Roofers in Bosham

Bosham can claim to be the most ancient site in Sussex with a continuous Christian tradition, and Bede records a small Celtic monastery here in 681. You feel that age in the roofs. Holy Trinity has walls of rubble with ashlar dressings (dressed stone used at corners and openings) and a tiled roof. Around it, the Bosham Conservation Area is drawn round the High Street, Quay Meadow, Bosham Lane and Shore Road. Anything we do inside that line starts with a look at what the house is made of, because the roof has to suit the walls under it. A cottage of flint and brick asks for a different eye from a cladded timber frame, and both differ from a newer house in the same lane.

1.1 Handmade tiles and why a patch must match

The council's character appraisal lists the village palette: timber framing and cladding, imported grey stone, probably Bembridge, knapped or boulder flint, red, brown and white brick, and usually handmade clay roof tiles. A handmade plain tile is not a flat, uniform product. Edges soften, colours run from rust to brown, and a roof settles into gentle waves over the years. A modern machine-made tile dropped into that surface shows from the lane. When we repair a slope we look for reclaimed tiles of the right age and size, or new handmade ones, and mix them across the slope instead of leaving one bright patch. Our pitched roofing page covers stripping and relaying a tiled slope, and the cases where relaying beats patching.

1.2 Thatch beside tile at Parker's Pound

Parker's Pound dates from the early 17th century, with timber framing, brick nogging (brick filling between the timbers) and a thatched roof. The Manor House is from about the middle of that century. Thatching is its own craft and we leave it to thatchers. What we meet is the ground around it: the tiled or slated roof beside it, the lead flashing (the strip of metal that seals a roof against a wall or stack) where the two buildings touch, and a shared chimney. A leak at a party wall is hard to trace, so we photograph the junction from both sides before we say whether it needs patching or a proper dressing in new lead.

1.3 Roofs that have been mended many times

The appraisal says living standards in Bosham were still very poor at the start of the 20th century, and piped water arrived only in 1910. A village like that has seen a great deal of make-do repair. Expect a roof here to carry several generations of patching, with odd tiles, thick mortar and old felt tucked under a slope. We lift a few tiles to see what is underneath before we form a view.

Not every roof in the village is clay tile. The appraisal notes some slate, and slate fails in its own quiet way: the nails rust through, slates slip an inch, and the first sign is often a ring of brown on a bedroom ceiling after a gale. We check from above and from the loft, and we tell you whether the slates themselves are sound before anything else.

3.1 Slipped slates, tingles and chimney lead

A slipped slate can be held back by a tingle: a small metal strip that fixes it in place and leaves the course above untouched. That is a repair you can see in photographs. If the nails have gone across the whole slope, spot repairs only buy time, and relaying the slope with the good slates kept is the better answer. Around chimneys the flashings are the next weak point. A stack in an older wall may need its flaunching (the mortar bed that holds the pots) renewed and its lead dressed in new sheet. Our chimney repairs page covers what we check before we climb.

3.2 Scaffold on a village street

Where a house fronts a road, any scaffold on the pavement or carriageway needs a licence from West Sussex County Council. The council, as highway authority, issues it and asks for 10 working days between application and erection, and a one-month licence costs £266 at the time of writing. We build that wait into the plan and tell you early. A small repair from a ladder or a hired tower may not need it at all.

3.3 Gutters and weather at the waterside

Houses close to the harbour take sea weather: gales, driving rain and damp air off the water. We plan work around it, because a half-stripped slope should never be left open overnight. We also look at the gutters and downpipes on a first visit, since a blocked gutter sends water into the wall and the eaves, and the damage there looks like a roof leak when it is not. Fascias and soffits (the boards under and along the eaves) get the same look, because rot there lets birds and wet in. Where a board is soft, we show it to you in a photograph rather than ask you to take our word for it.