Roof repairs in Lyndhurst
Slipped clay tiles and slates, rocking ridges, split lead bays and leaking chimney stacks in Lyndhurst, mended with materials that match what is already on the roof.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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Roof repairs in Lyndhurst
One fault, found and fixed, on an old forest town roof
Yes, we repair roofs in Lyndhurst: cracked and slipped plain clay tiles, Welsh slates sliding off rusted nails, loose ridges, split lead on bays and porches, and leaks around chimney stacks. We trace the water to where it gets in, mend that spot with a tile or slate that matches, and give you the price in writing after a free site visit.
If water is coming into a room right now, ring 07435 839745 and tell us which room it is and what sits above it: a chimney breast, a bay or a valley.
A patterned band tile lying on the front path. A brown ring on the landing ceiling beside the stack. A drip from a lead roofed bay window. Slates sitting in the gutter of a Victorian villa.
Each is one fault in one place, and the roof around it is usually sound. We go up, look in the loft, photograph the fault and write down what it needs. Lyndhurst has clay, slate and concrete on neighbouring houses, so the covering decides the repair as much as the fault does.
The repairs
Matching an old clay or slate roof, one fault at a time
The National Park Authority's character appraisal for Lyndhurst, Swan Green and Bank records plain clay tile on the older houses and Welsh slate on many Victorian ones. Some later houses have concrete tiles, which the appraisal discourages in the conservation area.
Plain clay tiles on the older houses. On the oldest roofs the pegs have rotted or the nails have rusted through, and a tile drops out of its course. Many have no felt under the tiles, so that gap lets rain straight onto the loft boards. We slide in a reclaimed tile matched for colour and curve, hang it and nail it, then check the courses either side for the next ones about to go. Fitting a few tiles is a small job; finding the right weathered tile takes longer.
Decorative bands, ridges and finials. Scalloped and beaver tail bands, patterned ridges and tile hung gables need a tile that matches in shape as well as colour, so we photograph and number the pattern before lifting it. On a tile hung gable the fault is usually the nails or battens behind, so we check the wall head while the tiles are off.
Welsh slate. Slate lasts. The nails holding it do not. One slipped slate goes back on a copper tingle or a slate hook. A flaking slate is swapped for a sound one of the same size. If slates are sliding off in runs across a slope, every nail has gone, and tingling each one is money thrown away. That is a re-slate, and it is work for our roofers in Lyndhurst.
Large Bridgwater clay tiles. The appraisal notes large Bridgwater clay tiles on a few buildings, 42 Queen's Road among them. A cracked one needs a reclaimed tile of the same pattern and gauge, not a plain tile or a modern interlock.
Ridges, hips and verges. When the mortar under an old ridge cracks, the tile rocks and lets water in. We lift it, clean it and rebed it in a lime mortar with a mechanical fixing through each tile, which is what BS 5534 asks for. Lime moves where hard cement cracks, as Historic Environment Scotland on lime and cement in traditional mortars explains.
Lead bays, porches and turrets. The appraisal records lead roofed bays and flat leaded porches on some of the older houses. Lead laid in lengths that are too long splits as it moves. We re-dress a lifted roll, or renew a split bay top in shorter pieces.
Concrete tile. Where the ridge or verge mortar has dropped out, we fit a dry ridge and dry verge system to BS 8612 on dry fixed ridge and verge systems.
Flat roofs. A blister or torn upstand can be patched; a soft deck means a new roof to BS 6229:2025 on flat roofs, covered on our flat roofing in Lyndhurst page.
Gutters. A leaking joint dumps roof water by the footings. See gutters and fascias in Lyndhurst.
On a communal roof over Lyndhurst flats the freeholder or managing agent instructs, with section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 setting when leaseholders are consulted. When the battens are rotten and the felt crumbles as tiles lift, repair has stopped paying, and the quote puts a re-cover beside the repair.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
One person to ring from the first visit to the last. The quote is itemised, not a figure on the back of a card: access, where the fault is and what is being opened up to reach it, each tile, slate, ridge or flashing being renewed and what with, making good, and disposal on separate lines, so you can compare it properly against anyone else's.
Nothing is left open or unusable overnight. The site is swept at the end of each day rather than the end of the job, and what comes out leaves with us. If something turns up once we start that nobody could have seen, you get a photograph and a price before we carry on.
Mending a roof like for like needs no planning application, as the Planning Portal guidance explains. Lyndhurst is inside the New Forest National Park, so anything that changes the look of a roof here goes to the National Park Authority first, and National Park heritage and conservation guidance sets out what it protects. The town has 31 listed entries, and on any of those listed building consent comes before work that alters character.
Cost
What decides the price of a roof repair
No rate per square metre, because a slipped tile over a porch and the same tile above a three storey gable are one repair and two very different jobs.
