Slate roofing Melbourne

Most slate work in Victoria is field slate — broad, plain planes on churches, schools, halls and the big houses. That is the bulk of what we do and what we are set up for: stripping the roof back, checking what is underneath it, and re-laying to the original gauge and margin, at whatever scale the building happens to be.

The other end of it is what Melbourne is known for. Slate bent over mansards and domes, cut into fish-scale and scallop patterns, banded in two colours, punctured by oculus dormers with lead rolls and iron cresting on top. That work means setting out every course so the pattern still lands true at the ribs, and it is why those roofs get patched instead of repaired. We have done four of them — which is the best evidence we can give you that the plain roof will be laid properly too.

Welsh slate from the Penrhyn quarry, and Canadian slate from Glendyne. On decorative work the slate is only half of it — the other half is matching the existing size, gauge, colour and the shape of the cut, so that new work disappears into an old roof instead of announcing where the money was spent.

We work from our office at Ground Floor, 470 St Kilda Road under Victorian Building Licence 129688, across Melbourne and regional Victoria — with the same slaters who laid the field slate on St Mary’s Cathedral, The Scots College and St James’ Church.