Roofing in Beacon Hill

Ridge, hips and verges. Where a roof here carries concrete interlocking tile, the ridge, hips and gable verges are usually bedded in sand and cement, and that bedding is what we check first.

Mortar bedding has a working life and forty odd years is about it: it cracks, water runs down the back of the ridge tile, and eventually a cap lifts in a gale. We take it off and convert to a dry fix system screwed and clipped over a ventilated roll, the mechanical fixing BS 5534 expects, which vents the roof space along the ridge while it is at it.

The eaves course of underlay. The bitumen felt laid under those roofs is brittle now. It tears first where it laps into the gutter, the one place it has to be sound, so water runs behind the fascia instead of into it. A wet fascia and soffit with a dry loft is nearly always this, and eaves protection trays and a new felt support put it right without stripping the slope.

Repairs are slipped, cracked and missing tiles, storm damage, and leaks traced to where water genuinely enters. If it is one lifted tile or a single drip you want found, that is covered on our page for roof repairs in Beacon Hill. When the nails, battens and underlay have perished together the covering comes off, soft rafter feet are replaced, and it goes back on breathable membrane and treated battens with a matched tile.

Flat roofs over the integral garages, extensions and porches are inspected deck first, and those abutments are often sealed up with mastic by somebody in a hurry, which is a leak with a date on it. A fair share of apparent roof leaks are a gutter running over or a downpipe discharging into thin air, and where that water lands matters to the walls below it. With the roof open, insulation and eaves ventilation are cheap, and Approved Document L sets the standard a renovated roof must reach.

A roof quote from us will not show a figure per square metre, because two roofs of equal area can be a week apart in labour.

Under the tiles. Lifting a few tiles shows whether the battens are sound, whether nail sickness has set in, and whether there is any felt at all. Old bitumen felt tends to perish at the eaves first. Each of those changes how much gets renewed. Swapping concrete interlocking tiles for clay or slate adds weight, so the rafters are checked before that is agreed.

How we get up there. A bungalow or a chalet roof can sometimes be done from a tower. A house with two floors wants a full scaffold with a loading bay, and every extra week it stands adds cost. That is why the work at height rules put it on its own line.

The fiddly parts. Chimney stacks, valleys, abutments and dormer cheeks eat lead and hours, so we price each one. A mortar-bedded ridge that has cracked is another separate item.

Water at ground level. Roof water dumped beside a wall soaks the ground the footings sit in, so we note where each downpipe discharges. Fixing roof water that dumps beside the footings is cheapest while the scaffold is still up.

If you have another quote, find out whether it includes scaffolding, whether the battens and membrane will be replaced or left, and who is paying for the skip.

Water that keeps soaking the ground beside a foundation can make that ground move. That turns rainwater into a structural question rather than only a damp one, and it changes what we do at the bottom of a downpipe rather than at the top of the roof.

A downpipe emptying onto a border, a gully that has silted up, or a soakaway sitting too close to the wall all put repeated wetting and drying into the ground beside a foundation, and that is the one thing ground under a foundation does not take well.

So when we price roofing work here we follow every downpipe to see where it actually goes, and we say so if the answer is nowhere. Approved Document H is the standard for getting roof water clear of a building. It is cheap to put right while the scaffold is up and expensive to leave.

Most repairs in Beacon Hill need no application at all. What decides whether a change to the outside of your house does is who the council is, whether a conservation area or a listing applies, and whether the place sits in a protected landscape.