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Roofers in Barns Green

Barns Green grew from the hamlet of Slaughterford into the main settlement of Itchingfield parish, with timber-framed buildings, brick casing and 1960s houses. We trace each leak and show you the cause in photographs.

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Three kinds of Barns Green roof, and where water gets in

  • A tiled roof on an old cottage

    Timber frames cased in brick

    The Queen's Head is a timber-framed building of the 17th century, cased in brick in the 19th. A roof on an old frame has moved with it over the years, so we check ridge lines, hips and valleys before we look at the tiles.

  • A cottage gable with weatherboarding

    Bricknogged and weatherboarded cottages

    The Victoria County History says parish houses were timber-framed until about 1700 or later, and many were bricknogged (brick infill between the timbers) or weatherboarded.

    Read more about Bricknogged and weatherboarded cottages

    Where a roof edge meets that wall, the flashing and verge both need careful dressing.

  • A 1960s house roof and fascia

    Houses of the 1960s

    Three- and four-bedroomed houses were being built in Lime Avenue in 1965. A roof now around sixty years old is at the point where ridge bedding, felt underlay and fascia boards each deserve a look, even if nothing has leaked yet.

Street map of Barns Green, north of central Worthing, with a pin on the town.

What the map says about Barns Green

Planning authority
Horsham District Council
Councils
Horsham District Council and West Sussex County Council
Conservation area
None at Barns Green: the Itchingfield area lies elsewhere in the parish
Article 4
Not confirmed: ask Horsham District Council for your street
Setting
High Weald-clay ground on the watershed between the Arun and the western Adur
From central Worthing
17.9 road miles, north, about 32 minutes by car

Barns Green roofs

From Slaughterford to Lime Avenue

Three roofing questions that follow the village's growth, from a medieval hamlet to a 1965 street of family houses.

Chapter one

Old frames, brick casing and roofs that have moved

A roof carried by a 17th-century frame is rarely straight, and the survey separates old movement from new failure.

Barns Green began as a hamlet called Slaughterford and became the main settlement of Itchingfield parish. Its older buildings carry the marks of that long history. The Queen's Head is a timber-framed building of the 17th century, cased in brick in the 19th, and the Victoria County History describes parish houses as timber-framed until about 1700 or later. A roof on such a frame is not a precision job. Over three centuries the timbers have settled, dried and shifted, so the ridge may dip, a hip may lean and the courses may run slightly out of true. None of that is a fault in itself. What matters is whether water is getting through, and where. A roof that has sagged gently for a century and keeps the weather out can be left to carry on, with the loose parts put right around it.

At a glance

  • The Queen's Head dates from the 17th century
  • Brick casing was added in the 19th
  • Dips in a ridge are not always faults

1.1 Reading a ridge that dips

A dip in the ridge line can be old and settled, or it can be recent and growing. We look for tiles that have slipped, mortar that has dropped away and daylight showing from the loft, and we compare the dip with what the frame below would explain. Hips are the sloping ridges where two slopes meet. On a hipped roof they take wind from several directions, and the bedding at their foot is a common place for a tile to loosen. BS 5534 changed in 2014, and since then a repair to a bedded ridge or hip adds a mechanical fixing to the mortar, because bedding by itself is no longer trusted to hold.

1.2 Valleys, gables and what lies beneath

A valley is the internal angle where two slopes meet, usually lined with lead or a purpose-made tile, and it carries a great deal of water. On an old building it is also where several repairs may have been layered over one another. We lift the covering beside a valley when we can, to see whether the lining below is sound. If the house is listed, repairs in non-matching materials may need listed building consent, so confirm with Horsham District Council before changing a covering. Roosting bats and active nests are legally protected, so an old roof is checked for both before stripping.

Where a hip or ridge has come loose, the choice is between re-bedding with fixings and a dry-fix system, and we show both options against your own roof. Pitched coverings suited to an older house are a separate question, settled once the frame and the rafters have been seen.

Chapter two

Gutters and downpipes on Weald clay ground

Most of the parish sits on clay that drains slowly, so water leaving the roof has to be carried well away from the walls.

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

The Victoria County History records that most of Itchingfield parish overlies Weald clay, with beds of Horsham stone in the north-east, and Barns Green stands on high ground on the watershed between the Arun and the western Adur. Clay drains slowly, and Horsham District Council writes of the wooded clay vales of the Sussex Weald, so many houses here sit beside trees that drop leaves and twigs into the gutters. When a gutter blocks, the water spills over the edge and runs down the wall. That soaks brickwork, rots the ends of the rafters and fascia, and shows up inside as damp patches that look like roof leaks. We check the rainwater goods on every survey, and photograph the worst spots. Moss on the roof slope feeds the same problem, shedding into the gutter and holding moisture against the tiles, so the cleaning question and the drainage question are often one job.

At a glance

  • Itchingfield parish overlies Weald clay
  • Each gutter run needs a slight slope
  • Boards and gutters wear on a similar clock
Stacks of new handmade clay plain tiles on scaffold boards
Stacks of new handmade clay plain tiles on scaffold boards

2.1 Fall, brackets and joints

A gutter has to slope slightly towards its outlet, or it keeps standing water. Manufacturers typically recommend a fall of roughly 1:600 to 1:350, depending on the system, and Brett Martin says gutter supports should be no more than 900 millimetres apart. A sagging run, where brackets have loosened or a board has softened, is a leading reason for overflow in a downpour. Joints between lengths come next, because the seals dry out and split. Repair is often a matter of re-fixing and re-sealing, but a gutter that has lost its fall along a whole elevation is better replaced. Cast-iron lengths from older cottages can often be refurbished and repainted, while plastic runs are simply swapped, and we say which suits each elevation when we photograph it.

