A Mendip village of grey limestone cottages with clay tile roofs

Roofers in Castle Cary

Castle Cary sits 25.7 road miles south of Bath, at the foot of Lodge Hill beside the River Cary. We work on its stone-walled town centre, its old mill buildings and the newer housing that has spread north, and every repair is chosen to suit the roof it joins.

Get a free survey Call 01225 285181

Local roofs

A town of local stone, a lock-up with a domed roof and a mill on the risk register

Castle Cary was built from what lay under it. The town's second castle, begun around 1250, was put up in Cary stone, which suggests the Hadspen Quarry was already working then. When the earlier castle was slighted, its stones were taken for other buildings in the town. The roundhouse lock-up of 1779, which cost £23, is a circular stone cell seven feet across and ten feet high, with a domed roof. The Market House of 1855, designed by Francis Penrose to replace a building that had stood there since 1616, is Grade II* listed. So is All Saints' Church, dated to 1470 and known for its high steeple.

The town lies at the foot of Lodge Hill on the River Cary. The centre has changed little in recent years, while the new building has gone north. Between them they give two different kinds of roof: old ones whose walls are thick stone and whose junctions are the weak points, and new ones whose faults are those of a recent build.

At Higher Flax Mills, the Top Mill Building is a 19th-century Grade II* structure on the Heritage at Risk Register. A roof that big, over a building that old, is a good reminder of what neglect does to a covering and the gutters that serve it.

If your roof is on a listed or neighbouring property, Somerset Council may need to agree some of the work. We say at the survey which parts of the job that touches, and we put the details of the repair in writing.

Council: Somerset Council
From central Bath: 25.7 road miles, south
Market House: Grade II* listed, built 1855
All Saints' Church: Grade II* listed, dated 1470
Top Mill Building: Grade II* listed, on the Heritage at Risk Register

What we find

Cary stone joints and town-centre valleys

Cary stone walls and what the roof does against them

Cary stone from the Hadspen Quarry was in use by about 1250; the joints between stone and roof wear out far sooner.

A masonry wall can last far longer than any roof covering laid against it, and in Castle Cary the walls are a long-lived part of the story. The castle begun around 1250 suggests that quarrying here is old. Whatever the exact stone in a given house, the principle holds: thick stone walls shed water slowly, and the roof edge that meets them is where leaks begin.

Three junctions matter most. The first is the abutment, where a roof slope stops against a higher wall. The second is the chimney, where brick or stone rises out of the slates or tiles. The third is the parapet, a short wall built up above the eaves line. Behind it runs a box gutter, a lined trough between wall and slope that gathers the water and passes it to a downpipe. All three depend on flashing, which is sheet lead pushed into a groove in the wall and folded down over the covering. The lead has to be set into a raked-out joint and sealed, not simply stuck on with mastic.

Mortar is the second half. Stone laid in lime moves a little and lets damp out; modern cement is hard and keeps it in. Where earlier repointing used cement, the stone beside it can decay, and a new flashing set into a cement joint has a short life. We repoint the chase in lime wherever the wall calls for it.

Where lead is the right answer, our lead roofing page explains how sheet, flashing and gutter linings are made and fixed, and what to expect at each stage.

Around the Market House: roofs in the old core

Streets that have kept their shape keep their listing constraints too.

The Market House is Grade II* and All Saints' is Grade II*; around them stand buildings of every age, some listed and many not. In a core like this, roofs are often shared in practice even where the freeholds are separate: one party wall, one valley, one chain of gutters serving three properties. A fault on one roof shows up on the next.

That is why a survey here begins by working out how the water moves. A valley is the sunken line where two slopes meet, and it drains both of them. A hidden gutter sits behind a parapet or inside the eaves. A shared downpipe may be fixed to one house and serve another. We follow each route on the roof and from the ground, so that the quote covers the whole line and not only the section that leaked.

Listed status adds a further question. Listed building consent is its own application, made to Somerset Council here, and altering a listed roof without it is an offence. Straight repair in matching materials is generally a smaller matter than a change of covering, but the council decides what applies, not the roofer. The Historic England list entry for the building is the starting point, and the planning team can say what it means for the roof.

Buildings in a tight street also have a practical side. Access for scaffolding may be restricted, pavements may need to stay open and bins and cars need somewhere to be. We plan this before work starts and agree it with you in writing. For general leaks and faults in older buildings, see our roof repairs page.

Myth

A small leak on one house in a terrace is that house's problem alone.

Fact

On a shared run of gutter, valley or party wall, water from one roof can emerge in the next, so a fix confined to one property may miss the cause.

