What does a full strip and re-slate involve?

The roof is stripped back to the rafters, the old covering and tired battens taken off, then rebuilt from a sound base. Fresh breathable underlay and new treated battens go back on, and the roof is re-covered in natural slate, laid in even courses and fixed to hold in the weather.

Why re-cover a heritage roof in natural slate?

Natural slate is the right match for a period building. It sits in keeping with the original character, sheds water cleanly and lasts for decades when it is laid properly, which is why we specified it for this North London church roof rather than a cheaper substitute.

How was the flat-roof section rebuilt?

The old flat roof was stripped down to bare boards, the structure made good with new joists and the deck reboarded. Insulation was built up over the deck and the whole area finished in a single-ply EPDM rubber membrane, a hard-wearing covering with no day-joints across the field of the roof.

How do you work safely on a roof at this height?

A job on this scale is worked from a full independent scaffold with edge protection, using roof ladders and working off the ridge. It lets the crew strip, re-batten and slate the roof safely while keeping the building watertight throughout the programme.

Case Study 08

North London: a heritage church roof, put right in slate.

The pitched roof stripped back to the rafters and re-covered in natural slate, while the adjoining flat-roof range was rebuilt from the deck up. Careful, high-access work on a landmark that stayed watertight throughout.

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Clarkson Roofing worker climbing a roof ladder up the completed natural slate roof, heritage red-brick range behind

01/Project brief

Project brief

A heritage church roof, renewed with care.

The roofs across this North London church range had reached the end of their life. The pitched slopes needed stripping back to the rafters and re-covering in natural slate, and the adjoining flat roof had failed down to the boards. The brief was to put both right properly, in materials in keeping with a period building, and to keep the whole thing weathertight while we worked.

ProgrammeSeveral weeks
Pitched roofRe-slated
Flat roofRebuilt in EPDM

02/Project specification

Specification

The specification.

Every line item, on the record.

Natural slate being laid back over new battens and underlay beside the relined parapet gutter, Gothic church behind — Project card
North London Church Roof
Full strip and re-roof · Natural slate and EPDM · North London

01 The brief

ClientNorth London parishLocationNorth LondonPropertyHeritage church range, pitched and flat roofsProgrammeSeveral weeks, full high-level access

02 The work

Pitched roofStripped to the rafters, re-felted, re-battened and re-covered in natural slateFlat roofRebuilt from the deck up, new joists, decking and insulationWaterproofingSingle-ply EPDM to the flat roof, parapet gutters made watertightAccessFull independent scaffold and roof ladders, worked off the ridge

03 Sign-off

CheckRidge, gutters and abutments checked over before striking the scaffoldRecordWritten photographic record throughoutCoverFully insured for the duration of the works

The pitched roof stripped back to the rafters and re-battened over new underlay, ready for slate

The completed natural slate roof laid in even courses against the heritage brickwork

03/ Before & after

From bare rafters to a roof in natural slate.

Before After

LocationNorth London

WorkStrip and re-slate

ProgrammeSeveral weeks

ScopePitched slate + flat roof

04/Work breakdown

Stage by stage

Four stages, from bare rafters to finished roof.

A heritage roof only lasts if it is rebuilt from a sound base up. The order of operations that took this one from stripped to weathertight.

The pitched slopes stripped back to the rafters with the old insulation cleared, ready to rebuild

Stage 01

01 Strip and make safe

Strip back and make safe.

The pitched slopes were stripped back to the rafters and the old flat roof taken down to bare boards, everything cleared off and the structure checked over before anything new went back on.

New treated battens run over fresh breathable underlay across the stripped pitched roof

Stage 02

02 Re-felt and batten

Re-felt and re-batten.

Fresh breathable underlay and new treated battens were run across the pitched roof, set to a true gauge so the slate courses would sit even and lay to the right cover.

Natural slate laid back over the new battens beside the relined parapet gutter, Gothic church behind

Stage 03

03 Natural slate

Re-cover in natural slate.

The roof was re-covered in natural slate, laid course by course from the eaves up and fixed to hold, with the parapet gutters and abutments dressed to carry the water away.

Black single-ply EPDM rubber membrane dressed out across the rebuilt flat-roof deck

Stage 04

04 Rebuild flat roof

Rebuild the flat roof.

The flat-roof range was reframed and reboarded, built up with insulation and finished in a single-ply EPDM rubber membrane, so the whole roof reads as one watertight job.

05/Detail gallery

On site

The details that make the finish.

Roofer heading up the finished natural slate roof by ladder, heritage range behind

Up the finished slate

Pitched roof stripped to the rafters with new battens going down over the old insulation

Stripped and re-battened

New joists bolted in and fresh decking framing out the rebuilt flat roof

Reframing the flat roof

Black EPDM rubber membrane dressed out across the new flat-roof deck

EPDM to the flat roof

06/Craft note

Why slate matters

Why a heritage roof is worth doing properly.

A roof like this one is part of the character of the building beneath it. Strip it back and the quick option is always there, a lighter, cheaper covering that goes on faster and never quite looks right against period brick and stone. On a landmark that the neighbourhood knows, that is a false economy.

Doing it properly means going back to the rafters, laying fresh underlay and new treated battens to a true gauge, and re-covering in natural slate laid course by course. Slate is the material these roofs were built for. It sits in keeping, it sheds water cleanly, and laid well it lasts for decades rather than years.

The flat-roof range was treated the same way. Rather than patch over a covering that had already failed, we took it down to the boards, made the structure good, built it back up with insulation and finished it in EPDM. One roof, two coverings, both put right to last.