Chinese slate is the value end of the natural slate market, and the reputation it carries in the UK comes from the wide gap between good Chinese quarries and poor ones. We supply two, both tested to BS EN 12326 and both traceable back to the pallet they arrived on.
Our Chinese roofing slate is sourced from China and supplied in blue grey and dark grey. It has a smooth, very fine grain surface with slight tonal variation, is tested to BS EN 12326 and offers a well priced natural slate for domestic and commercial roofs.
Glendale Blue/Grey is a strong, durable Chinese slate sourced from the Shaanxi province. Produced by the Zhenping Prosper Slate Quarry. Tested at stringent N. Wales laboratories with excellent results. Smooth very fine grain surface with slight tonal variations visible in direct sunlight.
Our Chinese Roofing Slate comes in blue grey and dark grey with a smooth, very fine grain surface and slight tonal variation. It is tested to BS EN 12326 and offered in 600x300mm, 500x300mm, 500x250mm and 400x250mm at thicknesses of 5/6mm, 6/7mm and 8/9mm.
Glendale Blue/Grey comes from the Shaanxi province, produced by the Zhenping Prosper Slate Quarry, and has been tested at North Wales laboratories with excellent results. It is a best-grade selection from a single quarry source, rated BS EN 12326 W1 T1 S1, in the same four sizes and three thicknesses.
The problem with Chinese slate has never been the country; it is that material from several quarries of very different quality can end up mixed on the same order. Glendale answers that by coming from one named quarry, and both slates ship with pallet code traceability so a batch can be identified after the event.
That matters most on a large roof laid in phases, or on a project where a later repair has to match. Keep a note of the pallet codes when the delivery arrives — it is the simplest way to make sure a top-up order lands in the same tonal range.
Both slates have a very fine grain and a smooth face, so the roof reads flatter and more uniform than a heavily textured slate. Slight tonal variation shows in direct sunlight, particularly on Glendale, which is worth knowing before it goes on a south-facing elevation. Mixing from several pallets as you lay spreads that variation evenly instead of banding it.
For a domestic reroof or a commercial roof where budget is the deciding factor, a tested Chinese slate from a known quarry is a sound specification. Where the roof sits in a Conservation Area or has to match a specific historic slate, talk to us about the Welsh and Cumbrian options instead.
