and it varies enormously house to house. You'll get a firm price for your actual job when they ring you back, before any work starts. The quote itself is free and there's no obligation either way.
Common questions
Can you just glue it back?
No, and anybody who offers to should be shown the gate. Adhesives and roofing cement on a slate roof trap water behind the repair and make the next one harder. A slate is either re-nailed by lifting the courses above it, or held with a copper tingle. Both are proper repairs that last.
How do I know if it is just one slate or the whole roof?
The pattern tells you. One slate, once, from one place is bad luck. Slates coming off over months, from different slopes, with rust staining under the nail positions, is nail sickness — the fixings have corroded and the whole roof is letting go slowly. That gets diagnosed from the loft as much as from outside, by looking at the state of the nails.
Will a new slate match?
Not if it is a modern imported slate in an old Welsh slate roof — the colour, thickness and texture are all different and it shows. Reclaimed slate of the right type matches much better, and the best match of all is a sound slate taken from a hidden slope on the same roof, with the new one going where nobody sees it.
Is it urgent?
Usually not, unless it is hanging over a door or path, or serious weather is due. It is worth doing soon rather than urgently — the slate itself is a trivial cost, and what it turns into over two winters is not.
Need this doing in Macclesfield?
Tell us the job and it goes straight to our local roofer — one call back, usually the same day. Free quote, no obligation.