A Mendip village of grey limestone cottages with clay tile roofs

Roofers in Cheddar

Cheddar lies 26.1 road miles west of Bath, at the foot of the gorge that gives it its name. Our work here ranges from gutters that must cope with water running off the hills to 17th-century cottage roofs and the tall buildings around St Andrew's, and the repair is matched to what was built.

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Local roofs

A village under the gorge, with a flood in its memory

Cheddar Gorge, on the village's northern edge, is the largest gorge in the United Kingdom. It is easy to treat the gorge as scenery, but for a roofer it is a fact about water and wind. Rain that falls on the hills above has to go somewhere, and in 1968 it went down the gorge in a flood that carried large boulders with it, swept away cars and damaged the cafe and the entrance to Gough's Cave.

The village itself is full of old buildings. The Church of St Andrew is Grade I listed, dates from the 14th century, was restored by William Butterfield in 1873 and has a tower rising to 100 feet. In Bath Street stands the 15th-century market cross, Grade II* listed, whose shelter was rebuilt in 1834 and which was put right by 2002 after serious damage in a traffic accident in January 2000. Hannah More's first school was in a 17th-century house that is now the Grade II listed Hannah More's Cottage.

Limestone is still being taken out of the Mendip countryside near here, from the active Batts Combe and Callow Rock quarries. Batts Combe sells its stone as aggregate, so stone for a repair on an old house is matched to the building, not assumed to come from the nearest quarry.

Roofs in a village like this vary a great deal, so we do not guess at the covering; we look. If your house is on the statutory list, or shares a wall with one that is, Somerset Council may have to agree some of the work, and the effect on the repair is explained before any price is fixed.

Council: Somerset Council
From central Bath: 26.1 road miles, west
Church of St Andrew: Grade I listed, 14th century, restored 1873
Market cross, Bath Street: Grade II* listed, 15th century
Hannah More's Cottage: Grade II listed, 17th century

What we find

Gorge water, cottage timbers and shaded moss

Water from the gorge and the gutters that carry it

The 1968 flood is a measure of what the hills can send down, and a gutter is the first thing it meets.

On the night of the 1968 flood, water came down Cheddar Gorge hard enough to move large boulders and sweep away cars. A roof gutter is a very small channel by comparison, but the same rule applies: what falls on the high ground reaches the village fast, and the drains must take it. A roof does not need a flood to be overwhelmed. A summer storm lasting an hour can fill a gutter that has a few leaves in it.

The size and slope of a gutter decide how much it can carry. A run laid with too little fall holds water at the flat end and spills at the first joint. A run with brackets spaced too widely sags between them. Older cast-iron gutters corrode from the underside, where the damage is not visible, and plastic ones go brittle in sunlight and crack at the bracket. Downpipes then block, and a blocked pipe lets the overflow run straight down a wall that is already damp.

We trace each run from the high point to the ground. We test the joints with water, check the fall with a level and look at where each pipe ends. Water should leave the building by a gully, drain or soakaway, not simply at the foot of a wall. The fascia and soffit, the boards that close the eaves, go the same way as the gutter: a gutter that has leaked for years will have rotted the fascia behind it.

Where a gutter is past mending, we replace it with a profile and material that match the house. Replacement options for all three are described on the gutters, soffits and fascias service page.

Cottages from Hannah More's time and earlier

A 17th-century roof frame has moved with the house for four hundred years, and a repair must allow for that.

Hannah More's Cottage is a Grade II listed house of the 17th century. A house that old has a roof frame that has been altered, propped, patched and loaded over the years. Rafters may be hand-cut and uneven. The ridge may undulate. The covering may have been replaced two or three times, and not always with the right pitch or weight in mind.

Because of this, a repair begins with the frame. Before re-covering, we look at the timbers from inside the loft: signs of rot at the wall plate, where the rafters sit on the wall; beetle damage in the softwood; a sag where one rafter has given way. The covering sits on that frame, and a heavy new covering on a weak frame causes more harm than good. If a replacement covering would weigh noticeably more than the old one, Building Regulations bring in a structural check, and we raise that early.

Matching the covering matters as much. Swapping to a different material on a protected house is an alteration, and Somerset Council grants listed building consent for it under its own procedure. Like-for-like repair is generally the smaller question. Whichever applies, we describe the covering, fixings and lead details in writing so that you and the council are working from the same document.

Underlay is often missing on very old roofs, and adding it needs thought, since the loft must be able to breathe. Repairs to older roofs in general are covered under roof repairs.

Myth

A sagging ridge on an old cottage means the whole roof must be rebuilt.

Fact

Timber that has settled over centuries can often be left alone or strengthened locally, and the covering may be sound; the survey tells you which.

