Roofing in Matchams

Ridge, hip and verge are where an exposed Matchams roof gives first. Wind works at the edges, not the middle, so mortar bedding cracks and a verge loses its bedding long before anything happens mid slope. We convert to a dry fixed system screwed onto a ventilated roll, the mechanical fixing BS 5534 expects, which ventilates the roof space along the ridge at the same time.

Gutters, downpipes, fascias and soffits. Under the pines round Matchams, the gutters are the weak point because of what is coming down. Pine needles wash straight through a gutter and pack into the downpipe and the gully below, so the blockage forms out of sight. They do not rot down over one winter and the resin glues the mat in place, so clearing means emptying the run and then flushing the downpipes through, or it overflows again by February. Shaded slopes under pine hold moss, which sits in the tile laps and keeps water against the covering.

Slipped, cracked and missing tiles, storm damage, and leaks traced to where water genuinely enters rather than patched where the stain shows. Mostly concrete interlocking tile out in Matchams, with plain clay tile and natural slate on the older properties. Perished felt tears where it laps into the gutter, the one place it must be sound, and that is the usual cause of a wet fascia. The battens and rafter feet under it are checked from inside first. When nails, battens and membrane have gone together the covering goes back on breathable membrane and treated battens with a matched tile. For a single fault, such as a verge the wind has loosened, a leaking valley or one slipped tile, see roof repairs in Matchams. Garages and rear extensions in felt, GRP fibreglass or EPDM rubber, deck first. With the covering off, insulation and eaves ventilation are far cheaper to deal with, and Approved Document L sets the standard a renovated roof is expected to reach.

Matchams roofs are not priced by the square metre. On an exposed plot, these are what shift the figure. Which way the roof faces. The side that takes the weather here faces south west. Wind works at the edges, lifting verges, ridge tiles and the first courses at the eaves, while the middle of a slope rarely moves.

BS 5534 expects ridges and verges to be mechanically fixed rather than only bedded in mortar, so a dry ridge and dry verge system, priced by the metre of edge, is often the biggest line.

Re-felt or re-cover. If the tiles are sound and it is the felt beneath that has perished, lifting them, fitting new battens and breathable membrane and relaying them can be right. Porous tiles or snapped nibs mean a new covering.

What goes back on. With no planning officer involved you can move between concrete, clay and slate. Weight matters: going heavier can mean checking the rafters first.

Where the scaffold stands. Hard standing on your own drive is quicker to build on than a soft lawn that needs sole boards, or a conservatory that has to be bridged. HSE's work at height rules set how it is built, so it has a line of its own.

Chimneys and junctions. Each stack, valley and abutment with its lead is priced separately.

Ask any rival quote: are the ridge and verges mechanically fixed, is the membrane breathable, and is the scaffold in the figure?

Properties in Matchams sit in the open with the exposed elevation facing south west, with none of the shelter a village street gives you. That is why the ridge, hips and verges are the first things we look at rather than the field of the roof, and why a mechanically fixed edge is worth more here than two miles inland.

The other half is the trees: heath and pine on most sides means the gutters want looking at more often, and the debris behaves differently enough that clearing the gutter alone will not fix an overflow.

Most repairs in Matchams 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.