Roofers in Dunsfold

The Victoria County History of 1911 called Dunsfold one of the most completely rural and sequestered parishes in Surrey, covering 4,028 acres on the Wealden Clay. The village itself is small houses and cottages dotted round a very large green. The buildings it picks out by name are old ones: Burningfold, a timber-framed house with tile-hung gables, and the rectory east of the church, gabled and tile-hung, which probably dates from the 15th century. Roofs of that kind give a roofer a different set of problems from a plain tiled semi, because the roof is only one of several surfaces keeping the rain out. The gable wall, the eaves and the gutter all share the job, and a failure in any one of them shows up inside as if the roof had leaked.

1.1 Where the wall tiles meet the roof

Tile-hanging is the practice of cladding an upper wall or gable with small clay tiles hung from battens, rather like a roof turned vertical. At the point where that cladding meets the roof slope, water has to be led out and over the roof covering by a flashing, a strip of lead or other metal dressed into the joint. If that strip has lifted, split or been bodged with sealant, rain runs behind the tile-hanging and into the timber frame. The fault can sit hidden for a very long time. Our lead roofing and leadwork page explains how the joint is cut in and dressed so that it stays dry.

1.2 Timber frames do not forgive a slow leak

Oak framing is tough, but it dislikes sitting wet. A leak above a gable can travel along a beam and show up as a stain in a room well away from the real fault. So when a ceiling in an old cottage marks, we look at the roof, the wall cladding and the gutters as one system, and we photograph all three. If the roof is sound and the fault is a failed gutter joint, you hear exactly that, and the price is for that small job and not a bigger one. Painting a stain over and waiting for the next wet spell is the one choice we would steer you away from, because a damp joint costs least to mend on the day it is found.

Any alteration to a listed frame needs proper checking. Before pricing, we open the list entry, and we keep repairs to like-for-like materials unless the council has agreed otherwise. Where tile-hanging has slipped or been patched with the wrong size of tile, we match the originals as closely as the supply allows, because a mismatched patch is visible across the green for years.

A scattered village of old cottages means no two jobs match, and that makes price talk tricky. What we can offer is a way of thinking about it. Typical UK guide figures show where a job sits on the scale, our survey says what your roof actually needs, and our written quote then states a single total for that work. The table below uses a national guide for the smaller jobs that old roofs often need. Its figures leave VAT out, so ask any roofer whether VAT and scaffolding sit inside the total they quote. Small differences in what a price covers explain most of the gaps between two offers for what looks like one job.

3.1 What moves the price on an old roof

Access is the first factor. A cottage with a steep gable and a narrow lane may need scaffold where a modern house would not. The second is the covering: plain clay tiles, hand-made tiles and stone slabs cost more than machine-made ones. The third is what the survey finds once the old covering is off, such as rotten battens or a weakened rafter end. We tell you which of these is driving the figure, and we show you photographs so the reasoning is clear.

3.2 The smallest job that solves the problem

On a roof of this age, replacing the whole covering is rarely the first answer. A refixed ridge, a renewed flashing or a handful of replaced tiles will often hold the roof for years, and that is the advice you get. Where a re-roof is the only sensible answer, we explain why and what it will involve, from scaffold to clearing the site afterwards. The photographs from the survey carry the argument, so you can look at the tired battens or the failed underlay yourself and judge whether the recommendation is fair.

3.3 The Building Regulations line

Whether a building control application is needed turns on two measures on the Planning Portal: under 25 per cent of the total building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof touched by the work. A heavier covering, or any structural change, can tip the balance. Waverley Borough Council can confirm what applies to your house, and we handle the notification whenever the work is notifiable. On an old frame it is worth asking early, since timbers that look sound from below sometimes need strengthening once the covering is off.