Question answered
What is a slate tingle?
The short answer
A slate tingle is a slim tab of lead or copper, nailed to the batten under a slate and folded up over its lower edge, so the slate hangs from the strip instead of from its own failed nail. It suits the odd slipped slate on a roof in sound condition elsewhere. A run of slipped slates needs the cause found first.
A tingle is a small, hidden strip of metal that pins a loose slate back into its course. Done well it is a tidy, long-lasting repair. Used on the wrong roof, it only postpones the bigger job.
How a tingle holds a slipped slate
Every slate on a pitched roof is held by a fixing near its top edge, nailed through a hole to the timber batten beneath. When that fixing lets go, the slate sags downwards until the next course holds it, leaving a gap above and a slate supported by nothing.
A tingle replaces the failed fixing without stripping the roof. The roofer slides the slate back up into position, then pushes a thin strip of metal up under the course above and nails its top end to the batten. The free end is folded across the lower lip of the slate, so the slate sits on the strip. The bend is small and sits in the shadow of the course below.
Done neatly, the tingle is hard to spot from the ground. It does not need the slates around it to be lifted, which is why it suits a roof where only a few have moved. Our page on slipped slates covers how to tell which ones have gone.
Lead or copper for the strip
Both metals are used, and either can do the job. Lead is soft and easy to bend tight over the edge of a slate without cracking, so many roofers keep a roll in the van for exactly this. Copper is stiffer and holds a sharper fold, and some prefer it where a darker, weathered look is wanted against the slate.
Lead sheet is sold by code, which is a grade of thickness. Leadworx lists code 3 at 1.32 mm for soakers and light duty, and puts code 4, at 1.80 mm, forward as the usual pick for ordinary flashings. A tingle is a modest strip rather than a flashing, but the principle holds: a thin, soft strip bends easily and a thicker one stays put under the weight of the slate. The choice is made on site, against the size and weight of the slate being held.
Whichever metal is used, the strip should be cut clean and nailed firmly. A strip that is too short, or fixed to the batten with one weak nail, simply moves the failure along.
When a tingle is the right repair
A tingle makes sense where one slate or a handful have slipped while the surrounding slates are holding firm. A typical case is a single slate knocked loose by a branch, a tradesman's ladder or a hard gale, with the neighbouring fixings still firm and the batten solid beneath.
It also helps on an older roof where a particular slate is worth keeping. On a Victorian terrace, for example, the old slates are part of what the street looks like, and a neat tingle lets us hold one in place rather than swap it. Our guide to Victorian slate roofs explains why that matters on older houses.
The repair is quick and needs little disturbance, so it usually costs far less than re-slating. Once we have surveyed, the quote is written down as a single figure, covering the lightest repair that will hold.
When slipped slates point to something bigger
One slipped slate is an incident. Several, spread across a slope, are a pattern. If fixings are going all over a slope, tingles become a string of small repairs, each one holding a slate that will be followed by another. The usual cause is corroding fixings, covered in our guide to nail sickness.
Pitch matters as well. A slate laid below the lowest slope its headlap allows can let water creep under the overlap and rot the batten, and a rotten batten will not hold a nail or a tingle. The limits are set out under the minimum pitch for slate.
When we find a pattern, we tell you plainly on the drive, show you the photographs, and explain whether a section needs re-slating. Piling tingles on a failing roof is not the right job, even though it is the cheaper one on the day.
What we check before fitting one
We start in the loft where we can, looking for daylight, damp batten ends and fallen nail heads on the insulation or the ceiling below. We then look at the slope from a ladder or scaffold, noting how many slates have dropped, how the rest sit, and whether the slate that slipped is cracked or flaking, because a damaged slate wants replacing, not holding.
A tingle is only as good as the batten behind it, so we test that the timber is sound. The headlap matters too. That is the cover each slate gives the course below, and a slate hanging on a strip with too little of it will still let rain in during a gale.
If the repair is sound, the strip goes in, the slate is bedded back into its course, and the surrounding slates are checked for movement. Photographs of your own roof go with the quote, showing the fault and the finished repair. The wider work is described on our slate roofing page.
Tingle repairs, answered
Will a tingle show from the ground?
Rarely. The strip is tucked under the course above and folded over a narrow edge, so what you see is a small dark line along the foot of one slate, mostly hidden by the course below. A badly cut or oversized strip can show, which is one reason the fit matters.
Is a tingle a permanent fix?
It can be a long-lasting one where the metal is sound and the batten behind it is healthy. It does not cure whatever made the original fixing fail, so we look at the cause before deciding the repair will hold.
Tell us about your roof
Describe what is happening and we will call you back to arrange a visit.
- Photographs of what we find
- A written quote with one total price
- Or call 01903 299063
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