Getting to it. In Lyndhurst that runs from a lead bay top reached off a ladder, through a steep two storey Victorian house with a tall stack and a tile hung gable, to a three storey block of flats with the ridge well out of ladder reach. A tile over a porch or a bungalow eaves can often be reached from a ladder and a roof ladder. A ridge, a chimney or a valley on a two storey house usually wants a tower or a scaffold, so a small repair can still need a proper platform. The work at height rules decide that, which is why access is its own line on the quote and not hidden inside the repair.
Finding the cause, not the stain. Water runs along the battens and the underlay before it drips, so the mark on the ceiling is rarely under the fault. Tracing it back to a cracked tile, a lifted flashing, a perished valley or a ridge joint that has opened is part of the job, and a repair priced before anyone has looked is a guess.
What the repair uncovers. Lifting a few tiles shows the battens and the underlay around them. If they are sound the repair stays small. If the felt has perished or the battens have rotted, you get a photograph and a separate written price before anything more is done. Where patching stops being worth it is a conversation you have with the facts in front of you.
Comparing quotes? Ask what fault they actually found and where, whether access is included, what is being replaced and with what (a matched tile, new or reclaimed slate, which code of lead), whether the ridge and verge are being bedded in mortar or mechanically fixed, and what happens if more is found once the roof is open. Two quotes for the same job are usually two different jobs.
If it is leaking now
Water coming through a ceiling
Ring rather than use the form. Put a bowl under the drip, keep anything electrical away from the wet patch, and if a ceiling is bulging keep everyone out from under it. The first visit is about finding where the water gets in and making the roof weathertight, and the permanent repair is priced in writing once the fault can be seen properly. On an old Lyndhurst roof with no felt under the tiles, one gap lets rain straight through, so tell us whether the wet patch is next to a chimney breast, under a bay or below a valley. Scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. For anything urgent, ring rather than use the form, and if we cannot pick up we ring you back as soon as we can.
Worth knowing
A leaking stack here is mended, not taken off
When an unused chimney leaks, the cheap answer elsewhere is to take the stack down below the roof and tile over it. In Lyndhurst the Park's appraisal treats chimneys and pots as part of the town's skyline. It picks out locally made pots, Fareham pots on Elcombes and Midlands pots, and says every attempt should be made to keep both the stacks and the pots. So in and around the conservation area we mend the leak and keep the chimney.
So we find the part letting water through: a flashing pulled out of its joint, a split soaker, cracked flaunching or a missing back gutter on the uphill side. We renew the lead in code rated sheet, repoint or rebuild the top few courses, cap an unused flue with a vent, and bed the cleaned old pots back on. Our chimney repairs page covers the brickwork side. If you are still thinking of removing a stack, check your address on the National Park Authority's interactive property map and speak to the National Park Authority before you commit.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
Lyndhurst is 14.9 miles from our base in Boscombe. We repair roofs from the High Street and Queen's Road out along Romsey Road and the roads round the edge of the town, all SO43. The National Park Authority handles planning for the town, while building control is New Forest District Council's job. You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building, the trading name of Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, which you can look up in a minute. Thomas Hannen's business, and he is the one who comes out to price the job, not a salesman. A verified customer's 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The visit and the written quote are both free.
Nearby, and next door
Roof repairs near Lyndhurst
Nearby places we also cover for roof repairs, with straight-line distances from Lyndhurst, and the other trades we offer in Lyndhurst itself.
Roof repairs nearby
Our other trades in Lyndhurst
Everything we do in Lymington Roof repairs, all areas Every area we cover
Questions
Questions about roof repairs in Lyndhurst
Can you match the decorative ridge and banded tiles on my roof?
In most cases, yes. We photograph and number the pattern before anything is lifted, reuse every sound tile, and source the missing ones by shape and colour from reclaimed stock. Failing that, sound tiles come from a hidden slope so the front stays whole.
My slates are slipping in a line. Is that the slate or the nails?
Almost always the nails. Welsh slate outlasts the iron nails it hangs on. One or two slipped slates can go back on tingles. When they are coming down in runs across a slope, the honest answer is a re-slate reusing the sound slates, and we will say so.
Do you need scaffold to replace a few tiles?
Not always. A few tiles low on a single storey roof or a porch can be reached from a ladder and a roof ladder, and HSE does not ban ladders for short duration work. A ridge or a stack on a steep two storey Lyndhurst house is different, and there a tower or scaffold is the safe way to do it.
Is storm damage to my roof covered by my insurance?
That is between you and your insurer, and it depends on your policy. Insurers look at whether there was a storm, whether it caused the damage, and whether wear was the real cause, and the three questions the Financial Ombudsman asks about a storm claim sets those out. Slates slipping off rusted nails over years is usually treated as gradual damage.
Our cottage is thatched. Can you help?
Not with the thatch itself. A thatched roof needs a specialist thatcher, and we will tell you so. If the leak is at the chimney, in the lead around the stack or on a tiled extension that joins the thatch, that part is roofing work and we can repair it.
Free quote
Get a written repair price for your Lyndhurst roof
Send the address and tell us what the roof is doing. We come out, find the fault and set out the repair in writing, line by line, at no cost.