Traditional slate roofs

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Slate roofs in IRELAND - Protecting our rich HERITAGE of Traditional buildings.

No roof is as pleasing to the eye as an traditional slate roof which has been properly maintained or restored.
Some people build new houses in the old style with natural stone walls, sash windows and natural slate roofs.
Planning regulations normally require old slate roofs to be restored with RECLAIMED natural roof slates.
People use old roof slates to match with existing roof slates on an extension or restoration.
A reclaimed Bangor or Killaloe roof slate can last far longer than poor quality imported natural slates.
There is no cheaper roof than the sound slates on the existing roof - Re-use your existing roof slates.

What are RECLAIMED roofing materials ?
Old roof slates and roof tiles are salvaged from roofs and brought into our Killoran Slate & Tile depot for processing. Old materials come from various sources. Sometimes people in the demolition business sell the roof slates or tiles to generate immediate cash. Others cannot process because they do not have the necessary Local Authority licencing to dispose of the waste. The majority of old natural roof slates and tiles are traded in from existing buildings when we supply new materials.

We subscribe to the concept of the SALVO CODE. We are careful to only buy from bona-fide suppliers. We always establish the provenance of the roofs making sure that the slates or tiles have not been removed from PROTECTED Buildings.

Customers regularly visit our depot and are always surprised at the amount of rubble at the waste chutes behind our dressing machines. The 2 acres occupied by our salvage tile yard, is built-up ground using slate waste over the past 20 years. Customers are always concerned that unsuitable slates, when salvaged on the scaffolding, may be put back on the roof owing to lack of proper supervision or carelessness.

Every slate going through our works is checked individually for holes in the " weather ", cracks and pollution damage. Only those slates which pass our tests are put into the crate. Damaged slates, if sound, are reduced to a smaller size on one of our 5 dressing machines. Many old slates were head nailed or fixed with oak pegs. They are called " Rag Tops ". Rag Tops cannot be centre nailed on a modern roof without dressing down to a rectangular shape. We dress all rag tops to standard lengths and only pack a single length per crate.

Reclaimed SIZED Slates
Sized quarry roof slates go from 10 x 6 inch up to 26 x 14 inch. The most demand is for 24x12 and 24x14 but such demand attracts poor quality. If you have to use 24 inch quarry slates it is far better to go for 24 inch Randoms as the quarry slate will be stronger and have a longer life. People often overlook the fact that 16x8 or 18x9 roof slates give a much more solid roof ( more nails per aquare metre ) and well as having a beautiful traditional looking appearance.

Reclaimed RANDOM Slates
The largest size generally available in a new quarry roof slate is 60x30 centimetres. That size is often too small or the wrong colour for the roof to conform to Planning Regulations. Most old roof slates above 26 inch long were usually Random widths. The exceptions being 26x13 inch and 26 x 14 inch. A SIZED roof slate had a side-lap of half it's width. RANDOMS require varying minimum side laps dependant on pitch of roof, exposure and slate length.

Reclaimed RANDOMS laid in DIMINISHING courses.
This is the classic natural quarry slate roof on a large building such as a Church, Courthouse, Castle or Mansion. The lower courses may start with Randoms 36 inch long roof slates at eaves and with 2 inch graduations, may finish with Randoms 26 inch long roof slates at the ridge. Others could be 22 inch Randoms slates at eaves and finish with 12 inch Randoms at ridge. Because slates further up the roof look smaller anyway, diminishing courses exaggerate the optical illusion of sizes. The only roof we supplied with 4 inch diminishing course graduations was ROTHE HOUSE in Kilkenny - there the Graduation was quite visible.