Roofers in Clanfield

The best-known early description of Clanfield comes from the county history of 1908. It portrays the village as a collection of half-timbered thatched farmhouses and cottages, with a thatched post office among them. More than a century on, nobody should assume that picture holds street by street. What it does show is the raw material the village grew from, and that old timber frames, deep eaves and thatch once set the character of its roofs. Where a building like that survives, the neighbours are likely to carry other coverings, and the jobs we are asked to price tend to sit right beside it.

1.1 What a thatched neighbour changes

Reeding and combing a thatch is specialist work, and it belongs with a thatcher. Our share is the roof next door and the places where the two meet. Where a tiled extension abuts a thatched cottage, the junction is sealed with lead, and the lead has to be dressed without disturbing the thatch or leaving a path for water to run in behind it. Chimneys are the other point of contact. A stack serving a fire beside a thatched roof ought to be sound throughout, so a cracked pot, a failing flaunching (the mortar cap that slopes round the pot) or loose brickwork near the top is worth putting right early instead of waiting for it to worsen. Our chimney repairs service explains what we look at, from the pots down to the flashing.

1.2 Garages and outbuildings that pre-date 2000

A rural parish gathers outbuildings: garages, sheds, workshops and lean-tos, many with sheet roofs and some with felt. HSE guidance puts the cut-off at the year 2000, so an outbuilding that dates from before it is presumed to contain asbestos until someone proves it does not. Asbestos cement roof sheeting that is lifted off carefully, without breaking up, counts as non-licensed work. Once sheets are substantially damaged or broken, the job becomes notifiable non-licensed work, and the waste has to be double-wrapped and travel with a consignment note instead of going to the household tip. Fibre cement is brittle underfoot, and people have fallen through it, so please do not climb on a sheet roof to check it. Photographs from a ladder or the ground are the safe first step, and a flat-roofed garage in felt is the simpler case, since a worn felt can be patched or re-covered.

Two listed buildings give Clanfield its recognised landmarks. The Church of St James is Grade II, first listed on 12 March 1986. Chalton Windmill, on the downs close by, is also Grade II and was first listed on 16 March 1954. Neither is a roof we would price without a specialist at our elbow, but they set the terms for anyone whose own house is listed, so the consent routes are worth setting out clearly.

3.1 Consent for a church and for a house

St James belongs to the parish system of the Church of England, so while it is used for worship the ecclesiastical exemption applies. Works go through the Church's faculty jurisdiction, though the exterior of a listed place of worship still needs planning permission when it is developed. A listed house has no exemption of that sort. Anything that would alter its special character needs listed building consent from the council, and a change of covering, a new roof window or a moved chimney is exactly the kind of job that triggers it. Whoever quotes should have read the entry on the national list first, and so should you.

3.2 No conservation area, but not no rules

East Hampshire's conservation area table has no entry for Clanfield, and the only Article 4 direction found on the council's page concerns employment buildings, so it removes no roof rights. For an unlisted house, swapping a covering for a similar one does not usually call for planning permission, though the Building Regulations can still bite. Planning Portal's test for skipping a building control application is that under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof is touched, and a covering that is significantly heavier changes the answer. The weight matters because the rafters were sized for the roof that was there, so a switch from plain clay to a heavier tile calls for a structural check first. East Hampshire District Council handles building control here. If you are unsure which side of the threshold your job falls, ask for the figures on your own roof and check them with the council. Our roof repairs service explains which fixes stay small.

3.3 Scaffold and access in Hampshire

Hampshire County Council is the highway authority. Where scaffolding will stand on the highway, Hampshire County Council's guidance has the scaffolding firm lodging it for the customer, and the council expects ten clear working days to pass from that application to the planned start. The fee is £211.90 for the first two weeks and £72 for each extra two, and there are no extensions. A job is timed around that notice, while a leak is stopped at once with a temporary cover.