Natural Slate Supply & Specification for Architects & Builders
Premium Spanish slate supplied and specified for architects, builders and trade — samples, technical specification support and lead times you can programme around.
Request samples or specification support
Tell us the project, the stage and the slate you are considering. We will send samples and spec sheets.
- CUPA
- PIZARRAS Spanish slate
- Spec
- Technical support at design stage
- Firm
- Documented lead times
Product
Premium natural Spanish slate.
Quarried in Galicia — the international benchmark for roofing slate, and the material specified on prestige and heritage work worldwide.
- CUPA PIZARRAS provenance, documented
- Full range of grades, thicknesses, sizes and colour
- Technical data, tolerances and durability classification supplied
- Advice on the correct grade for pitch, exposure and architectural intent
Specification
Specified right at design stage.
Slate specified badly is corrected on site, at your cost. We would rather get it right on the drawing.
- Samples sent for selection and client presentation
- Spec sheets and technical documentation for your package
- Guidance on fixing, underlay, ventilation and detailing
- CPD-style briefings for practices specifying slate regularly
Supply
Lead times you can build a programme around.
Because we source directly rather than through a third party, we can give a firm date at quotation and hold it.
On a programmed build, the material arriving when it was promised is usually worth more than the material being marginally cheaper. That is the part of this we take most seriously.
Resources
Specify it properly.
Everything you need to get slate right on the drawing rather than corrected on site.
PDF · Specification
Slate selection guide
Grades, thicknesses, sizes and colour across the CUPA PIZARRAS range, with guidance on matching slate to pitch and exposure.
Coming soon
PDF · Technical
Technical specification sheet
Durability classification, tolerances, fixing detail, underlay and ventilation requirements — written to drop straight into your specification package.
Coming soon
Beyond Victoria
National supply.
We are positioned to expand natural slate distribution beyond Victoria. If you are specifying slate interstate, talk to us.
Specification
Choosing the grade before you draw it.
Thickness and grade are the two decisions that set both the cost and the service life. They are also the two most often left to the builder to guess at.
First-grade, 5–6mm
Where it belongsTypical application
Prestige new build and heritage replacement on sheltered pitches
What to expectService life and cost
100 years plus; the usual specification for prestige work
First-grade, 7–8mm
Where it belongsTypical application
Exposed coastal and elevated sites, steep pitches, high wind
What to expectService life and cost
100 years plus; heavier, so confirm structural loading
Consistent blue-black
Where it belongsTypical application
Where minimal colour variation is specified across the roof
What to expectService life and cost
Premium tier; the usual choice on architect-led work
CUPA graded ranges
Where it belongsTypical application
General prestige residential across Melbourne and the Peninsula
What to expectService life and cost
Graded and certified; range of tones and thicknesses
Salvaged / reclaimed
Where it belongsTypical application
Heritage overlay work where new stone would read as a patch
What to expectService life and cost
Availability-led — specify early or not at all
Below first-grade
Where it belongsTypical application
Not supplied — carbonate inclusions cause early delamination
What to expectService life and cost
The saving is recovered in repairs inside 20 years
Slate is a natural product and every quarry run varies. Nothing here replaces a physical sample — which is what we would rather put in your hand before you specify it.
Detailing
The details that decide whether the roof lasts.
A hundred-year slate can be undone by a twenty-year fixing. On a slate roof the ancillaries have to be specified to the same standard as the stone.
Most premature slate failure we are called to is not the slate. It is a fixing, a lining or a lap that was specified to a shorter life than the material it was holding up, and the roof came apart around a perfectly good covering.
- Copper or silicon-bronze nails — galvanised will not see out the slate
- Lead or a comparable long-life lining to valleys, soakers and abutments
- Head lap set to the pitch and exposure, not to a standard detail
- Sarking and ventilation designed to move condensation out of the batten space
- Battens graded and sized for the slate weight and the rafter spacing
- Structural check where 7–8mm slate is specified over a lighter design
Common questions
Trade questions, answered.
Can you supply slate without installing it?
Yes. We supply premium Spanish slate to architects, builders and trade as a standalone service, with specification support, samples and documented lead times.
Can you help specify slate for a project?
Yes. We advise on grade, thickness, size, colour and fixing detail, and provide spec sheets and samples so the material is specified correctly at design stage rather than corrected on site.
What slate do you carry?
Premium natural Spanish slate from the CUPA PIZARRAS quarries in Galicia. We can advise on the appropriate grade for the exposure, pitch and architectural intent of the project.
What are your lead times?
Lead times depend on grade and quantity. Because we source directly rather than through a third party, we can give a firm date at quotation stage and hold it — which is usually the difference that matters on a programmed build.
Related
Other specialist work.
Have a project to price?
Send us your plans.
Heritage restoration, a new slate roof or an architect-specified build — send the plans or the roofing specification and you'll get a straight, specialist answer.
Specialist slate & tile roofing since 1982.
Prestige Slate & Tile Roofing Specialists — Since 1982