Older bungalows
What should be checked on an older bungalow roof?
The short answer
On an older bungalow roof, check the hips and ridge, the flashings round the chimney and any extension, the tiles and battens, the loft for damp and daylight, flat-roofed additions and garage roofs, and any sheeting or soffits that might contain asbestos. A bungalow keeps most of its roof in plain view, so a careful look from the garden is a sensible first step, and it costs nothing.
A room-by-room tour of what matters on a bungalow roof that has been standing for decades, and what each fault usually means.
Hips, ridges and the long lines of a bungalow roof
Many bungalows are hipped, which means the roof slopes down on all sides, and that gives them a ridge and several hips running down to the corners. Those lines take the weather first. Look for a ridge that dips or bows, hip tiles that have shifted, and cracked or missing mortar beneath them. On older roofs the bedding was often mortar and nothing else, and mortar cracks as a roof moves with the seasons.
BS 5534 was revised in 2014, and a ridge refixed today would also be held by mechanical fixings. That does not mean an older bedded ridge must come off at once; it means the inspection should judge whether it is sound and say plainly if it is not. A sound ridge that has weathered well can stay, and a loose one is fixed before the next gale tests it. Our page on ridge tile repairs shows how loose ridges are put right.
The loft: timbers, underlay and daylight
An older bungalow loft is where age shows most. Some roofs have old felt that has dried and split, or no underlay at all, so a tile slip lets weather straight into the loft. Check the rafters and wall plates for dark staining, soft patches or old leak tracks. Look at the line of the roof from inside for sagging between the supports. Daylight showing through the covering marks a gap that wind-driven rain will find.
Insulation is another thing to look at. Moisture trapped by blocked eaves, or insulation laid hard against the underlay, can leave timbers wet through winter. Our answer on how to check a roof from the loft lists the points in order. Staining that follows a rafter downhill usually marks a leak, while a general dampness across the underside points more to trapped moist air. The survey tells the two apart, which matters because the cures are different.
Flat-roofed porches, bays and joined garages
A bungalow often carries flat-roofed additions: a porch, a rear extension, a kitchen bay or a garage joined to the side. These are usually the first parts to leak. Look for standing water a day after rain, blistering, splits where the covering meets the wall, and edge trims that have lifted. Check that gutters and outlets drain freely away from the wall.
The covering matters. Less gives a typical life of 10 to 20 years for torch-on felt, 25 to 40 years for GRP and 30 to 50 years for EPDM, though sources vary and a poor installation can fail far sooner. BS 6229:2025 keeps a minimum finished fall of 1:80, so a pool that lingers on a flat porch for days points to a fault in the build, not merely a wet week. Ask what the existing covering is before assuming it can be patched, because some felts and membranes cannot be joined to newer materials, and a mismatched repair can leak at the seam within a season or two.
Interwar bungalows and materials to handle with care
Stretches of this coast were built up with bungalows in the 1920s and 1930s. The Victoria County History notes that Middleton-on-Sea had bungalows for renting in steady demand by about 1928, and that some of the lighter-built homes around Southdean and Elmer had asbestos walls. Old railway carriages were put to use at Elmer as well. Those are historical notes about a few estates, not a statement about your house.
What it means in practice is simple. HSE's guidance on anything built or refurbished before 2000 is to presume asbestos is part of it. Check any garage sheeting, lean-to roof, soffit or old downpipe before anyone cuts or drills it, and read our answer on whether an inspection can find asbestos on a roof before you book work on those parts.
Reaching the roof safely and what the survey returns
Low eaves make a bungalow roof look easy to climb, and that is the risk. Tiles crack underfoot, the lower slopes are slippery with moss, and fragile sheeting on an outbuilding gives no warning. Our answer on inspecting your own roof sets out what is safe to do from the garden and the roof space. Our roof inspections and surveys hub shows the visits we offer when you would rather hand it over.
A survey from us gives you photographs of each fault and a plain verdict on the whole roof: repair, patch for now, or replace. Where a few repairs will hold, that is what we advise. Where the covering has run its course, our page on bungalow roof replacement explains what a new roof involves. After that comes a quote in writing, giving one total.
Related questions
Older bungalow roofs
Does a chalet bungalow need extra checks around the dormers?
Yes. The cheeks, the flat tops, the valleys either side and the lead flashings round a dormer are all common leak points, and they are hard to judge from the garden. Our page on chalet bungalow roofs explains how dormers affect a survey and where the weak points tend to be.
What should I do about a few slipped tiles on an older bungalow?
Photograph them and have the area looked at before patching. Slipped tiles can point to failed nails or battens beyond the gap. Our answer on slipped roof tiles explains the checks that decide between a quick repair and a larger section of work.