Roofers in Newick

1.1 What goes wrong on a hip

Every course of ordinary tile has to be cut to meet a hip, so a hip holds more joints than anywhere else on the roof. Water gets in where the hip meets the ridge, where mortar cracks along the capping, and at the foot, where the bottom hip tile can creep down the slope when its support rusts. From the ground we look for lifted capping, dropped mortar and tiles that have slid. In the loft, daylight at the hip or a dark stain on the hip rafter tells us which of those is happening. Hip irons, the metal brackets screwed to the rafters at the eaves, stop the lowest hip tile sliding; they rust, and when one fails the whole hip can creep.

1.2 Mortar, clips and the 2014 revision

Mortar alone used to be the usual way of holding ridges and hips; the 2014 revision of BS 5534 ended that reliance, and bedded tiles and fittings are now mechanically fixed as well. Marley points out that working to BS 5534 is not itself required by law, yet it is the benchmark any careful roofer follows on a tiled roof. BS 8612:2018 sets the tests that dry-fixed capping must pass, with clips, not mortar, holding the ridge, hip or verge. The 2018 amendment concedes that heritage roofs may not suit all of its recommendations, so on an old building we talk to the planning authority and conservation advisers before changing the method. A re-bed costs far less than a new roof, so when the tiles are sound it is the first repair we price. Our ridge tile repairs page compares the two approaches, and our pitched roofing page covers a whole slope.

3.1 Old tiled roofs and the frames beneath

An old tiled roof is usually a patchwork of repairs from different decades. We record each slope before work starts, noting tile size, texture and tone, because the eye catches a mismatch from across the green. Timber-framed buildings like the Manor House also move a little with the seasons, which is why junctions in lead and soakers, metal that flexes, last longer than rigid sealant. When we lift a few tiles we check the battens, the rafters below them and the wall plate for rot, since a frame that has gone soft decides the repair before the tiles do.

3.2 Consent, the Church and the council

St Mary's belongs to the Church of England, so its roof work follows the Church's faculty route, not a council application, while services continue. For the rest of the village, planning questions go to Lewes District Council. No Article 4 direction is recorded near Newick, and a repair that matches the existing covering rarely counts as development, but changing material in a conservation area, or touching a listed building, deserves a conversation first. Our roof planning permission guide lists the questions.

3.3 When to re-roof

The Planning Portal puts the building control threshold at less than 25 per cent of the building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof, and a covering 15 per cent or more heavier needs approval. VAT is charged at 20 per cent on re-roofing work.

A full re-roof on a village house means stripping to the rafters, replacing any perished timber and fitting new battens and underlay before tiles go back. Sound old tiles can be reused, with new ones in a matching tone making up the shortfall. Scaffold standing on the public highway needs a Highways Act licence, which the scaffold firm applies for through the highway authority.