Roofers in Aldwick

The Craigweil House Conservation Area was shaped by a single commission. In 1937 the architect Josiah Auty laid out an estate for Sir Arthur Du Cros in the grounds of Craigweil House, where King George V had convalesced in 1929, and Arun District Council's conservation statement draws the boundary on that layout. The statement's list of traditional materials is short: stock brick from local sources, and roofs of plain clay tile. That description belongs to this estate alone, so a house elsewhere in Aldwick may differ, and we read each roof as it stands instead of assuming.

1.1 Plain tiles, tile creasing and herringbone

Plain clay tiles are small, laid in overlapping courses, and each one hangs from a batten (the softwood lath fixed across the rafters). Marley publishes minimum pitches for clay plain tiles of 30 to 40 degrees depending on the tile, so a replacement has to suit the slope as well as the colour. The statement also picks out herringbone brickwork and tile creasing, which is a pair of tile courses set on edge at the top of a wall to throw water clear. Neither is part of the roof covering, yet both sit beside it, and a repair that smears cement over them shows from the road. Odd replacement tiles of the wrong colour or camber stand out on an old roof, so we ask for a matching sample before anything is ordered. Marley's guide gives clay tile a minimum life of 60 years, though an old roof need not follow that figure, so we judge by condition and by photographs rather than by the date on the deeds.

1.2 Leaded porch roofs and listed Silvergates

Wychwood, built from 1934, has leaded roofs over a number of its entrance porches, so lead was part of the estate's finish from the start. A porch roof is small, but it has the same weak point as a large one: the joint where the lead turns up the wall. We check that edge first. Lead sheet is sold in numbered codes by thickness, and Royston Lead's brochure lists code 4 and code 5 for flashings, with heavier codes for valley and parapet gutters. Silvergates, 52 The Drive, designed by Ernest B. Glanfield and built in 1934, is Grade II listed. Work that would affect a listed building's character needs listed building consent, so on Silvergates or any listed neighbour we read the list entry before writing a quote. Our lead roofing and leadwork page explains how flashings and small lead roofs are dressed.

Aldwick has three conservation areas on Arun's list: Aldwick Bay, Aldwick Road and Craigweil House. Only Craigweil carries an Article 4 direction, which is a council order withdrawing specified permitted development rights across a defined area, and the one recorded there does not touch the roof. It pays to know exactly what it covers before assuming that a re-roof is restricted.

3.1 What the Craigweil direction covers

Arun's Article 4 Direction No 1 of 2010, sealed on 30 November 2010, concerns two things: enclosing verge areas and hard surfaces in front gardens. Neither is a roof right. Re-roofing in the same material, with no visible change to how the building looks, is generally not development at all, though a listed building or an applicable direction can change the answer. The useful step is a call to Arun District Council's planning team with your address before you commit to a different covering. If you are weighing roof windows inside a conservation area, read our skylight planning permission guide first.

3.2 Sea weather on a front-line roof

Aldwick sits on the Channel, and the council's statement records the full length of the Craigweil beach as a designated site of special scientific interest. For a roof the practical point is simpler. Off the water come gales and driving rain, and the shore adds salt to the air, so the ridge, hip and verge tiles take the first blow. Since BS 5534 was revised in 2014, bedding alone has not been enough for ridge and hip tiles, so each also gets a mechanical fixing. Marley warns that a windward slope under 30 degrees can be pulled hard by wind suction, so shallow roofs get extra attention along the edges.

3.3 Building control and the scaffold

The Planning Portal gives two tests for skipping a building control application: under 25 per cent of the total building envelope affected, and under 50 per cent of the roof. Arun's team lists replacement roof coverings as work that needs approval, so ask them to confirm for your job; where the work is notifiable, we handle the notification. A heavier new covering, roughly 15 per cent or more over the old one, brings building control in as well, and we raise that at the survey if you are considering a change of material. If scaffolding will obstruct the highway, the licence is issued by West Sussex County Council as highway authority, which asks for at least 10 working days' notice and charges £266 for one month.