Services
Slate RoofingBased in Dallas, TX
A material that outlives the people who install it, and almost nobody in Dallas still repairs.
Get a Free EstimateSlate
What this job involves, and what moves the price.
Real slate lasts between 75 and 200 years depending on the quarry it came from. The nails holding it up, and the flashing woven between it, do not: copper flashing in a valley might manage 60 years and galvanized far less. So a slate roof mostly fails around the slate rather than because of it, which means the correct intervention is usually surgical.
Delamination is the material's own end-of-life. Slate is layered stone and it eventually starts splitting along those layers, going soft and flaking at the edges. A slate that rings when you tap it is sound; one that thuds is on its way out. That test, done across a roof, is what tells you whether you are looking at a repair or the end.
Included Individual slate replacement using a ripper and copper bibs · Delamination assessment across the whole roof, not one elevation · Valley, chimney and dormer flashing renewal · Snow guard installation above entries and drives · Structural check on the framing carrying the load
How It Works
Call or send the form
Say what you are seeing: a stain, a storm, missing shingles, or a roof you just want an opinion on.
Someone gets on the roof
And into the attic, because the underside of the decking tells you things the surface will not. The inspection is free.
Photographs and a scope
You cannot see your own roof, so you get pictures of what was found and a written scope before any number is agreed.
The work, then the sweep
A tear-off scatters nails across a property. The last job of the day is running a magnet over the drive, the lawn and the beds.
Before You Call
Slate, answered.
How do I know if my slate roof is at the end of its life?
Tap it. Sound slate rings; failing slate sounds dull and flat. Look for flaking at the exposed edges and for slates that are visibly thinner or delaminating in layers. If a large share of the roof thuds, patching stops making sense.
Can individual slates be replaced?
Yes, and it is the standard repair. It is done with a slate ripper to cut the old nails and a copper bib to retain the new slate. Face-nailing a replacement through the visible surface is the shortcut, and it is how a sound slate roof gets ruined one slate at a time.
Is the flashing more likely to fail than the slate?
Much more likely. Valleys, chimney and dormer flashing are the usual leak source on an old slate roof, and renewing them without disturbing the slate around them is most of the skill in the job.
What are snow guards for in Texas?
Ice rather than snow. Slate is slick, and a sheet of ice releasing off a steep slate slope onto a doorway or a driveway is a genuine hazard in the handful of freezes North Texas gets. They are cheap and they go where people walk.
Why Homeowners Pick Us
Slate outlives the people who install it, and almost nobody here still repairs it.
A slate is drawn out with a ripper and hung on a hook, never face-nailed through the course above. Get that wrong and the repair becomes the next leak.
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The Difference
The part that decides whether it lasts.
The reason so few Dallas contractors will touch it is not mystery, it is that slate needs specific tools and a specific way of working. A slate is held by two nails, hung rather than fastened tight, and to replace one in the middle of a roof you cut the old nails with a ripper and hold the new slate with a copper bib. Crews that do not own a ripper face-nail the replacement through the exposed slate and seal it with caulk, which is visible from the ground for the next fifty years and starts leaking within five.
Walking a slate roof breaks it. Anyone who gets on one without hook ladders or roof jacks is generating the next repair while performing this one.
Get a Free EstimateMore from Chavez Family Roofing
Slate
Slate, handled from the first inspection to the final nail.
Let's Work Together
Find out what the roof actually needs.
Someone gets on the roof and into the attic, photographs what is there, and tells you what it needs. That costs nothing, including when the answer is nothing yet.
Chavez Family Roofing 3816 W Clarendon Dr, Dallas, TX 75211 (469) 780-8781