Slate, cedar and copper roofs in Kingston, New York
Rondout Slate & Cedar is eight people and one slater. Thelma Dandridge owns the firm and goes up on every estimate. We repair old slate and cedar first, match it where it can't be saved, and replace only what the roof can no longer carry.
Thelma Dandridge
Owner and slater
Repair first
Slate rarely fails all at once. The nails rust, a few slates slip or crack, a valley leaks, and the rest of the roof is still sound. On every visit Thelma counts the loose, cracked and sound slates and photographs each slope. If a repair will do, the written estimate is for the repair.
Photos of every slope, shown to you before we talk about price
A count of loose, cracked and sound slates
Your own salvaged slate first, matched slate second
A replacement estimate only when the nails, the framing or the slate says so
Thelma Dandridge
Owner and slater
Slate by origin
Old slate roofs in the Hudson Valley come mostly from five places. This is the general guide we start from. We match by the slate itself, held in the hand, not by name.
| Where we see it | Color and character | |
|---|---|---|
| Vermont and eastern New York | Where we see itHouses from the 1800s and early 1900s up and down the valley. The nearest source, and the one we reach for first. | Color and characterGray, green, purple and mottled. Some colors hold; others weather toward a duller gray or brown over the decades. |
| Lehigh and Northampton counties, Pennsylvania | Where we see itChurches, schools and larger houses from the late 1800s into the mid-1900s. | Color and characterBlue-black to dark gray, fairly even, with a smooth face. |
| Peach Bottom, Pennsylvania and Maryland | Where we see itFine houses and institutions. Rare now, so we match it from salvage. | Color and characterDeep blue-black, hard and dense. |
| Buckingham County, Virginia | Where we see itNewer slate roofs, and replacements matched to older black slate. | Color and characterDark blue-black with a fine, even grain. |
| Wales and Spain | Where we see itImported slate on newer roofs. We use it only where a sample from your roof says it matches. | Color and characterWelsh slate is blue-gray, thin and very uniform. Spanish slate is dark gray and widely sold today. |
Weight and framing
A square of slate, which is 100 square feet, weighs roughly 800 to 1,500 pounds depending on thickness. Many old roofs were framed for it. Some have since been cut for a stair or a bath, or have sagged with age. Before we quote, Thelma goes into the attic and looks at the rafters, the collar ties and the decking.
Rafters checked for sag, rot and old cuts
Collar ties and purlins added where the span needs them
Sheathing replaced where it will not hold a nail
Reinforcement written as its own line in the estimate
800–1,500 lb
per square of slate, by thickness100 sq ft
is one square
How we quote
The price depends on the roof, the slate and what the attic shows. Here is how a quote reads for two kinds of job.
A leak at one valley and slipped slates on a single slope, reached from a roof ladder.
Example scope. Your quote lists your own roof.
A steep two-story house with dormers, scaffold included. The framing line comes from the attic visit.
Decking beyond the allowance, chimney masonry and built-in gutters are quoted separately.
Your quote lists your own roof, line by line, and is in writing before work starts.
What moves the number
Quarry, grade, thickness and size. Salvaged slate from your own roof costs less than new slate, but sorting it takes time.
Squares of roof, how steep it is, and how many dormers, hips and valleys cut it up.
Scaffold, a lift, or a tight lot on a narrow village street all add days.
From collar ties to new rafters. The biggest unknown until the attic is open.
Copper valleys, flashings, ridge and built-in gutters, which many old houses have.
A historic district may ask for samples, photos and time before work starts.
Roofs like ours
The kinds of roofs we repair and lay, from slate mansards to cedar gambrels.
Showing 9 of 9
Sample photos.
Who is on your roof
Four more crew work on the roofs. These are the people you will talk to.
Lays slate and goes up on every estimate. Cuts and punches slate by hand for the odd shapes in an old roof.
Foreman, cedar and copper
Runs the crew day to day. Splits and fits cedar, and forms copper valleys and flashings in the shop.
Slater's apprentice
Learning slate on the roof and in the yard: sorting salvage, punching nail holes, laying courses.
Office and scheduling
Books visits, sends the written estimates, and handles permit and review-board paperwork.
From homeowners
“Thelma counted the bad slates on the roof and showed me a photo of each one. It was a repair, not the new roof two other roofers wrote up.”
“They matched the old shingle width on the porch roof. You have to look to find the new courses.”
“The estimate had the framing as its own line. When Mariusz opened the attic, the number was the one we had been given.”
Sample reviews.
Service area
Most of our work is in Ulster County and across the river in Dutchess, Greene and Columbia. We drive further for a roof that is worth the trip.
We don't take jobs south of Poughkeepsie or east of the Taconic State Parkway, and we don't do flat or commercial roofs.
ZIP codes: 12401, 12428, 12446, 12477, 12498, 12561, 12572
Contact
Tell us what the roof is made of and where it leaks. Thelma or Katya calls you back to set a day.