Roofers in Atworth

The barn at Church Farm has seven bays. A bay is the space between two principal frames, so a seven-bay barn is a long roof carried on a row of heavy timbers, with a lot of covering to hold on. Barns of that size share certain faults. The roof is long enough that a small movement at one end shows as a hollow at the other. The covering has often been repaired in sections over the years. And the building is frequently used for something it was never designed for, from storage to workshops to living space.

We start at the ridge and look along it from both ends. A dip suggests that a purlin, the horizontal timber that carries the rafters in the middle of the slope, has deflected, or that a joint in the main frame has shifted. We then work down the slope looking for rows of tiles that have lowered together, which tells us the battens beneath them have given way. In the loft we check whether the timbers are damp, because a barn roof that has leaked for a long time hides its damage in the wood.

Re-covering a barn roof is a bigger job than a house. It means scaffold along the full length, careful stripping to avoid dropping debris onto stored goods, and a plan for keeping the contents covered. We also take a view on whether the existing timbers can carry the new covering or need strengthening, and we raise it in the written scope. Should the new covering be markedly heavier than the old, Building Regulations call for a structural check first.

Pitched roofs of this size are covered under pitched roofing, and agricultural conversions that become homes or business premises can also fall under the commercial work described there.

Cottles House is a country house of the 1770s faced in limestone ashlar, which is stone cut into smooth, squared blocks and laid in fine joints. From 1939 it has been the home of Stonar School. Buildings of this kind raise a particular set of roofing questions, and many of them apply to any institutional or commercial property, such as a school, care home, hotel or office.

Ashlar walls are finely jointed, and water that runs down them stains and erodes the face. The gutter and the parapet that carry water away from the wall are therefore more than a convenience. The parapet gutter, which is a trough of sheet lead running behind the top of the wall, needs regular clearing and inspection, as it is the only exit for a large area of roof. If it blocks, it overflows into the wall, not outwards.

Timing is the other constraint. A school wants work in the long holiday and quiet afternoons, not in term time. A good scope sets out the stages, the zones that will be closed off and the day's debris plan. Noise, dust and falling material all need handling before a single tile is removed, and that applies equally to nurseries, surgeries and offices.

For roofs with a flat or low-pitched section, such as a link between two buildings, the work falls under commercial roofing. We survey, photograph the roof and give a fixed written price. Inspection reports can help a governing body or property manager with planning, and our survey provides that record.