Slate Discolouration

[soapstar]

Hello,

 

Quick question regarding slates. Can anyone describe why the attached picture of slates has discolouration in some of them? Making the overall look very ‘patchy’? Is this common?
 

We are looking out for slates for our build, originally we wanted Cupa Heavy 3 (not pictured). Has anyone used this slate?

 

thanks

[ToughButterCup]

Patches, it's the way it is.

Step back 100 meters,  and you can't see it. Zoom in, and you do. 

 

Enjoy it. Especially if it's the only problem you have. 

 

[PeterW]

It’s a natural product - it will have variations. No two slates will be alike. 
 

If you don’t want that then you will need to use a man made product and change any PP to have that agreed. 

[soapstar]

Thanks.

 

i do realise there’s will be variations however why do some houses have flawless slates which don’t have too much variation. Would this be due to a cheaper slate? No so stringent selection process compared to say Cupa Heavy slates?

 

I am a fan of @Thedreamer house and the Cupa Heavy 3 slates as shown on their blog, it looks really good and no ‘patchiness’ to the roof... 

[Roys]

The patches don’t bother me in fact I like it as it shows a natural product ageing. I suppose it depends on the look you had visualised, my wife would prefer the almost artificial one colour shiny look.

[Thedreamer]

4 hours ago, soapstar said:

Thanks.

 

i do realise there’s will be variations however why do some houses have flawless slates which don’t have too much variation. Would this be due to a cheaper slate? No so stringent selection process compared to say Cupa Heavy slates?

 

I am a fan of @Thedreamer house and the Cupa Heavy 3 slates as shown on their blog, it looks really good and no ‘patchiness’ to the roof... 

 

Thanks, although some of the blog photos were soon after being fitted. The roof today after two years is quite universal, although the north through last of sunlight will probably look slightly different in the next few years.

 

As other have said the contrast in different slates is not a bad look but I suppose it's down to personal preference. To me it's similar to cladding, we got a few cracks in the Siberian larch but it's natural product, if we wanted to be completely sure of the flawless look we would use an artificial product like Marley Eternit.

 

I suppose dust from ridge tiles etc and lead work can also create some temporary discoloration.

 

[Simplysimon]

22 hours ago, soapstar said:

 

We are looking out for slates for our build, originally we wanted Cupa Heavy 3 (not pictured). Has anyone used this slate?

not yet, got a price for them and looking also at ssq domiz heavy

[makie]

1 hour ago, Simplysimon said:

not yet, got a price for them and looking also at ssq domiz heavy

 

Do not use SSQ, their slates are awful. They buy all the slates the big quarries won't use and mix and match them.
 

That's how you end up with a roof like that

[Dan F]

4 minutes ago, makie said:

Do not use SSQ, their slates are awful. They buy all the slates the big quarries won't use and mix and match them.

 

Have you used them and had a bad experience or are you a roofer? Ideally you'd provide some context around this assertion..

[soapstar]

31 minutes ago, makie said:

 

Do not use SSQ, their slates are awful. They buy all the slates the big quarries won't use and mix and match them.
 

That's how you end up with a roof like that

 Yes would be interested to know what experience you have had with them...it would seem you really

do get what you pay for when it comes to slates.

 

Although from what I can gather it can be down to having a skilled person to fit them, it’s just not a case of throwing them on..they have to be sorted to an extent by thickness and get rid of the odd bad slates? Maybe someone can explain the process further!

[Dan F]

We are currently looking at slates, need to decide what we want to use in next couple of weeks.  Looking at fairly smooth 5-6mm dark grey slates for a contemporary look (so not the heavies some people recommend) and have samples from SSQ and Cupa, and also been told about ESCO Merayo.  Really hard to understand how they differ though, other than that the more expensive ones typically have a more consistent thickness.   The SSQ Del Carmen slates definitely aren't cheap, so keen to understand @makie's experience.

[makie]

1 hour ago, Dan F said:

 

Have you used them and had a bad experience or are you a roofer? Ideally you'd provide some context around this assertion..

 

Roofer that had the misfortune of using them because the customer bought them....

48 minutes ago, soapstar said:

 Yes would be interested to know what experience you have had with them...it would seem you really

do get what you pay for when it comes to slates.

 

Although from what I can gather it can be down to having a skilled person to fit them, it’s just not a case of throwing them on..they have to be sorted to an extent by thickness and get rid of the odd bad slates? Maybe someone can explain the process further!

 

Brittle, severe colour variation from one pallet to another and not holed properly. Some with one hole, others with none but the marks from the punch machine.

