Roofers in Burgess Hill

Burgess Hill sits in the Low Weald north of the South Downs, with views to the Downs and to the Jack and Jill windmills, and it began as an important brick-making centre. Mid Sussex District Council's guide to its conservation areas says the Fairfield Conservation Area, west of London Road, was one of the earliest parts of the town to develop in the 19th century, and that its main building material, brick, recalls those origins. Fairfield was designated in 1989. Walk its streets and the brickwork tells you what the roofs above it will be like: older, fixed to timber that has lasted well, and sitting on brick chimney stacks that have taken a century or more of weather. Where a roof meets that brickwork, the joint is where trouble starts.

1.1 Chimney stacks and their lead

A brick stack is only as sound as its pointing, its flaunching, the sloping mortar collar round the pots, and the lead flashing, the metal strip that seals the stack to the roof. Pointing weathers, flaunching cracks and lead lifts. When water gets in through any of the three it follows the brick into the chimney breast inside the house. We look at all three from above, photograph them and tell you which one is the problem. Often a repair of the pointing and a new lead flashing does the job, and no rebuild is needed. Our chimney repairs page sets out the options.

1.2 Tile hanging and the wall-to-roof junction

Clay tile hanging is the other common walling material in the conservation area summaries, and on a villa it often runs right up to the eaves or into a gable. The junction where hung tiles meet a roof slope needs careful detailing, because water running down the wall tiles has to get onto the roof covering without finding its way behind them. When we repair a roof beside tile hanging, we check that junction as well as the roof itself.

Where the hung tiles stop against a slope, a lead apron or a run of soakers, the small lead sheets tucked in beside each course, carries the water across onto the covering. If that lead has lifted or split, the damp tends to appear on the inside of the wall rather than under the roof, which sends people looking in the wrong place. Tracing starts on the outside and works back to the source.

The St John's Conservation Area, designated in 1989, sits around St John's Park and holds some of the oldest buildings in Burgess Hill. It contains two listed buildings: St John's Church and the Providence Strict Baptist Chapel in Park Road. Listed means that alterations changing a building's special character need listed building consent, whether it is a house, a chapel or a barn. A church in use may follow a separate route. For a Church of England building in use the ecclesiastical exemption applies and the faculty system takes over, but exterior changes to a church still go through the planning system. For a chapel, check which approval route applies to its trust before work starts.

3.1 Older houses and their timber

Among the older buildings now within Burgess Hill is the timber-framed Hammonds Place, built about 1500 and faced at both ends in brick in 1566. The frame under an old roof is the thing that matters most. If the roof has been leaking for years, wall plates and rafter feet may be soft, and a new covering laid over rotten timber will not last. So on an old house the survey includes the loft and the timbers, not just the tiles. Where something needs replacing, we explain what and why before the work begins.

The brickwork at Hammonds Place has an east front in red brick with blue-grey diaper work, which means a pattern worked in darker bricks. Roof repairs beside brickwork like that need care, because dropped mortar, hasty pointing and scaffold marks stay on a wall for a very long time. We protect the face of the wall, work from clean boards and tidy as we go, so the roof is mended without leaving a trace on the brick below.

3.2 Who to ask in Mid Sussex

Mid Sussex District Council handles both planning and building control for the town. Putting back the same covering seldom needs a planning application; a listing or an Article 4 direction changes that. An Article 4 direction can also change it, so ask the council whether one covers your address before relying on permitted development. For roof windows, our guide to skylight planning permission is the place to begin. Our pitched roofing page shows how a roof is stripped and relaid.