Large roofs: the mills at Higher Flax

A building on the Heritage at Risk Register shows what happens to a big roof when nobody looks up.

Top Mill is a 19th-century Grade II* building at Higher Flax Mills, and it is on the Heritage at Risk Register. We cannot say what any individual part of its roof looks like, and nothing here is a comment on that building's condition. It simply illustrates a point about large old roofs: they depend on drainage working year after year, and when it fails the damage spreads from the gutter to the timbers and then to the walls.

Industrial and commercial roofs have their own features. Wide spans mean long valleys and long runs of gutter, with outlets that block easily. Multi-span roofs may have gutters between the spans that nobody has looked into for years. Rooflights are common, and their upstands and seals are among the first things to fail. Plant, flues and pipes pass through the covering and each penetration needs its own flashing.

For the owner of a commercial building, the sensible order is inspection first, then repair or replacement. Our survey photographs the roof, records the condition of each section and puts a fixed price on paper for whatever the survey turns up. If the covering is a membrane such as EPDM (rubber sheet, laid in one piece) or layered bitumen felt, the edges and details are where we concentrate.

Work on a protected building is slower and involves conservation advice, and we do not pretend otherwise. For non-listed commercial buildings, the practical page is commercial roofing.

Big roofs

Inspect a large roof on a regular schedule and clear its gutters before the autumn, because a blocked outlet does more harm than most worn coverings.

The northern edge: newer roofs at the foot of Lodge Hill

As the town has spread north, it has added roofs that are modern in build and need modern attention.

While the centre has hardly changed, Castle Cary has grown northwards in recent years. Houses on those newer estates have roofs of a different construction: factory-made trusses, concrete or clay tiles clipped to battens, a breathable membrane in place of old felt, and details cut to a standard pattern. They are not old enough to wear out, but they are old enough to show where the original fixing was skimped.

The typical early faults are at the edges. A ridge piece set on a dab of mortar works loose. The verge, where tiles finish above a gable end, opens up where the bedding was thin. Under the covering, the underlay may be torn or lapped the wrong way at an eave, and then water runs behind the battens without leaving any sign from the garden. A tile or two missing after a gale is a quick fix on a young roof; left alone, wet battens will rot.

Fixings matter. Under the 2014 edition of BS 5534, a tile at the ridge, hip or verge should be held mechanically as well as bedded. If we find a roof that has relied on mortar alone, we add clips or screws and say which we used. Dry-fix kits, which are tested to BS 8612:2018, achieve the same without wet joints.

Maintenance is the other half. Gutters on new estates clog with leaves from young trees and with moss from roofs that were never cleaned. One look a year, with binoculars from the pavement and a ladder where safe, tends to catch the small fault early. What a proper inspection covers is described under roof inspections.

Words you will hear

Abutment: A roof edge that finishes against a taller wall.
Parapet: A short wall that rises above the line of the eaves.
Lime mortar: A soft, breathable mix that lets damp leave through the joint instead of the stone.

Nearby

Roofers near Castle Cary

Roofing services in Castle Cary

Local questions

What Castle Cary asks about stone walls and mills

Is the stone in Castle Cary walls a problem when fixing a flashing?

It dictates the method. Old stone laid in lime lets moisture out, so we rake the joint open to take the lead and repoint it in lime, not cement. A flashing that is only stuck to the face with sealant has a short life, and cement beside soft stone can speed up the decay of the stone itself. We point out the state of the mortar at the survey, before the price is fixed.

My terrace near the Market House shares a gutter with the next house. Who repairs it?

That depends on the deeds, and we can't give a legal view. We will trace the route the water takes, photograph the shared run and write down what needs doing and what it would cost. With that in hand, you and your neighbour can agree who pays. A repair done on one side only often leaves the cause untouched.

Do you look after commercial buildings and old mill roofs?

Yes. We survey flat and pitched commercial roofs, record each section and give a written fixed price. Large old buildings usually need gutters, valleys and rooflight upstands checked before anything else, since failing drainage does more harm than worn covering. Where a building is listed, such as the Top Mill Building at Higher Flax Mills, we work through the consent route first.

I live on one of the newer estates north of the centre. Will a young roof need work?

Not often, but the early faults are small and worth catching. A loose ridge piece, a thin verge bed or a torn eaves underlay can let water behind the battens without any sign indoors. A look after the first hard winter, and then a regular one, is cheaper than waiting for a stain on the ceiling.

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.

Photos of your own roof
A fixed price in writing
10-year workmanship guarantee