 

I'm a roofer and I would recommend you avoid them.

[Dan F]

 

Just now, makie said:

I'm a roofer and I would recommend you avoid them

 

What do you use/recommend?

[makie]

1 minute ago, Dan F said:

We are currently looking at slates, need to decide what we want to use in next couple of weeks.  Looking at fairly smooth 5-6mm dark grey slates for a contemporary look (so not the heavies some people recommend) and have samples from SSQ and Cupa, and also been told about ESCO Merayo.  Really hard to understand how they differ though, other than that the more expensive ones typically have a more consistent thickness.   The SSQ Del Carmen slates definitely aren't cheap, so keen to understand @makie's experience.

 

Del Carmens are a very nice slate and I haven't had an issue with them. Just others they have.

Cupa H3's are the best when it comes to Spanish. They even do a randomized range which is good to use.

Contact Burton roofing they usually have a good range of slates and are helpful.

[SuperJohnG]

Cupa heavy 3s are in my opinion the right slate to select....for no other reason than I have spent hours reading about them on this very forum and other places. If you do the research they come out on top for value, aesthetics, guarantee, quality etc. 

 

Said research has like many other things on this forum caused..me to spend more. ?

 

At budget stage I chose tiles due to a much cheaper costs to buy and install but I'm in scotland and rural...and I'd know I'd regret it forever so now switching to slates.

 

Change will increase costs roughly 70-100%.

 

Marley tiles fitted were 10k. Cupa heavy 3s 18-20k. 335m2 roof.

 

Grading is the process of sorting thr slates into 3 or 4 piles. So they can be laid with the same thickness and it looks nice (thickest slates at bottom. Working uo to thinnest at ridge) A wrongly graded roof with slates looks terrible. 

[SuperJohnG]

5 minutes ago, makie said:

 

Contact Burton roofing they usually have a good range of slates and are helpful.

 Thats who priced mine...its worth knowing the cupa piazzara company (who own and produce all the cupa slates ) bought burton roofing an hence should be the best route for pricig unless you go through a roofer who gets a really really good discount.

[Dan F]

1 minute ago, makie said:

Del Carmens are a very nice slate and I haven't had an issue with them. Just others they have.

Roofer has recommneded El Prado First (which is very similair to Del Carmen).  Del Carmen Ultra is obvisiouly the best, but comes at a premium.  You don't remember which slate you had the bad experience with do you?

 

2 minutes ago, SuperJohnG said:

Cupa heavy 3s are in my opinion the right slate to select....for no other reason than I have spent hours reading about them on this very forum and other places. If you do the research they come out on top for value, aesthetics, guarantee, quality etc.

Yeah, I've seen the same.  But in our case we are looking for something that not quite as thick and a bit smoother for more of a contempory look, and unclear what the best option for this is.   I do have samples for Cupa 12 and few others due tommorow, so will see what these are like.   I'll also give Burton a call, but given they only seem to sell Cupa slates, I'm not sure they'll want to give me a unbiased opinion about Cupa vs SSQ.

 

[SuperJohnG]

15 minutes ago, Dan F said:

 But in our case we are looking for something that not quite as thick and a bit smoother for more of a contempory look, and unclear what the best option for this is. 

 

 

Have you considered tapco or iko (i think its iko ) or fibre cement which will all give you  the flat uniform contemporary look you want?

[soapstar]

Anyone have a rough idea of the going rate  of the Cupa Heavy 3 right now?

[SuperJohnG]

@soapstar

 

Approx 24m2  for me for supply (ex vat). 

 

Thats 400x220 slates at 75mm headlamp to cover 335m2. 

[Dan F]

10 hours ago, SuperJohnG said:

Have you considered tapco or iko (i think its iko ) or fibre cement which will all give you  the flat uniform contemporary look you want?

 

Do want real slate, but just not a heavies or anythingt too rustic.  Those Tapco ridge/hip tiles might be a good alternartive to the concrete version though, if they can be used with slate..

[soapstar]

To conclude this for anyone interested in the future it would turn out you get what you pay for, the Cupa Heavy 3 is an excellent looking slate with no discolouration. Apparently this occurs when there has not been adequate quality control with there being too many 'oxides' present in the slate causing a rusty look.

[Dan F]

We are going to go with the Cupa R12 in the end.  Cheaper than SSQ Del Carmen, @makie advised against any other SSQ slates, and we prefer grey to black/blue anyway.

 

Spoke to Burton roofing as suggested and they recommended R12 as it's thinner/smoother so a good fit for a fairly contempory build in south-east.  We'd be looking at the Heavy 3 if we were up in Scotland though..