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Roofers in Aldingbourne

Aldingbourne lies on the coastal plain beside the Aldingbourne Rife. Its roofs run from a plastered rubble church under tile to a thatched barn at Norton, and we survey them all.

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Three Aldingbourne roofs, and where they let water in

  • Clay tiles beside a rubble wall

    Tile against rubble and plaster

    St Mary's church is rubble with ashlar dressings, with plaster over much of the walling, under a tile roof.

    Read more about Tile against rubble and plaster

    Where tile meets an uneven wall like that, the lead flashing must follow every dip, and it is the first place we look.

  • A timber-clad outbuilding roof

    Weatherboard, thatch and outbuildings

    A barn at Norton Grange has weather-boarded walls and a thatched roof, according to the Victoria County History.

    Read more about Weatherboard, thatch and outbuildings

    Farm outbuildings with timber cladding often meet a tiled roof somewhere, and the join between boards and tiles is where rain finds a way behind.

  • An old brick house roof

    Early rubble-and-brick houses

    Lidsey House is an early-17th-century building of rubble and brick. Houses of that age carry roofs that have been patched, re-covered and patched again, so we lift a few tiles and check the timbers beneath before saying whether a repair will hold.

Street map of Aldingbourne, west of central Worthing, with a pin on the town.

Who decides on a Aldingbourne roof

Planning authority
Arun District Council
Councils
Arun District Council and West Sussex County Council
Conservation area
Aldingbourne, listed by Arun together with Norton (Norton Lane)
Article 4
None named for Aldingbourne; Arun names only Craigweil House, Aldwick
Church
St Mary the Virgin, Church of England, roofed with tile
From central Worthing
18.3 road miles, west, about 27 minutes by car

Aldingbourne roofs

Beside the Rife, from church to barn

Three roofing questions that come from how old Aldingbourne was built, and what it was built of.

Chapter one

Tile roofs against rubble and plaster at St Mary's

The village church shows the local problem in miniature: a tiled roof meeting walls of rubble, ashlar and plaster that never sit flat.

The Victoria County History describes the church of St Mary the Virgin as rubble with ashlar dressings, with plaster over much of the walling, under a tile roof, and it gives the south arcade to the late twelfth century. That single description holds the difficulty of roofing an old village. Tiles are regular and flat-faced; rubble is neither. Wherever the two meet, at a gable, a chimney or a porch, something must close the uneven gap. Usually that is a flashing, a narrow band of lead folded into the wall and lapped over the tiles, so that rain is carried out onto the roof and kept away from the masonry.

At a glance

  • St Mary's combines rubble, ashlar, plaster and tile
  • Flashings fail where walls are uneven
  • Gutters that overshoot soak plastered walls

1.1 Where we look first

We begin in the loft, because damp on the underside of the roof shows which slope has been taking in water. Outside, we follow each wall the roof touches and check the lead, any mortar fillets that were put in its place, and the verge. The verge is where the roof stops at a gable wall, and its outermost tiles are bedded and pinned instead of hooked over a batten. Gutters come next. One that spills at a joint can keep a plastered wall wet for years, and the stain it leaves can appear well away from the fault. Everything we find goes into a set of photographs of your own roof, sent with the written quote.

1.2 Repairing without making it worse

A bead of sealant along a rubble wall looks neat for a season and then splits. The sounder repair is to rake a shallow groove into a mortar joint, tuck the lead into it, wedge it and point over the top, so that the shape of the work sheds the water instead of a smear holding it out. If the plaster behind has blown, the wall needs time to dry before it is made good, and we tell you that instead of rushing the finish. Tiles lifted for the job are sorted, the sound ones go back, and any replacements are matched for size and colour so the patch does not stand out in the street.

Ridge and hip tiles get looked at on the same visit. The 2014 revision of BS 5534 stopped treating mortar as enough for them, so they are fixed with screws or clips as well. Our roof repairs page explains how a fault is traced and closed.

Tracing damp beside a plastered gable

  1. Loft first We find where the stain on the underside of the roof starts and stops.
  2. Walk the junctions Every flashing and fillet where tile meets rubble gets a close look.
  3. Check the gutter An overshooting gutter can soak a plastered wall from outside.
  4. Show you Each fault is pictured on your own roof and attached to the written quote.

Chapter two

Norton's thatched barn and the conservation area

Norton Lane, where Norton Grange stands, has a conservation area of its own, so a roof question here starts with what is being changed.

Knapped flint wall meeting the eaves of an old clay tile roof
Knapped flint wall meeting the eaves of an old clay tile roof

Arun District Council lists Aldingbourne and Norton, around Norton Lane, among its conservation areas. Along Norton Lane, the Victoria County History records a barn of five bays at Norton Grange with weather-boarded walls and a thatched roof, the kind of older building that sets the tone for the roofs beside it. Thatch is a craft in its own right, laid and repaired by thatchers. Our concern is what stands next to it: the tiled porch, the later extension, the garage or the outbuilding sharing a wall with something older. The line where two roof coverings meet is where leaks tend to begin, and in a farming parish there are many such lines.

