Roofers in Middleton on Sea

1.1 Flashings, soakers and valleys

Flashing is lead sheet dressed over a junction, say where a slope butts against a wall or climbs past a chimney stack. A soaker is a small bent piece of lead tucked under each course of tiles along that junction. Where two slopes meet in an inward corner, that corner is a valley, and rain from both runs down it, so a fault there announces itself quickly. Sheet lead is graded by thickness into numbered codes. Leadworx lists Code 3 as for soakers only and Code 4 as the standard pick for general flashing, which is the sort of detail our written quote spells out for your roof.

1.2 Tracing a stain to its source

The brown mark on a ceiling is seldom directly under the opening. Water travels along battens, felt and rafters before it drips, which is why we climb into the loft and then work up the slope from the stain. What we are hunting is lead that has lifted or split, a bead of sealant or a mortar fillet smeared on as a quick patch, and valley linings worn thin. Patches like that only hide the failure, and the next gale finds it again. Chimney stacks get the same scrutiny, because the lead around a stack takes the weather from every side.

Where the flashing is sound it stays, and the job stays small. Where it has gone, we dress a new length of lead into the joint and photograph before and after, so the evidence is your own roof's. Our lead roofing page covers the materials and methods in full.

3.1 When building control gets involved

The Planning Portal sets the test. For repairs and re-covering, an application is normally unnecessary while under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof are touched. Pass either limit, change the structure or fit a covering 15 per cent or more heavier, and building control approval becomes necessary; a thermal upgrade under Part L may follow. In Middleton, planning sits with Arun District Council, and for building control you may choose the council's team or a registered building control approver. Where the job is notifiable, we make the notification ourselves.

3.2 What shifts the total

Hips cost more to strip and re-cover than a gable of the same footprint. Scaffold, access, the covering you pick and whatever the old tiles were hiding all move the figure. Sound clay or concrete tiles can often be lifted, sorted and laid again on new battens and underlay, which keeps the look of the street, while cracked or crumbling ones are replaced. Standard-rate VAT of 20 per cent applies to re-roofing, according to GOV.UK, so check whether any figure you have been given includes it. For a full re-cover of a single-storey house, our bungalow roof replacement guide goes step by step. The bars below show national guide ranges, which are not our price list. As for what we charge, we believe our pricing is good and fair.