Roofers in Beckington

A cottage built around 1720 has now lived through roughly three centuries of weather and at least a couple of re-coverings. Whatever is on top today, the roof is a composite of eras: the original rafters, later battens (the cross-timbers each slate or tile hangs from), and a covering that may be fifty years old or a hundred and fifty. Our survey treats it that way. We go through the loft first, because that is where the history is visible.

Up in the roof space, the first thing to check is where each rafter ends on the wall plate (the timber that lies on top of the wall and takes the rafter ends), since a leaking gutter can rot the last metre of timber without a sign downstairs. A sagging ridge, a bowed purlin or a leaning collar all tell us something, as do chinks of daylight, tide marks and rusted nail tips poking through from above. A stain around a chimney or a valley points to a particular fault, whereas damp patches scattered across a whole slope suggest that the underlay has simply worn out.

Underlay is the waterproof sheet pinned over the rafters, and any rain that gets past the slates runs down it into the gutter. Many cottages of this age have none, or a thin bitumen felt that has hardened and split. Where the covering is sound, we can sometimes lift it course by course, fit new underlay and battens, and put the same slates or tiles back. Where it is not, we match the replacement to the neighbouring roofs so that the row still reads as a row.

Repair is the right answer more often than people expect, provided the frame is sound. A few slipped slates, a cracked hip tile or a failed flashing do not call for a new roof. Our roof repairs page describes how we separate a repair from a replacement, and the larger jobs, where the whole slope is stripped, sit under pitched roofing.

Weight is worth a word. Pick a covering that weighs 15% or more over what it replaces and Building Regulations apply, structural check included, which an old cottage frame may not pass. You should hear about that at the survey, not once the roof is open.

The Wool Hall dates from the 16th century and was substantially restored in the 19th. Whatever you think of the details, that history is useful to anyone with a roof nearby, because it describes how many older village buildings actually exist: an original frame, a Victorian restoration and, usually, a few more recent repairs layered on top. Each period used its own materials and its own methods, and where they meet is where roofs leak.

The junctions are the places to look. Where a Victorian addition abuts an older wall, there is a flashing, and its quality depends on the groove cut into the wall and the pointing that locks it there. Where two roofs meet at a valley, lead or a lined channel carries the water of both slopes. Where a parapet or gable wall rises above the roof, a gutter or tray sits behind it. That hidden trough is what people call a parapet gutter.

Those details wear out at different rates from the covering. We meet roofs where the slates are sound and the leadwork around them has failed, because the lead is in a harder-working position. That is a lead repair, not a re-roof, and the price reflects it. Our lead roofing page sets out how the work is done, including the drips, rolls and laps that let sheet lead move with the temperature.

When we survey a building of mixed age, we write down what belongs to which period. That helps with consent where it applies, and it helps you decide what to do first. A leak at a valley takes priority over a tired ridge. A rotting gutter board takes priority over both if the water is running into the wall.

We prioritise leaks and make a leaking roof safe first. After that, the repair is planned and priced from the survey, so you can pick out what cannot wait and what can.