How Much Does It Cost to Remove a Slate Roof?

The weight of slate roofs makes them expensive to remove. The great news about replacing a slate roof is that you get a new roof, which could mean giving your home a new look or fixing a leak. The bad news is that removing a slate roof is more expensive than removing most other types of roofs. How much it costs will vary by region and season. However, it is possible to get an idea of how much it costs compared to more standard composite roof types.

Basic Process

The process of removing a slate roof is similar to removing any type of roof. You’ll need to pull the shingles off the roof, ship those shingles off your home and dispose of them legally. Each of these stages requires different resources—and involves its own costs.

Labor

Slate is slippery and more difficult to safely remove from a roof than other materials—so much so that not all roofing companies are willing to use it. This means longer demolition times and higher hourly costs than removing a standard composite roof. You can minimize labor costs by purchasing a package deal for your new roof installation. Companies often offer removal as part of a new roof installation—and often don’t differentiate between roof types when quoting removal services.

Transportation

One of the biggest tasks when removing a roof is moving a surprising amount of material from your home to a disposal site. You can do this by dumping the shingles into a truck or dumpster and driving away. Slate shingles are heavier than other types of shingles, so much so that switching to slate requires many homes to reinforce roof supports. That means more shipping costs because you need a heavy truck or more trips, either of which require more heavy-weight gasoline. You can cut those costs by ordering a bin service that charges by volume rather than weight—slate shingles are the same size as composite shingles, and they’re smaller than most wood shingles.

Deal with

All those slates have to go somewhere, and that place may charge you for the privilege of leaving them. You should contact your local waste disposal facility or municipal dump to find out what they charge for construction waste. As with shipping, you can minimize these costs by arranging volume-based waste collection. This will make the disposal costs about the same as when removing a composite shingle roof.

For a small residential roof, the cost to strip and dispose of the existing slate tiles may range from $5,000 to $10,000.
For a larger commercial or institutional roof, the cost to strip and dispose of the slate tiles can be significantly higher, ranging from $20,000 to $50,000 or more.
It is important to note that these are estimated costs and the actual cost may vary depending on several factors such as the accessibility of the roof, the condition of the roof and the complexity of the stripping process.

It is important to consider the cost of replacing the slate tiles after they have been stripped. The cost of slate tiles can vary depending on the quality and source of the slate, as well as the size and thickness of the tiles. The cost of replacing the slate tiles should be factored into the total cost of the project.