Category
traditional-roofing systems slate, tile, lead as full envelope packages
full packages in London, Kent and Sussex.
Traditional Slate, Tile and leadwork coordinated as part of a full envelope.
One company to envelope. The right trade on each surface.
Many London roofs are not a single material. A listed house may keep its Welsh slate and need new lead valleys. A loft conversion may take standing-seam zinc on the cheeks and clay tiles on the main pitch. A townhouse extension may mix copper bays with hanging tiles.
That is normal work for us. Billy Leach directs a hard-metal crew. Around that we keep working relationships with slaters, tilers and lead workers who already know how we detail junctions. We do not pretend to be a general roofing firm. We do take responsibility for the package when the project needs it.
What that means on site: Metalico surveys the building, comments on the build-up, prices the envelope, programmes the trades, installs the metalwork, and coordinates the traditional coverings so flashings, soakers, abutments and ventilation line up. You deal with us. You do not run three contractors yourself.
One envelope
Natural slate
Slate is still the covering that conservation officers and many London streets expect. We specify and coordinate natural slate as part of a full roof, including the metal and lead junctions that decide whether it stays dry.
Typical work includes Welsh and Spanish slates on pitched roofs, vertical hanging on cheeks and gables, and the meeting points with zinc, copper or lead. Fixing is specified to BS 5534: correct head laps, hooks or copper nails, grading by thickness, and weathering at valleys, ridges and abutments.
We do not buy anonymous pallet slate and hope. The slating team is chosen for the job. Metalico remains the contractor for the envelope. .
Clay and concrete tiles
Plain tiles and interlocking clay profiles are the vernacular of large parts of London, Kent and Sussex. Concrete and engineered interlocking tiles have a place on larger residential and commercial pitches where weight, frost resistance and cost have to be balanced.
We take tiling as part of the envelope: new pitches, refurbishment, tile-hung elevations and the dormer cheeks that sit against metal or lead. Battens, counter-battens, membranes and ventilation are set out with the metalwork so the roof reads as one construction, not two trades meeting in the rain.
Traditional leadwork
Lead is the junction metal on most heritage roofs in this city. Gutters, valleys, soakers, stepped flashings, dormer tops, hips, ridges and abutment coverings still have to be formed properly if slate or tile is to last.
We coordinate code correct leadwork with the slating, tiling and the hard metal package. Where a detail is better in coated steel, zinc or copper, we will say so. listed fabric and conservation advice come first, then the metal that will actually weather the junction.
This is not a cheap flashing add on. Poor lead is how mixed roofs fail. It is priced and programmed as part of the envelope, not left as a day-rate afterthought.
Full roofing envelope packages
The whole roof, under one contract
Architects and main contractors lose time when zinc, slate and lead are three separate packages with three programmes and three excuses at the abutment. Homeowners lose patience when nobody owns the valley.
Metalico will take the roofing envelope as a single package where that helps the job. Typical scope:
• Survey, substrate comment and build-up recommendation.
• Hard-metal roofing and cladding — zinc, copper, aluminium, Green Coat PLX, standing seam.
• Natural slate and clay or concrete tiling, including vertical hanging.
• Traditional leadwork at gutters, valleys, soakers, abutments and dormers.
• Carpentry and substrate coordination where the roof cannot be finished honestly without it.
• RAMS, programme, one point of contact, handover and workmanship warranty on the work we complete.