Took the old slate roof vs new synthetic. Picked the expensive one.

My house in Albany from 1920. Had to decide on a new roof 2 years back. Slate was $18k more. But the synthetic stuff just felt wrong on a house that old. Neighbor said I was nuts. 2 winters later. No cracks. No leaks. The synthetic roofs on the new builds down the street are already showing wear. Did I make the right call or just overpay for nostalgia?

3 comments

3 Comments

mark_chen623h agoTop Commenter

100%. My neighbor went with synthetic on his 1925 colonial and it started curling at the edges in 3 years. Slate is heavy and expensive but it's paid for once.

val_shah7h ago

Picked the expensive one" - that's the part that got me. It's like how I see people buying cheap tools at the hardware store then replacing them twice in a year, while my dad's old Craftsman stuff from the 80s still works fine. We've all gotten so used to paying less now and more later that doing it the other way feels like a mistake. Same with cars, same with shoes, same with everything. Your roof will probably outlast you, and those synthetic ones will be someone else's problem in ten years.

mark_green1h ago

Does it feel like we're training ourselves to accept that things are supposed to break? I see it everywhere, not just with tools and roofs. My neighbor bought a cheap grill two years in a row because the rust got so bad, and he just shrugged it off like that was normal. Meanwhile, my Weber from a decade ago still works after I replaced one knob. We live in a world where everything is designed to be temporary now, from phones that can't have their batteries swapped to furniture that's basically cardboard inside. It's like we're all just paying rent on our stuff instead of actually owning it. Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather buy something once and be done with it, even if it hurts my wallet upfront.