Working at height near St Andrew's and the market cross

A tower of 100 feet and a listed market cross set the terms for access.

St Andrew's tower rises to 100 feet, and the church was restored by William Butterfield in 1873. Buildings that tall, and the older terraces and shops that cluster near them, make access the first practical question. Scaffold has to go up on pavements and lanes that were laid out long before vehicles were considered, and the footpath must stay open or be closed properly.

Lead is the usual metal on towers, parapets and the flat sections of old roofs. It is laid in sheets over a timber deck, jointed with rolls and drips (small steps that let water run on to the next sheet), and dressed up walls as flashing. A split in the lead at a joint or drip is a typical cause of a stain on a ceiling below. The thickness of lead, called its code, is chosen to suit the exposure and the length of the run; the code is picked for each job from the exposure and the sheet length, never assumed. Where lead has been stolen or has cracked from fatigue, replacement is the only sound answer.

The same attention applies to buildings near the 15th-century market cross in Bath Street. The cross is Grade II* listed, and a scheduled monument, so the setting around it matters to the council. Any alteration to a visible roof slope or chimney there is worth discussing with Somerset Council before a price is agreed.

Roofs of this kind involve more than one trade, and we plan the order of work: scaffold, strip, repair the timber, lay the lead, re-cover. A short summary of how we lay out the stages appears on our lead roofing page.

Access on tall or tight sites

Question	Why it matters
Where can scaffold stand?	Pavements and lanes may need closing or licensing
Is the building listed?	Consent may be needed before the covering changes
Can materials be lifted safely?	Narrow streets limit deliveries and skips
Who owns the gutter or wall?	Shared elements need agreement from neighbours

Limestone country: moss, shade and local stone

With Mendip quarries still working nearby, this is limestone country, and the roofs in it gather growth.

The active quarries at Batts Combe and Callow Rock take limestone out of the hills around Cheddar to this day. Batts Combe sells its stone as aggregate, not as building blocks. When a stone coping on a gable has cracked or a cap on a stack has fallen, we match the replacement to the stone already in the wall, which is a matter of finding the right supplier.

The same hills shade many roofs. Slopes facing away from the sun, houses under trees and roofs that sit against the rising ground stay damp for longer, and moss and algae follow. A thin film does little harm. Thick moss holds water against the tile, lifts the edges and blocks the gutters below as it dries and falls. We look at how bad the growth is, which side of the house it covers and what is underneath it.

Cleaning needs care. The force of a pressure washer can ruin soft or old tiles, as cost guides warn. A low-pressure soft wash with a biocide suits many coverings better, and a few tiles are best left alone. We say whether a roof is a good candidate before suggesting a method. If the tiles are weathered through, cleaning only hides the problem and the answer is repair or replacement.

The aim is a roof that sheds water and stays light enough to dry out between showers. Details on method and when it is worthwhile are on our roof cleaning page.

Clean or replace

Clean a mossy roof only if the covering underneath is sound, because cleaning a worn roof removes the growth and exposes the wear.

Nearby

Roofers near Cheddar

Roofing services in Cheddar

Local questions

Wondering about gorge run-off in Cheddar

With the gorge so close, are my gutters likely to be too small?

Not necessarily too small, but they may be laid or supported badly for sudden runoff. The 1968 flood showed what the hills can send down in a short space of time. We check the size, the fall and the bracket spacing of each run, test the joints, and make sure the downpipes finish at a drain or soakaway away from the walls. Sometimes a gutter only needs re-fixing and clearing, and sometimes it needs replacing.

My cottage is Grade II listed. Can you re-cover it like for like?

Yes, in principle. We set out the work in a written scope that you can pass to the council. Consent for a listed house comes from Somerset Council through its own route, and the question should go to them before work begins. A repair that keeps the covering, pitch, fixings and lead details unchanged is generally a smaller question than a change of material, but it is the council's decision, not ours.

The moss on my north-facing roof is thick. Should it be cleaned or should the roof be replaced?

That depends on what is under the moss. We look at the tiles for cracks, softening and lifting edges. Where the covering is sound, a light clean with a treatment afterwards may be all it needs. If it has worn through, cleaning will not help, and a repair or replacement is the honest answer. Because strong jets can harm fragile tiles, the method is matched to the roof.

Is lead still a sensible choice for a church-tower or parapet roof?

On tall or exposed old buildings, yes. Lead lasts well, can be dressed to awkward shapes and suits traditional details such as rolls and drips. The thickness (its code) should be chosen for the exposure and the length of each sheet, not by habit. We specify it in the written quote after the survey, along with the fixings and the flashing details.

Get your free survey

Get your free roof survey

Tell us what's happening and we'll call you back to arrange a visit. Prefer to talk? Call 01225 285181.

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