Roof repairs in Bognor Regis

The edges and the top line of a roof take the wind first, which is why coastal repairs so often begin there.

On a pitched roof in Bognor Regis the weak points are rarely in the middle of a slope. They are at the ridge, the hips and the verges, where tiles are cut, bedded in mortar and open to the weather on more than one side. Sea weather works on those details hard: gales, driving rain and salt air near the front. On slopes pitched below 30 degrees, Marley warns, the side facing the wind can suffer severe suction, the lifting force that pulls loose tiles out of a course. Low-pitched interlocking tiles on 1960s and 1970s bungalows are where that tends to show. On chalet bungalows the dormer adds more edges again: cheeks, a flat top and lead aprons, each a place where wind can work under a tile.

2.1 Bedded ridges and dry-fix

Older ridges on interwar and post-war roofs were simply bedded in sand and cement, with nothing else holding them. Mortar shrinks, cracks and lets go, and a ridge tile that has lost its bed can be lifted by one strong gust. Since BS 5534, the British Standard roofers work to for tiles and slates, was revised in 2014, mortar alone is not relied on to hold ridge and hip tiles: they get mechanical fixings as well. Marley points out that installing to BS 5534 is not a legal requirement, but it is the standard a quality repair should be measured against. Dry-fix means a system of clips, screws and seals with no mortar at all; BS 8612:2018 is the specification those systems are tested to. We use either, matched to the roof and to the look of the street.

2.2 Slipped tiles, slates and tingles

A single slipped tile is a small job if it is caught early. The usual causes are a snapped or rusted nail, a broken nib on the back of the tile or a batten gone soft. On a slate roof, a replacement slate is often held with a tingle, a strip of lead or copper nailed to the batten and folded up under the slate's tail. When slates are sliding across a whole slope because their nails have failed with age, that pattern is nail sickness, and replacing one slate at a time stops being sensible. Along Aldwick Road, Arun's conservation guidance notes that many original slates have given way to concrete interlocking tiles, so a repair on one terrace can involve two materials.

Verges deserve their own mention. The verge tiles sit over the gable wall and are usually bedded on mortar with an undercloak strip beneath. When that mortar falls out, the wind can get under the end course and peel tiles back along the line. A dry verge system replaces the mortar with interlocking caps screwed to the battens, which suits exposed gables close to the beach. For the full ridge picture, our page on dry ridge and ridge tile repairs weighs rebedding against dry-fixing in more depth.

Flat roofs sit over a great many extensions, garages and dormers around Bognor, and over the shops, commercial units and blocks of flats along the coast from Selsey to Littlehampton. They fail in a few predictable ways: splits and blisters in old felt, open laps at the edges, upstands pulled away from a wall, and outlets choked with grit so water ponds. A local flat roof repair is worth doing when the covering is otherwise sound and the timber deck is dry. Press near the split: if the deck gives underfoot or the insulation is wet, a patch is only a lid on the problem. On commercial roofs the same logic applies at a larger scale: one blocked outlet over a shop can put water through a suspended ceiling, so outlets and gutters are cleared and checked as part of any repair.

4.1 Felt, EPDM and GRP compared

Torch-on felt is layered bitumen membrane, melted onto the deck with a gas torch one layer at a time. The home improvement guide Less, last updated March 2026, puts its life at 10 to 20 years and warns that a poor felt job can fail in under ten. EPDM is a synthetic rubber membrane laid as one sheet; GreenSpec gives it an expected service life of 20 to 30 years. GRP is a fibreglass resin laminate that Less puts at 25 to 40 years. Each can be repaired, but each needs its own material: a felt patch on rubber or resin will not bond. The same guide puts small flat roof repairs at £150 to £500.

4.2 Falls and ponding

Standing water is the clue that a flat roof was laid without enough fall, the slight slope that carries rain to the outlet. BS 6229:2025, which replaced the 2018 edition in December 2025, sets a minimum finished fall of 1:80; roofers usually design steeper, around 1:40, so the finished roof still drains once the deck settles. Where a roof ponds across its middle, a patch over the low spot rarely lasts, and firring strips, the tapered timbers that create the fall, may need fitting under a new covering. That is the point where a new flat roofing system becomes the cost effective solution rather than another repair. We also check that the edge trims push water into the gutter rather than down the fascia, the timber or plastic face board that the gutter brackets screw to.

Replacing the waterproof membrane on a flat roof counts as renovation under Approved Document L. Where more than half of that roof is renovated, the insulation may need upgrading as well; the 2021 edition applies until the 2026 edition takes effect on 24 March 2027. That changes both the price and the work, so we say at the survey whether it is likely. Dormer roofs are the same story on a smaller scale, with the flat top and the cheeks where leaks begin. For full replacements, see our flat roofing service.

A repair holds when the underlay, battens and covering around it are sound; when they are not, patching only delays the bill.

The verdict we give after every survey is one of three: repair it, patch it for now, or replace it. Replacement only comes up when the evidence on your own roof points to it. The signs are faults spread across a whole slope rather than one spot: slates sliding everywhere from nail sickness, concrete tiles crumbling at the edges, underlay perished from eaves to ridge, or battens soft in more than one place. A reliable repair needs something sound to tie into; when the roof around the fault is failing too, each fix sets up the next leak. There is no single roofing solution that suits every roof, which is why the call is made on evidence.

6.1 Lifespans and the age of your roof

Age alone does not condemn a roof. Marley says concrete tiles are expected to last for around 60 years, while stressing that this is no guarantee of longevity, and the Confederation of Roofing Contractors says well-maintained slate can last 100 years or more. The fixings and underlay usually give out first: a slate roof can need relaying on new battens with its original slates long before the slates themselves are finished. Checkatrade's roof replacement guide, updated October 2026, gives a UK average of around £8,000, and around £12,000 for a typical three-bedroom semi, with a wide spread either side. Our page on whether it is cheaper to repair or replace sets the two side by side.

6.2 Building Regulations and permission

Repairs rarely need approval, but a larger re-roof can. The Planning Portal says a building control application is not normally needed when less than 25 per cent of the total building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof is affected, and it is needed where a new covering increases the weight of the roof covering by 15 per cent or more. Arun District Council's building control page includes re-covering pitched and flat roofs in its list of work needing approval, so Arun's team, or your roofer, can confirm for your job. Where work is notifiable we explain the consent and handle the notification. Planning permission is rarely needed to re-cover a roof in matching materials, though listed buildings and Article 4 areas can differ; our guide to roof repairs and Building Regulations has the detail.

Two more checks come before any roof replacement. Bats are protected by law, and repairing or replacing a roof can disturb a roost, so we look for signs before anything is stripped. And on homes built or refurbished before 2000, HSE advice is to assume asbestos is present until checked, which matters for old cement garage roofs and soffits on some interwar bungalows. Careful removal of asbestos cement sheets is non-licensed work under HSE guidance, while sheets that have broken up badly make it notifiable non-licensed work.