New Roofs in London.

New Roofs done properly

When a roof is past repairing, we strip it back, check and replace timbers where needed, and rebuild with new breathable membrane, battens and your choice of tile or slate. Everything is explained before we start.

What's included

• Full strip and re-roof
• Natural slate and concrete or clay tiles
• New breathable membrane and treated battens
• Timber and rafter replacement
• Matching existing tiles on period properties

What a roof replacement involves

Scaffolding goes up before a single tile is lifted, then the roof comes off in stages so the house is not left open longer than it needs to be. Once the rafters are sound, the new tiles or slates are worked from the eaves up to the ridge. The details at the edges matter as much as the main slope, because that is where most roofs start to leak.

• Batten spacing set out to suit the chosen tile or slate
• Valleys, verges and abutments rebuilt along with the slope
• Tiles fixed in line with BS 5534, the British Standard for slating and tiling
• Roof ventilation allowed for at the eaves and ridge

Slate, clay or concrete: the trade-offs

Each covering suits a different house, so the existing street and roof pitch are a better starting point than a brochure. Natural slate is the usual match for Victorian terraces, clay plain tiles suit many Edwardian houses, and concrete tiles are the common choice where budget matters most. A change of material can also change the load on the roof, so the timbers need looking at first.

• Natural slate is light and slim, but quality varies by source
• Clay plain tiles look right on period roofs, but need many more tiles per square metre
• Concrete tiles are usually the most economical, but heavier than slate
• Every tile has a minimum pitch, so a shallow roof narrows the choice

Re-roofing or repairing, and what moves the price

A new roof is the right call when the covering has failed widely, not because one leak has appeared. If the fault is confined to one area, roof repairs will cost far less and we’ll say so. Where a re-roof does make sense, the price comes down to the shape of the roof as much as its size.

• Hips, valleys and dormers take longer than a plain slope
• Scaffolding, including any pavement licence on a terraced street
• Covering chosen, and how much cutting it needs
• Rafters or other timbers found to need replacing once stripped

Areas we cover for new roofs

• New Roofs in South London
• New Roofs in East London
• New Roofs in West London
• New Roofs in Essex
• New Roofs in Kent
• New Roofs in Sussex