You obviously want the answer for your roof to be no but we have seen many cases recently where the answer is yes. The determining factor, not surprisingly, is the quality of the slate.

Melbourne has experienced some very intense and damaging hail storms in recent years. Quite a large number of older and softer slate tiles did not fare well in these storms. Damage ranged from only a few perforated or snapped tiles to a need for complete replacement of the entire roof, and everything in between.

There were some instances we inspected where the roofs were relatively new but poor quality tiles were used and the damage was considerable, requiring complete replacement of the roof. Overall though, roofs with concrete or terracotta seemed to sustain more damage than slate roofs did.

There is definitely good news for everyone choosing good quality slate for their roofing. ALL of the roofs we inspected that had good quality slate, both new and old roofs, were completely unfazed. They were undamaged, water tight, and worry free. You could easily say this makes a strong case for choosing good quality slate roofing installed by master slaters.