Roofers in East Dean

East Dean is a large downland parish of 4,652 acres, and the village lies at about 300 feet in the valley where the River Lavant rises. The Victoria County History singles out a farmhouse south-east of the church, Nos. 30 and 31, built about 1630 with half-hipped gables. Its walls are flint with a brick plinth, the brick base at the foot of the wall, and brick angle dressings. This is the sort of building that tells a roofer why slow, careful work matters in this valley.

1.1 What a half-hip changes

A plain gable ends in a vertical wall, and the roof edge there is called the verge. A half-hipped gable clips the top of that wall with a small sloping face, so the ridge stops short of the wall and the roof turns the corner with a short hip. That makes more junctions to keep watertight. Each hip needs its own tiles cut to the angle, and the point where ridge, hip and the two slopes meet is among the places where water first finds a way in. BS 5534, as revised in 2014, ended the reliance on a mortar bed alone for ridge and hip tiles, which now also take screws, clips or a dry-fix system. On a roof like this, a good repair re-secures those tiles without altering how the gable reads from the lane. Where the old bedding has crumbled, it is raked out and renewed neatly, so no loose mortar is left to fall into the gutter.

1.2 Flint walls and a brick plinth

Flint walls are hard to repair and easy to damage, so the roof has to be worked on without ladders or scaffold tubes resting against loose facing, and the foot of every ladder is set on firm ground, clear of the plinth. Where the roof meets a flint wall, the seal is a lead flashing, tucked into a raked-out joint and dressed down over the tile, rather than a bead of sealant. We photograph each such junction as we find it, and the pictures go to you with the quote. A flashing of that kind is dressed by hand to the wall, which is slow work, and it is the reason a small flint-and-tile job can take longer than the size of the roof suggests. Our pitched roofing page describes how tiled roofs are repaired and recovered.

Hold the county in mind. This East Dean is in West Sussex, within the Chichester side of the South Downs National Park, and is a different place from the East Dean on the East Sussex coast. The place names are the same, and the planning authorities differ. Check the county on any form, any quote and any planning application you send, because a letter that goes to the wrong council can cost weeks. Our own survey notes carry the full address for the same reason, and the photographs are filed against it, which keeps your roof separate from any other.

3.1 Who decides in this part of the Park

Applications for this part of the Park are lodged with Chichester District Council, acting for the Authority, while the Authority itself remains the planning body. Building control is a district matter. The Authority's conservation area maps list East Dean (West Sussex) as a conservation area, so the look of a roof from the lane carries weight with the planners. Whether any Article 4 direction reaches a particular house is a question for the council's planning officers, so put it to them before any work that would change how the roof looks.

3.2 Repairs, listed houses and Building Regulations

On a listed house, the Authority's line is that ordinary upkeep and small in-situ repairs matching what exists do not need listed building consent, while a change to the building's character does. For Building Regulations, the Planning Portal's test is whether the work touches under 25 per cent of the total building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof. A job past those marks is one to raise with the district's building control team, and when we send the quote we tell you which side of the line your roof falls.

3.3 Roof windows and loft rooms

An old farmhouse invites thoughts of a roof window or a loft conversion. The limits are tighter inside a National Park and a conservation area, and our guide to skylight planning permission explains why, so read it before you commission drawings. A half-hipped roof also changes where a window can sit, since the small hip leaves less plain slope than a full gable would.

When you contact us, describe the roof's shape, say if the house is listed and tell us if trees overhang it. Photographs from the ground let us say what to expect before we visit, and the survey that follows gives you a verdict, a set of pictures and one written total price for the work. East Dean is a small place, and a roofer who arrives knowing about the half-hips, the flint and the trees has less to learn on your time.