Why you hardly see either one here
Natural slate is stone. It is heavy, and a roof structure has to be built for that weight from the start. Most houses in Citrus County were framed for asphalt shingle, which weighs a fraction of what slate does. Putting slate on a frame that was not designed for it means engineering, and often structural work, before a single tile goes down.
Cedar shake has a different problem. Wood in this climate stays damp. We have year-round humidity, afternoon storms and long periods where a north slope never fully dries. Cedar holds moisture, and where wood holds moisture you get rot, algae and insects. In a dry mountain climate shake behaves well. Here it is working against the weather every day.
There is also a labor problem. Both materials are installed differently from anything common in Florida, and the crews who do that work well are concentrated in regions where the material is normal. Finding someone local who has installed real slate repeatedly is hard, and a first attempt on your house is not what you want.
Slate is a structural question before it is a roofing question. The frame either carries it or it does not, and that is decided before anyone picks a color.
What synthetic slate actually is
Synthetic slate is not stone. It is molded polymer or composite, usually with mineral fill and UV inhibitors, pressed to look like split slate. Good products carry the texture and thickness variation convincingly from the ground. Cheap ones look like plastic shingles and do not fool anyone.
The reason it exists is weight. Synthetic slate is in the same range as a heavy architectural shingle, so it goes on a standard roof structure with no engineering. That single fact is why almost every slate-look roof in Florida is synthetic rather than real.
It also handles impact differently. Natural slate is brittle and cracks; synthetic has some flex. In a region where storm debris is routine, that is not a small difference. Walking a synthetic slate roof for a repair is also less hazardous to the roof itself, which matters because every roof gets walked eventually.
The honest limitation is that synthetic is a manufactured product with a manufacturer's warranty, and products vary widely. Some lines have a long track record and some are newer. If you are considering it, the specific product matters more than the category does.
How each one behaves in this climate
Natural slate, installed correctly on a structure built for it, is close to indifferent to UV and rain. Stone does not degrade the way asphalt does. Its weak points here are the same as every Florida roof: the flashing, the valleys and the fasteners. Slate also moves under wind in a way that loosens individual pieces, and a loose slate becomes a projectile.
Cedar shake in Florida needs active help. It wants ventilation beneath it so the underside can dry, it wants treatment against rot and insects, and it wants cleaning before algae and moss establish. Left alone on a shaded slope it will not do well. Shake is also a fire consideration in some situations, and treated versus untreated matters to that.
Synthetic slate sits between them. UV is the thing to watch, because the product is a polymer and color is in the material. Quality lines are formulated for it. Wind performance depends entirely on the nailing pattern the manufacturer specifies, which means installation discipline is the whole story.
None of the three fails across the middle of the roof. They fail at the details, exactly like everything else here.
What maintenance actually involves
Slate is low-maintenance on the field and high-attention at the details. The job is inspecting flashing and valleys, replacing cracked or slipped pieces individually, and keeping anyone who does not know slate off the roof. An individual slate replacement is fiddly work and needs the right hook and the right hand.
Cedar shake is the opposite. The field itself needs attention — cleaning, treatment, clearing debris out of the keyways so water does not sit. Skip a few years of that in this climate and the roof ages quickly. If you are not going to commit to it, choose something else.
Synthetic slate is close to an architectural shingle in upkeep. Inspect, keep the valleys clear, replace damaged pieces. The one caution is availability: if you need a matching piece in twelve years, you need the product still to be made. Ask for the exact product name and keep the paperwork.
We cannot tell you how many years any of these roofs will give you. That depends on the install, the slope, the exposure and the maintenance, and anyone who names a number without having seen the roof is guessing.
What we would tell you if you asked
If you want the look, synthetic slate is almost always the answer in Citrus County. It gets you the appearance without the structural engineering, it survives debris better, and it can be repaired by a roofer who has not spent years on slate.
If you specifically want real slate and your structure genuinely supports it, that is a legitimate choice and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right people for it. Being straight about the limits of our own experience is part of the job.
If you want cedar shake, we would ask you how you feel about maintaining it, because that is the whole decision. Shake on a Florida roof with an owner who maintains it is fine. Shake with an owner who expects to forget about it is a problem waiting.
And if a roof is being replaced, raise the construction details before the work rather than after — what goes on the deck, how it is fastened, whether a secondary water barrier is in the scope. Those are recorded on a wind mitigation form, which we do not perform or sign, but they are decided while the roof is open. What any of it does to your policy is between you and your carrier.