Slatetec.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: COLORADO COOL STUFF

Longtime roofer Mike McDonough first installed a SlateTec-style roof in 2000, then found the manufacturer went out of business a few years later. A decade later, he located the banker who owned the patent and bought it, relaunching the product last year.

SlateTec roofs are real slate roofs designed to be installed as a replacement. SlateTec roofing materials are 40 percent lighter than traditional slate, so no extra reinforcement is needed, but they look just as good, McDonough says.

"If you put a traditional roof on the left and a SlateTec...