Slate roofing in Luton and across Bedfordshire, for the Victorian and Edwardian houses that were built with it and for anyone who wants that look on a newer home. Reliable Roofers Ltd re-slates in natural Welsh or Spanish slate, fits slate-effect tiles where budget or pitch rules out the real thing, and repairs slipped, broken and nail-sick slate roofs.
Luton's older streets around High Town, Bury Park and the town centre, the Victorian villas in Bedford and the Edwardian houses in Harpenden and Hitchin were roofed in Welsh slate. A century on, the slates themselves are often fine but the iron nails holding them have rusted through, which is why slates slide out one at a time every winter. That is nail sickness, and the cure is a re-slate.
We re-slate using new natural slate, or reuse your sound original slates mixed with new where you want to keep the character, laid on a breathable membrane and new battens with copper or stainless nails so the problem does not come back. On bungalows and post-war houses with shallower pitches, or where the budget says so, we fit slate-effect concrete or fibre-cement tiles that give the same clean grey roof at a lower cost.
Slate roofs need proper lead: soakers at every abutment, stepped flashings up chimneys and formed valleys. It is included, not an extra.
Every photo is a job by our own team. Tap to enlarge.
Natural slate roof completed on a bungalow with a chimney
Dark grey slate-effect tiled roof finished in sunshine
Grey slate-effect roof completed around a chimney
Dark slate-effect hipped roof completed on a bungalow
We check whether the slates are worth saving and how the roof is failing, from the loft as well as the roof.
Natural slate by origin and grade, or the slate-effect tile, plus lead and ridge, all itemised.
Sound slates set aside, roof stripped, membrane and battens on, slates laid to the correct headlap for the pitch.
All lead renewed, ridge bedded or dry-fixed, roof photographed.
A slate roof laid with the right headlap for its pitch and the right nails is the longest-lasting roof you can put on a house. We will not lay slate at a pitch it is not suited to, and we will tell you when a slate-effect tile is the sensible choice.
Natural slate lasts longest and looks right on a Victorian house, but it needs a pitch of roughly 25 degrees or more and costs more per square metre. Slate-effect tiles work down to lower pitches, cost less and look convincing from the street. We show you both at the survey.
Often, yes. Good Welsh slate outlasts its nails by decades. We sort them on the ground, discard the cracked and delaminated ones and top up with matched new slate.
Almost always nail sickness: the original iron nails have rusted away. Re-fixing individual slates with tingles buys time; a re-slate with non-rusting nails is the permanent fix.
Yes. Individual slates replaced with hooks or tingles, lead renewed and ridges re-bedded. We will tell you honestly when a roof has reached the point where repairs are no longer worth it.
Yes. Like-for-like re-slating is normally acceptable, and we can advise on what the conservation officer will want to see.
I had some broken tiles that kept falling down on my driveway, got this company's leaflet through the door gave this company a call and they fixed it quickly and efficiently and were very polite!
I had a leak on my roof. It gave me lots of stress. I called this company. They came out the next day and solve my problem so now I am stressfree would highly recommend this company to other people to use.
Up to 10 years on new roof installations, guaranteed in writing, and the tiles, slates, membranes and flat roof systems we fit carry their manufacturers' guarantees on top. We are public liability insured and the certificate goes out with your quote. You also get the photographs of every stage, so you know what is under the tiles.
Up to 10 years on new roof installations. The guarantee for your job is stated in writing in your quote, before you agree to anything.
Ring, WhatsApp a photo, or send the form. You get a written price before any work starts, and we reply within one working day.
