BUILDING ENVELOPE


Choosing the right slate


teven Pearson at P P explores the importance of material selection for longevity and why your new home’s roof is one area where it doesn’t pay to cut corners.


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f there’s one thing that’s certain about building your own home, it’s the huge number of decisions that need to be made. From choosing your plot to working out the design details, every aspect needs to be carefully considered. Of course there’s a cost attached to everything, so when decision fatigue starts to set in, it can be tempting to use price as the deciding factor. However there are several fundamental components of your build that it’s crucial to get right, with the roof being one of the most important. While digging into the performance characteristics of roofi ng materials might not have the same ‘fun factor’ as choosing internal fi xtures and fi ttings, mistaes made in this area can have costly and long-lasting consequences, so it’s worth taking the time to do it properly.


hen it comes to choosing roofi ng slate, natural slate is an ideal option for self-builders, crowning British homes for centuries, and for good reason. Its timeless appeal, exceptional durability and minimal maintenance requirements make it an ideal choice for self-builders who understand that real value lies not in the initial price tag, but in the decades of reliable performance. However as the roofi ng maret has evolved, so too have the challenges facing homeowners trying to make informed decisions about their roofs.


or instance, its extremely important to look at the origin of the materials and to confi rm that what youre buying is indeed genuine, tectonic slate. In recent years, the UK market has seen an infl ux of products that have been falsely marketed as ‘slate’ but are in fact made from other materials. While they may loo similar at fi rst glance, they are formed from an entirely different rock and therefore cannot offer the same performance quality or longevity as genuine European slate. Recent guidance from the National ederation of oofi ng ontractors  has highlighted this growing concern and published a guidance note


Natural slate is an ideal option for self-builders


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