Slate Roofing in Newbury
Roofers for West Berkshire — repairs, re-roofs, flat roofs and leadwork. Free surveys, fixed written quotes, tidy workmanship.
Newbury Roofing Company repairs and re-slates roofs across Newbury and West Berkshire — natural Welsh and Spanish slate, fibre cement slate and reclaimed stock. Slipped slates, nail sickness, ridge and hip work, and full re-slating on the Victorian and Edwardian property where most of the slate around here ended up.
Slate is the minority covering in this part of Berkshire. It arrived with the railway, so you find it on the villas and terraces built around Newbury station in the second half of the nineteenth century, on estate cottages, and on the odd rear extension. Out in the flint-and-clay villages it is rare, which is exactly why so few local roofs get slated properly.
Slate work we take on
Slipped slate repairs
Individual slates refixed with copper or stainless slate hooks where the head can be reached, or with a lead tingle where it cannot. Never with a bead of silicone.
Nail sickness
When the original iron nails corrode, slates start slipping one at a time from all over the roof. Past a point, patching is throwing money at it and a strip and re-slate is the honest answer.
Re-slating with sound originals
Old slate is often better than new. We strip by hand, grade, and re-lay the sound ones on the visible elevations with matched stock making up the rest.
Fibre cement slate
Marley Eternit and Cembrit slates on outbuildings, extensions and where the budget will not stretch to natural. Lighter, cheaper, and a genuine 40 years.
Ridges, hips and valleys
Dry ridge, mitred hips, lead soakers and open lead valleys — the detailing that separates a slate roof from a slate-coloured one.
Slate prices
| Slate work | Guide price | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Refix slipped slates, up to 10 | £220 – £650 | Per visit, access included |
| Localised re-slate of one area | £90 – £160 per m² | Reclaimed or matched new slate |
| Re-slate in fibre cement | £95 – £140 per m² | Strip, membrane, battens, slate |
| Re-slate in Spanish natural slate | £130 – £190 per m² | Grade A slate, stainless fixings |
| Re-slate in Welsh natural slate | £190 – £280 per m² | The long-life option |
| Open lead valley renewed | £700 – £1,700 | Code 5 lead, per valley |
2026 guide rates including scaffold, breathable membrane and battens graded to BS 5534. Free survey and one fixed written figure on every job.
Choosing between the slates
Welsh slate is the best roofing material sold in Britain and will outlive the house — 100 years is normal, 150 not unusual. It also costs roughly double Spanish. Spanish is what most re-slating actually uses; graded properly it gives 70 to 100 years and looks right on a Victorian roof. Watch the grade rather than the country: cheap Spanish slate with a high iron pyrites content rusts, stains and delaminates within twenty years, at a price that looks like a bargain.
Fibre cement is a different proposition. It is a manufactured board, not stone — it will not fool anyone up close, it fades, and it lasts around 40 years rather than a century. But it is half the weight, which matters on a structure never built for natural slate, and it costs a third of Welsh.
Clay tiles rather than slate?
Peg tiles, handmade clay and period detailing.
Full strip and re-cover
What re-roofing involves and what it costs.
Frequently asked questions
Ready for a free, no-obligation quote?
Call 01635 927069