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17 Jan
Slate has been used as a material for roofing for hundreds of years, and for good reason. In Europe, slate from Spain accounts for over 90% of the total amount used for roof coverings. Here at JRC Slate, we offer an extensive selection of Spanish slate for you to consider.
Here are some reasons why slate is a great choice for your roof.
Firstly, where does slate come from?
As a natural product, slate is formed when existing layers of rock are exposed to extreme levels of heat and pressure. This exposure can cause any clay within the rock to turn into a substance called mica. Mica is the material that allows slate and similar metamorphic rocks to be split along broad, flat planes and it’s what makes slate an ideal rock for crafting tiles.
The immense pressure and heat required to form metamorphic rock makes slate and similar materials more common at tectonic plate boundaries.
Our Spanish slate comes from areas across the Iberian plate including the illustrious La Baña region of Castilla y León.
Although the tile manufacturing and installation processes are highly skilled, slate’s geological formation in sheets makes it more natural to split into tile-like shapes than other rocks. This is one reason why slate is a historically popular choice for roof coverings.
Slate is highly valued because of its natural beauty.
Because slate is a naturally formed product, there are always unavoidable variations in both slate’s surface grain and its colour. It is these imperfections that give slate roofing its aesthetically pleasing appearance.
Colours in the surface can vary from the classic grey through blue, green, purple, red and black, offering a variety of different appearances. This characteristic makes up a large part of slate’s aesthetic value, with slate roofing providing each building with an attractive and sophisticated appearance.
Although these variations are natural and can’t be controlled, sets of tiles for one roof are usually cut at the same place and time to ensure the tiles complement one another as much as possible.
Another main advantage of slate roofing is longevity. As a material, it is extremely durable and offers superb weather resistance to both wind and rain. It’s also not uncommon for slate roofing to last for decades longer than other roof coverings, illustrating what an investment a high-quality slate roof can prove to be.
Slate roofs have even been known to outlast the buildings on which they stand!
All commodities have environmental impacts, but by choosing slate for your roof, you can do your part in reducing carbon emissions.
Slate is a great choice aesthetically, but it’s also a better choice for the environment. Extraction and tile manufacture with slate uses much less water and causes less pollution than those for other roof coverings such as fibre cement and zinc.
Building a house roof of average size (100m2) with natural slate rather than fibre cement can reduce the building’s carbon footprint by 6.2 tons of CO2 emissions. This is equivalent to the amount produced by the average car travelling 30,000km (18600 miles).
Importing Spanish slate to Britain rather than using a Chinese or Brazilian replacement also helps to keep carbon emissions as low as possible; importing a 24-tonne container of Spanish slate to Britain releases 800kg of CO2 into the atmosphere. This, staggeringly, is only one-tenth of the pollution caused by importing a container of the same size from China.
More information on the environmental impact of slate roofs is available on our Carbon page.
The advantages don’t end there. Slate roofing also offers exceptional insulation, making buildings warmer in winter and cooler in summer. This can help to substantially reduce the running costs of your property throughout the year, as well as making it more comfortable.
Tiles made from the rock are also completely fireproof, helping to improve the safety of the building and of the people inside.
Choosing slate roofing is a wise decision due to its many advantages. If you’re considering investing in a slate roof, it’s worth doing the proper research and sourcing the slate best suited to your project.
Working with slate is also a highly skilled vocation and if you’re investing in a slate roof, it should only be installed by a qualified and experienced technician.
If you would like further information on our Spanish or British slate, please get in touch with our friendly team here at JRC Slate! Our experts are on hand to talk you through our wide range of products and services.