Contributors
Write for Slate Lane
We accept a limited number of guest articles from people who work on or live with old houses. The test is simple: would an owner standing in a damp hallway find this useful?
Topics we want
- Traditional trades explained from the inside: lime work, joinery, leadwork, slating, stone repair
- Diagnosing a specific defect in solid walls, floors, chimneys or roof timbers
- Energy upgrades that respect how old buildings handle moisture
- Practical experience of consents: what to prepare, what officers ask for
- Regional building traditions and materials in Britain
- Writing up a single repair in honest detail, including what went wrong
What we will decline
- Sales pieces, and "top ten" lists for a product or company
- Damp-proofing, spray foam or roof coating promotion without independent evidence
- Content written for search engines, spun, or generated without real expert review
- Anything on gambling, adult services, pharmaceuticals or crypto, or links to them
- Unsupported claims about costs, savings or energy figures
Length and form
Between 900 and 1,500 words in British English. Answer the question early. Link to one to three authoritative sources, such as SPAB, GOV.UK or a professional body, and make sure they open. Photographs must be your own or properly licensed, and we need to know which. A rough sketch for a diagram is welcome.
Original work and disclosure
Your article must be your own, unpublished elsewhere, and accurate. If you or your employer has a commercial interest in anything mentioned, say so in your pitch, and we will state it on the page. Any link that exists because of a commercial arrangement is disclosed and marked. We edit for clarity and accuracy, may ask for evidence, and can decline at any stage.
How to pitch
Email [email protected] with a working title, a short outline, your experience of the subject and any commercial interest. Please do not send a finished article first. We reply when we can use the idea.