Roofers in West Itchenor

The village sits in a parish of 546 acres at the mouth of Chichester Harbour, and its main street ends at a quay on Chichester Channel. Close to the middle stands St Nicholas' Church, listed grade I, with a core from the late 12th century. The county history calls the walls rubble with ashlar dressings and covered with tile. Ashlar is squared, finely cut stone, used for corners and window surrounds, and rubble is the rougher walling between. Near it, the Old Rectory is listed grade II and dates to the 15th century: a timber frame with brick infill under a steeply pitched tiled roof. Chichester District Council's 2010 conservation area appraisal reads the village as a whole, and for roofs it records handmade clay tile as the principal material.

1.1 What a steep clay tile roof asks of the work

A steep pitch sheds water quickly, which suits an old roof, but it changes how repairs are done. Nobody strolls across a steep slope, so we work from roof ladders and scaffold, and close photographs of every fault let you see exactly what we see before you agree to anything. Handmade clay tiles vary a little in shape and colour, and a new machine-made tile set among them can stand out for years. Where only a few have slipped or cracked, we hunt for sound reclaimed tiles of matching size and tone before suggesting new ones. The battens (the timber laths each tile hooks over) and the underlay beneath them matter just as much, because a roof can look perfect from the lane while the nails behind it have rusted through. Our pitched roofing page sets out the order of work when a slope is taken off, new battens go on and the covering is laid again.

1.2 Listed buildings, churches and consent

Inside a conservation area, swapping a broken tile for the same tile is one thing and altering how a roof looks is another. On a listed building, any work that would change its character needs listed building consent, so read the entry for your house before you ask anyone to quote. The parish church, being Church of England and in use, follows the faculty system rather than that consent route. Flashing is lead or another sheet metal laid across the gap between a slope and the wall, chimney or dormer next to it, and on old stone and brick it is frequently where water first gets in. We renew it in lead, shaped by hand to the wall. For anything beyond a plain repair, ask Chichester District Council's planning team what applies at your address before you book work.

West Itchenor lives by the water. The council's appraisal says that boat building and the sailing club are important to the local economy, and it records that the Admiralty used the village in the Second World War in connection with the D-Day landings. Where a shed, workshop, store room or outbuilding close to the channel has a flat or shallow-pitched roof, that roof faces the sea weather head on, from gales and driving rain to salt in the air, and it has no spare height to shed water if a fall has been laid too flat.

3.1 Flat and shallow roofs near the water

BS 6229:2025 sets a minimum finished fall of 1:80 on a flat roof, while roofers aim steeper so that the finished surface drains rather than ponds. Standing water is the first thing we look for, then the edge trims and the upstands (the covering turned up a wall), because those seams open when a roof flexes in the wind. A small shed roof with a split can often be patched. A boat store with a sagging deck and a membrane failing in several places is usually better re-covered, and the written quote spells out which route we advise and why. A deck that has gone soft under a leak is replaced before any new covering goes on, since a fresh membrane laid over rot only hides the problem for a season or two. Our flat roofing page lists the coverings we lay.

3.2 Older outbuildings and asbestos

The HSE advises assuming that anything built or refurbished before 2000 contains asbestos unless a check proves it does not. Corrugated sheet on an old workshop or garage may be asbestos cement, which is fragile and must never be walked on or broken up. Careful removal of weathered, undamaged sheets is non-licensed work, though heavy breakage makes it notifiable, and the waste needs a consignment note. A suspect sheet stays untouched until it has been identified, and if it proves to be asbestos cement we explain the options, including safe removal, before any price is agreed. The village also lies inside the harbour's National Landscape, which was first designated on 4 February 1964 and renamed in 2023, so check with the council before adding a dormer or changing the look of a roof. Gutters and fascias on harbour-side buildings take a battering too, with sea wind pushing rain sideways under the edges, and our roof repairs page covers the smaller fixes.