Georgian terrace of honey Bath stone with natural slate roofs and chimney stacks

Roofers in Fairfield Park

Fairfield Park lies 2.2 road miles north of central Bath, on steep ground that faces south and east. Its estates of semi-detached houses and its older terraces have often been re-covered once already, so we start by finding out what is really on the roof before we say what it needs.

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Local roofs

Estates, terraces and a hillside that faces the sun

Fairfield Park and the neighbouring Rose Hill are built as estates: semi-detached houses put up before and after the war, laid out in rows along the slope. Here and there an older terrace breaks the pattern. Raglan Lane, Raglan Street, Malvern Buildings and Worcester Villas are the ones B&NES names in its character statement, and because they are older than the estates around them, their roof timbers are often older too.

The ground matters as much as the houses. The B&NES city-wide character appraisal describes the Fairfield Park and Larkhall area as steeply sloping, facing south and east. For a roofer that has two practical consequences. Scaffold and ladders need planning on the slope, and the roofs themselves get a good share of the sun, which dries a slate or tile quickly after rain but also works the joints and fixings through repeated warming and cooling.

The same appraisal gives the principal building materials in this character area as natural Bath stone and slate, with a little red brick at Fairfield Park on rear and side walls. It also records something more useful to us: many roofs on the older properties have since been replaced with artificial slate and concrete tiles, and newer developments in the area tend to have concrete tiles or flat roofs. That is the real picture of Fairfield Park roofs. Original coverings, later replacements and flat sections sit side by side, sometimes on one house.

Above the last streets to the north, the land is Green Belt and falls within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. We work from the first look at your own roof, whatever it turns out to be made of, and we write down what we see.

Council: Bath and North East Somerset Council
From central Bath: 2.2 road miles, north
Landform: Steeply sloping, facing south and east
Older terraces: Raglan Lane, Raglan Street, Malvern Buildings, Worcester Villas
Land to the north: Green Belt, within the Cotswolds AONB

What we find

Hidden coverings and estate semis in Fairfield Park

The pre-war and post-war semis

Row after row of semi-detached houses means the same few faults turn up, each in a slightly different form.

An estate of semi-detached houses is a good place to learn how a roof ages, because the same design has met the same weather for generations. In Fairfield Park and Rose Hill the houses date from before and after the war, so even neighbours that look alike can have roofs built to different standards and mended in different ways.

The pre-war roofs are usually the more interesting ones. Many were built with plain, thin timbers and a covering fixed to battens (the horizontal strips the tiles or slates hang from) with iron nails. Those nails are what fail first. A tile does not wear out; its fixing rusts, and the tile slips a little further each winter until a gap opens. The post-war roofs often have a felt underlay (the sheet beneath the battens that catches rain driven under the covering), and the felt is the part that gives up, going brittle at the eaves where it should be carrying water into the gutter.

The party wall is a point people overlook. Where two semis meet at the ridge, the roof is shared in appearance but separate in ownership, and a fault on one side can show as a stain on the other. A leak that looks like a neighbour's problem may well begin on your own slope. We check both sides of the line from your side, and we flag it when something on the other house is worth mentioning to its owner.

The decision on these roofs is usually between mending the failed parts and renewing the covering. Where the battens and underlay are sound and only a few fixings have gone, a repair is the right answer and we do it. Where the nails are failing across a whole slope, patching becomes a yearly job, and re-covering the roof is the cheaper course in the end. Our page on pitched roofing explains how we make that call.

Both routes finish the same way. We clear the site, take the waste away, and leave you with a written price and a written guarantee for the work.

Roofs that have been re-covered once already

The character appraisal says many older roofs here carry artificial slate or concrete tiles, and that changes how we approach them.

B&NES records that many roofs on the older properties in this part of Bath have been replaced with artificial slate and concrete tiles. Should yours be one of them, the covering you have is not the one the house began with, and it raises its own questions.

Artificial slate is thinner and lighter than natural slate and is made from fibre cement or resin. It weathers differently: it can fade, curl at the corners or lose a layer of surface over time, and a slate that has been in place for many years does not always lift cleanly when you try to replace one. Concrete tiles are heavy, and they were often laid on timbers built for a lighter covering. Neither is a fault in itself, but both mean the roof structure deserves a look before anyone nails anything new to it.

Weight is the issue that decides the next job. Re-cover a roof in something at least 15% heavier than what came off and the Planning Portal puts the job under Building Regulations, with a structural check alongside. A change from artificial slate to concrete tile is the sort of swap that can cross the line. A change the other way, to natural slate on a roof that carried a heavier tile, usually does not. We weigh the options with you before the price is set.

Matching is the other question. On a street where a few houses have kept natural slate, re-covering a semi in a different material changes the look of the whole pair. We can supply natural slate, a good artificial alternative or a concrete tile, and we will explain what each does to the roof and the street before you choose. Where a full re-cover is the right answer, the process is set out on our roof replacement page.

Myth

A new roof covering can simply go on in place of the old one, whatever it weighs.

