Roofers in Hawkley

Hawkley sits on the Upper Greensand plateau against the woodland backdrop of the Hangers, and its core is two conservation areas. East Hampshire District Council designated Upper Green in 1982 and Lower Green followed in 1994. The cottages around Upper Green are narrow, two-storey and semi-detached, and they date generally from the mid 18th and early 19th centuries. They are built of malmstone, with brick or coursed rubble stone dressings around the doors and windows. Each pair of cottages is a small lesson in how neighbouring roofs depend on one another, and it is worth reading the roof the way you would read the walls beneath it.

1.3 Matching tile and slate

Because the leaflet records clay tile with some slate, the right repair keeps whichever covering the cottage already has. Mixing the two on a single slope, or switching to a concrete tile, changes the look from the green. A salvaged tile from a demolished outbuilding in the same village can match better than any catalogue product, because it has already weathered in the same air. Our slate roofing page explains how a slipped slate is refixed with a small clip called a tingle, which holds the slate without stripping the course above it.

Hawkley is set against the woodland of the Hangers, and a roof close to trees has a different set of problems from one in an open field. Leaves gather in valleys and gutters, shade keeps a slope damp for longer, and moss grows where the sun does not reach. None of this is a fault in the roof, but it adds to the work needed to keep it sound. We put no figures on any of it, because every house sits differently under the trees, and the survey looks at yours.

3.1 Moss, leaf fall and gutters

Moss holds water against tiles and can lift them at the edges, and the roots work into the joints between courses, and a gutter clogged with leaves overflows against the wall instead of reaching the downpipe. A valley is the angle where two roof slopes meet, and it carries a lot of water, so a valley that fills with debris can back up under the tiles. Our roof cleaning and moss removal page explains how a roof is cleaned without damaging the surface. Cleaning is not always the answer, and where the tiles are soft or flaking, you hear that rather than being sold a clean. We decide tile by tile, not slope by slope. Gutter clearing is a smaller job that often does more good than a full clean, and a good place to begin.

3.2 Who decides, inside the National Park

Hawkley is inside the South Downs National Park. In this part of East Hampshire the district council takes in planning applications for the Park Authority, while building control remains with the district. Work that does not materially affect a building's outward appearance is not development in planning terms, but a conservation area or a listed building changes that, so put your plans to East Hampshire's planners first. If you doubt that a repair stays within the original look, describe it to them in writing and keep their answer. Ask East Hampshire's planners, too, whether any Article 4 direction covers your house.

3.3 Roof windows in the Park

People ask about roof windows for cottage loft rooms. Inside the National Park, and especially inside a conservation area, think twice before ordering, and then read our guide to skylight planning permission first. Converting a loft in a two-storey house raises escape-route questions for building control, so a survey comes before any design.