Stacks of new handmade clay plain tiles on scaffold boards
Stacks of new handmade clay plain tiles on scaffold boards

2.2 Fascias, soffits and ventilation

Fascias carry the gutter, and soffits close the underside of the overhang. MyBuilder says they are typically replaced every 10 to 20 years. Vented soffits matter too: Marley's guidance for a cold roof with a high-resistance underlay is continuous eaves ventilation of 10 millimetres for pitches over 15 degrees. Boards from the 1960s predate the year 2000, and the HSE advises assuming asbestos is present in homes built or refurbished before it, so a suspect soffit is tested before anyone cuts into it. Our gutters, soffits and fascias page explains each part and what replacement involves.

Gutter facts for a clay-ground village

Fall to the outlet
Roughly 1:600 to 1:350, depending on the system
Bracket spacing
No more than 900 mm apart (Brett Martin)
Fascia and soffit life
Typically replaced every 10 to 20 years (MyBuilder)
Gutter replacement
£30 to £70 per metre (MyBuilder)

Source: Brett Martin; FloPlast; MyBuilder gutter, fascia and soffit guide, updated 21/08/2026

Chapter three

Repair or re-roof a 1960s Barns Green house

The houses built in Lime Avenue in 1965 are now old enough that a planned inspection can save an emergency repair.

The Victoria County History notes that three- and four-bedroomed houses were being built in Lime Avenue in 1965, and the village hall had already stood since 1887, built for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. Between those two dates and since, Barns Green has filled out in pieces, a street here and a cluster there, so neighbouring roofs rarely share an age. A survey tells you which category your own falls into. A house from the 1960s now has a roof about sixty years old, and the original owners may never have had it looked at. Concrete or clay, the covering may still be sound, while the parts beneath it have aged faster. We lift a few tiles near the eaves to look at the felt, which can perish, and at the battens, the thin timber strips the tiles hang from, which can soften where water has reached them.

At a glance

  • Lime Avenue houses date from 1965
  • A survey separates ridge faults from felt failure
  • Larger re-roofs may bring in building control
Row of concrete sectional garages with weathered grey corrugated roofs
Row of concrete sectional garages with weathered grey corrugated roofs

3.1 A survey before a storm

An inspection is a cheaper way to find a problem than a leak is. MyBuilder gives a typical UK range of £150 to £250 for a standard roof inspection and £200 to £400 for a drone survey. Either way, what you receive from us is a set of photographs of your own roof with the faults marked, followed by a written quote that gives a single total. Each fault gets the smallest job that properly cures it, and on a 1960s roof that is often a ridge, a verge or an abutment rather than the whole slope.

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

3.2 When a repair stops being enough

The Planning Portal puts the dividing line at 25 per cent of the building envelope and 50 per cent of the roof: stay under both and an application is not normally required, go over either and approval applies, as it does for a new covering weighing 15 per cent or more than the old. A thermal upgrade under Part L may then follow. We explain which side of the line your job falls on and handle the notification where one is due. VAT at 20 per cent is added to a full re-roof, and it is worth asking whether scaffold is inside the total as well. Our roof inspections and surveys page describes what we check, and the roof replacement page covers a full strip and recover.

Typical UK costs for inspections and roof work

  • Standard roof inspection£150 to £250
  • Moderate roof repair£500 to £1,000
  • Dry ridge installation£500 to £1,000
  • Gable re-roof, semi£5,000 to £8,000

These are national guides, so your figure comes from the survey, in writing, and covers the whole job as one total. Source: MyBuilder roof inspection, roof repair, dry ridge and new roof price guides, updated 21/08/2026.

Roof work available in Barns Green

Barns Green roof questions, from old frames to new gutters

My Barns Green cottage has a dip in the ridge. Does it need a new roof?

Not necessarily. On a timber-framed house, a dip often reflects centuries of settling in the frame, not a failing covering. We look for slipped tiles, dropped mortar, daylight in the loft and damp rafters to tell old movement from new. If water is not getting in, the answer may be re-fixing the ridge and leaving the rest. We show you the evidence in photographs either way.

Is there a conservation area at Barns Green that affects roof repairs?

Horsham District Council lists no conservation area at Barns Green itself, though the Itchingfield area lies elsewhere in the parish. That does not remove other controls: a listed building needs listed building consent for repairs in non-matching materials, and an Article 4 direction would change the position. Ask the council about your address. Repair in matching materials is not normally treated as development.

Why are the walls damp on my Barns Green house when the roof looks fine?

The cause may be a gutter. Clay ground drains slowly, and blocked or sagging gutters spill water down the wall, which soaks brick and can look like a roof leak from inside. We check outlets, brackets, joints and the fall of each run, then trace any remaining damp back to the flashing or valley it starts from. Cleaning and re-fixing is sometimes all it needs.

What wears out first on a Lime Avenue-era house from the 1960s?

Usually the parts you cannot see from the drive: the felt beneath the tiles, the ridge bedding and the fixings in the battens. Fascia boards and gutters age too, while the tiles themselves may be fine. We lift a few near the eaves to check, photograph the ridge and verges, and separate the urgent jobs from the ones that can wait for a planned visit.

Roofers near Barns Green

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