Fact

Extra weight of 15% or more makes the job notifiable and puts the structure under review, so we settle the material before work begins.

Steep south and east slopes

Ground that falls away facing the sun is pleasant to live on and awkward to work on, and the roofs show it.

The land that Fairfield Park sits on slopes steeply and faces south and east. That orientation gives the roofs more sun than a shaded terrace gets, and slate and tile dry quickly as a result. It also means the covering expands and contracts with the sun, and fixings that were marginal to begin with can work loose over the years.

The slope changes how a roof is reached. A house at the top of a short drive may have a ground level at the back several feet below the front, so a scaffold that is simple at the road side becomes a more serious structure at the rear. We plan access at the survey. It affects the price, the time and the safety of the work, and a fixed written price is only fair if we have seen how the scaffold will go up.

Wind plays its part too. A roof on a hillside facing open air takes gusts from the valley below as well as from above, and the places that suffer are the ridge, the hips and the verges, where the covering finishes and the wind finds an edge. Mortar-bedded ridge tiles on older roofs are the commonest casualty. Since BS 5534:2014 mortar has not been trusted to hold a ridge tile on its own, so each one is screwed or clipped as well. On a concrete-tiled roof a dry system can replace the mortar bed altogether. For the choices, see ridge and verge repairs.

Gutters and downpipes also work harder on a slope. Water leaves the roof faster and arrives at the eaves with more force, so an undersized or sagging run overflows at the corner and soaks the wall below. We check the fall and the brackets as part of the same visit.

Words you will hear

Ridge: The highest line of a pitched roof, where opposing slopes join.
Hip: The raking edge formed where two slopes turn an outward corner.
Verge: The sloping finish of the roof along a gable end.
Dry-fix: A clip-and-cap system that holds the ridge without a mortar bed.

Flat sections, modern developments and the green edge

The newer parts of the area tend towards concrete tiles or flat roofs, and the fields to the north bring their own rules.

The character appraisal notes that modern developments in the Fairfield Park and Larkhall area tend to have concrete tiles or flat roofs. Concrete-tiled roofs on newer buildings need little beyond a look after a storm and a tidy of the ridge. Flat roofs are a different matter, because a flat roof is the part of a house that fails without warning and the damage is already inside before the stain shows.

Flat roofs here take several forms: a single-ply membrane such as EPDM (an engineered rubber sheet, laid whole), GRP (glass-reinforced plastic, often called fibreglass) or a built-up bitumen felt system. Whatever the material, the weak points are the same. The edges, the upstands where the roof abuts a wall, the outlets and any penetration are all joins, and joins are where water gets in. We look at the surface last and the details first. Where a flat roof is failing, the options and the choice of membrane are covered on our flat roofing page.

Many houses in the area also have a flat-roofed extension or porch added to a pitched house, and that junction deserves more attention than it gets. A lead or GRP flashing sealing the flat roof to the wall of the house is the thing that keeps the extension dry. A sagging or lifting flashing is easy to fix early and difficult to fix after a winter of water getting behind it.

North of the last streets, the land is Green Belt and falls within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. For roofing this has little effect on a house within the built-up area, but a roof near open land can carry nesting birds or roosting bats, which are protected. If we find signs of either when we strip a roof, we stop and discuss it with you before going on.

Flat roof: patch or renew

If the membrane is sound and the fault is one split edge or flashing, repair it; if water has reached the deck or the surface is crazed across the whole roof, renew the whole system.

Nearby

Roofers near Fairfield Park

Roofing services in Fairfield Park

Local questions

Asked on the sunny slopes of Fairfield Park

My Fairfield Park semi has a roof that looks like slate but feels light. How do I tell if it is artificial?

Look at the edges of a spare or fallen piece, or the underside in the loft. Natural slate splits into thin, flat layers and rings when tapped; artificial slate is uniform and can show a fibrous or granular cut edge. Many older roofs in this area have been re-covered, so it is common not to know. We check on the survey, because the answer decides the matching material and whether a repair or a new covering makes sense.

Can the roof on a house in Raglan Street or Worcester Villas be replaced with concrete tiles?

It can sometimes be done, but the weight of the new covering decides it. If the new covering is 15% heavier or more, approval is needed and the structure is checked first. On the older terraces we would also ask whether natural slate is the better match for the street, and we would tell you what B&NES planning would want to hear if the house is in a protected area.

How does the steep slope affect the cost of re-roofing in Fairfield Park?

The slope affects access more than the roof itself. A scaffold on a falling site needs more height and bracing at the back of the house, and that is added to the price. We look at the ground at the survey, so the figure you are given in writing already includes the scaffold, the clearance of the site and the waste taken away.

Who deals with the party wall when only one half of a semi needs work?

The ridge and the dividing wall are shared, so we plan the work to leave the neighbour's side sound and weathertight. If the repair touches the shared line, such as a shared verge or ridge, we tell you in advance, and we suggest that you let the neighbour know before the scaffold goes up.

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