At a glance

  • Arun lists Aldingbourne and Norton as conservation areas
  • Norton Grange barn is weather-boarded and thatched
  • Arun names no Article 4 direction here

2.1 Where boards meet tiles

Weatherboarding is timber cladding made of overlapping boards. Where a tiled roof runs into it, the usual fault is a gap behind the lower edge of a board, so rain tracks down the back of the cladding and into the wall. The tidy cure is a run of soakers, small folded pieces of lead set in step with each course of tiles and turned up behind the boards, with a flashing finishing the top. Leadworx notes that Code 4 lead is now the usual pick for general flashings, and Royston recommends the thinner Code 3 for soakers only. The job takes longer than a tube of sealant and lasts longer too. Before we price it, we take photographs of the junction so you can see the gap that has been letting rain through.

2.2 What consent does and does not cover

A conservation area does not forbid roof work. Putting back the same covering usually needs no planning permission. Three things change the answer: a different material, a listed building, or an Article 4 direction, which withdraws permitted rights in a defined area. Arun names no such direction for Aldingbourne; the only ones on its conservation areas page relate to Craigweil House at Aldwick. On a listed building, repairs in non-matching materials are among the works needing listed building consent. If you are unsure, ask the Arun planning team before the covering changes. Our roof planning permission guide lists what to put to them. Old farm and village roofs are also where bats roost and birds nest, so we check for both before stripping starts, and the tiled work itself is covered on our pitched roofing page.

What people sayBecause Aldingbourne is a conservation area, you cannot re-tile a house without applying for permission.

What is truePutting back the same kind of covering does not usually need planning permission; a different material, a listed building or an Article 4 direction is what raises the question.

Chapter three

Lidsey House and re-roofing early brick houses

Houses with seventeenth-century walls and many later roofs reach a point where another patch costs more than a proper re-cover.

Lidsey House is an early-17th-century building of rubble and brick, and it stands for something the parish has in quantity: old walls carrying a roof that has been renewed more than once. With a house like that, the question is not how old the roof is but whether it is still sound. A roof can be well past its first covering and perfectly good, or recently re-laid and already failing. The survey settles it. Our survey counts slipped and cracked tiles, tests the battens (the thin timber laths each course hangs from), checks whether the underlay below has perished, and traces how far damp has travelled into the rafters. The parish measures about four miles from north to south, so houses sit spread along its lanes and down tracks, and access for ladders, scaffold and deliveries is planned before the day of the work.

At a glance

  • Lidsey House is early 17th century, rubble and brick
  • Trouble in one place usually means a repair
  • Check any quote states VAT and scaffolding
Row of concrete sectional garages with weathered grey corrugated roofs
Row of concrete sectional garages with weathered grey corrugated roofs

3.1 Repair or re-cover

Trouble confined to one place, say a valley or a single slope, is normally a repair. A roof failing everywhere, with rusted nails and soft timber, is a re-cover, and we show you the photographs that explain why. We also say when a re-cover is not needed: a sound roof with one bad junction should be mended, not stripped. On open ground the fixing matters as much as the tile. Marley warns that a roof pitched under 30 degrees can see strong suction on the side the wind strikes, so the fixing should suit the site and not just the street. Open ground on a coastal plain is exactly where we would not leave that to chance. A roof tile laid in single lap needs a mechanical fixing, not only the weight of the course above it.

Row of concrete sectional garages with weathered grey corrugated roofs
Row of concrete sectional garages with weathered grey corrugated roofs

3.2 Building Regulations, VAT and the price

Planning Portal guidance sets the Building Regulations limits for repair or re-covering at less than 25 per cent of the building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof. Beyond those limits an application is needed, as it is for structural alterations or a covering that weighs 15 per cent or more than the old one, and an insulation upgrade under Part L can follow. Where the work is notifiable we deal with the notification, and we tell you at the survey whether it applies. VAT on a re-roof is at the standard rate. Our roof replacement page covers a full re-cover, and the figures below are national guide prices from Checkatrade, not ours.

Typical UK costs for a full re-roof

  • Gable roof£7,000 to £16,250
  • Hipped roof£9,250 to £18,000
  • Scaffolding£700 to £1,300

These guide figures exclude VAT; your own price arrives after the survey as one written total, so check what any quote you hold includes. Source: Checkatrade roof replacement cost guide, updated October 2026.

Roofing services for Aldingbourne houses and barns

Aldingbourne roof questions, from the Rife to Norton

Why does a damp patch show on the plaster below my Aldingbourne roof?

Plaster stains are rarely under the hole. The water may come from a lifted flashing where tile meets rubble, a split gutter joint above, or the roof's own wall junction, and it can travel before it shows. We start in the loft, follow the damp back to its edge, then check the flashings and gutters outside, and take photographs of what we find before quoting any repair.

Can you work beside a thatched roof at Norton?

We deal with the tiled and leadwork side of the building, such as an extension, porch or outbuilding roof that joins the older structure. Thatch itself is a separate craft. At the junction we make the join watertight, with soakers or a flashing, and plan the access so the older roof is left undisturbed. We would also look for nesting birds or bats before work starts.

Do I need Arun's permission to change the tiles on a house in the conservation area?

Not for a like-for-like covering, which usually needs no planning permission. Moving from clay to a different material is the sort of change worth a call to the Arun planning team first, because it alters how the roof looks. Arun names no Article 4 direction for Aldingbourne, but check whether the house is listed. We take photographs of the existing roof so the matching is clear.

Who signs off a re-roof on an old rubble-and-brick house?

Building control, where the work is notifiable: either the council's building control team, here Arun District Council, or a registered building control approver you choose. The Planning Portal's thresholds settle whether an application applies in the first place. A covering much heavier than the old one, or a change to the structure, brings approval in, and we set out the route and take care of the notification.

Roofers near Aldingbourne

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