01903 299063 Get a quote

Roofers in Slinfold

Slinfold sits in a dip of the Low Weald, with the River Arun running north of the village. Its oldest roofs are Horsham Stone and handmade clay tile, and we survey them closely.

Get a quoteCall 01903 299063

Where Slinfold's three kinds of roof start to fail

  • A timber-framed tiled house

    Timber-framed houses under stone or tile

    The council's appraisal describes the oldest buildings as timber-framed, often gabled, under Horsham Stone or handmade clay tile.

    Read more about Timber-framed houses under stone or tile

    Oak frames shift over the centuries, so here we sight along the ridge for dips before we look at a single tile.

  • A hipped clay tile roof

    Georgian hips and Victorian gables

    Georgian houses here carry hipped roofs, with clay tile the covering the appraisal records, while Victorian houses are gabled in tile or slate with plain and patterned bargeboards.

    Read more about Georgian hips and Victorian gables

    Hips, valleys and the timber boards along each gable are our first stops.

  • A church roof beside a spire

    St Peter's and its stone spire

    St Peter's was rebuilt in 1861 in Wealden sandstone and Horsham stone, with a stone spire. Roofs like that depend on lead at their joins, and when lead gives way the damp tends to appear a room or two from the fault.

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

A planning check for Slinfold roofs

Planning authority
Horsham District Council
Councils
Horsham District Council and West Sussex County Council
Conservation area
Slinfold Conservation Area, designated 1976; appraisal and management plan adopted September 2020
Article 4
A direction on window removal where work fronts a highway, watercourse or open space; windows only, not roofs
Listed example
Parish Church of St Peter, Grade II, rebuilt 1861 by Benjamin Ferrey
From central Worthing
22.2 road miles, north, about 32 minutes by car

Slinfold roofs

Stone, tile and a Wealden dip

Three chapters on the roofs the Slinfold appraisal describes, from oak frames to a Victorian spire.

Chapter one

Horsham Stone and clay tile on Slinfold's timber frames

The oldest buildings in Slinfold are timber-framed under stone or handmade tile, and the roof and the frame depend on each other.

A timber-framed house is built differently from a brick one, and its roof shows it. Horsham District Council's 2020 appraisal says Slinfold's oldest buildings have timber frames and gables, covered in handmade clay tile or Horsham Stone, in a village that sits on Weald Clay. The oak frame carries the rafters and the rafters carry the covering, so a leak seldom stays put. Water that gets into a joint can run along the timber and surface as a stain in another room entirely. So we trace the damp backwards to its source before any figure is mentioned, and treat a ceiling mark as the place to start looking, never as the position of the hole.

At a glance

  • Oldest buildings are timber-framed under stone or tile
  • A roof's existing stone slates are reused first
  • Listed roofs can need consent for new materials
Lead-lined valley where two clay-tiled roof slopes meet
Lead-lined valley where two clay-tiled roof slopes meet

1.1 What we check on a framed roof

From the ground and a ladder we sight along the ridge, the top line where the two slopes meet, for any dip that suggests a rafter or wall plate has moved. We check the verge, the sloped edge where the tiles finish against a gable wall, for anything loose, and the valleys, where two slopes funnel their rain into one shared channel, for split lead or silt. From the loft hatch we look for chinks of light, tide marks on old timber and soft wood at the rafter feet, where water collects. Handmade tiles are slightly uneven, so a few cracked ones among sound neighbours can often be swapped without stripping the slope. Photographs of your own roof reach you before any price does.

Lead-lined valley where two clay-tiled roof slopes meet
Lead-lined valley where two clay-tiled roof slopes meet

1.2 Relaying and repairing Horsham Stone

Horsham Stone, a flaggy sandstone, is split into thick slates and laid in diminishing courses, meaning big slabs along the gutter line and ever smaller ones towards the top. The Stone Roofing Association's guide ranks reusing a roof's existing slates above every other repair route, and advises against stone lifted from other buildings whenever there is a choice. So when a slab slips, we lift it, inspect the fixings and the battens beneath, the slim timber laths the slates hang from, and set the same stone back. Where pieces are lost, new Horsham stone is the proper way to fill the gap if it can be sourced. Our Horsham stone roofing page covers sorting and relaying a whole slope. A listed house is different: swapping in another material can count as work needing listed building consent, so we ask Horsham District Council before anything is ordered.

Horsham Stone roofs in brief

What it is
A calcareous, flaggy sandstone used for roofing and flooring
Double lap
Random-sized slates, graded in size, big near the eaves and small near the ridge
Single lap
Unique to Horsham stone roofs, with joints weathered by Welsh slate shadows
Repairs
Existing slates reused before anything else; new stone for any gap
Never mix
Limestone slates with sandstones

Source: Stone Roofing Association, Horsham Stone Roofs; Horsham District Council, Slinfold appraisal, September 2020

Chapter two

Georgian hips and Victorian gables in Slinfold

Hips on the Georgian houses and bargeboards on the Victorian ones are the parts of the roof that meet the weather first.

Victorian terrace chimney stacks with spalled bricks and old lead flashing
Victorian terrace chimney stacks with spalled bricks and old lead flashing

The appraisal records two house types that matter for roofing. Slinfold's Georgian houses have hipped roofs, with clay tile the covering it names, and its Victorian houses wear gabled roofs in tile or slate, finished with plain and patterned bargeboards. A hip is the angled ridge running down the external corner between two slopes, and a hipped house has one running down from each end of the ridge. Each is capped with tiles that throw water off the join, and every tile on that line is battered from three sides. A gable roof has no hips, but it has verges and the bargeboards along them, and those suffer in their own way.

At a glance

  • Georgian roofs here are hipped, in clay tile
  • Victorian gables carry tile or slate
  • Hips get screws or clips as well as mortar

2.1 Hips and ridges, fixed the current way

BS 5534 was revised in 2014. Since then a ridge or hip tile gets screws or clips on top of its mortar, because the bed alone is not relied on. Nobody has banned mortar; it still seals and finishes the line. A dry-fix system, tested to BS 8612:2018, is the alternative, clipping the tiles to a ventilated roll, so no mortar bed is used. On a Georgian roof we lean towards keeping sound clay hip tiles: clean them, bed them, and fasten them back with proper hardware, instead of buying replacements that will never match. If the tiles themselves are cracked, our ridge tile repairs page sets out the choices.

2.2 Victorian slate, bargeboards and flashings

A slate that has slid down its nail is the fault we meet on these roofs. The nail has corroded or the slate has split, and the gap lets rain reach the underlay, the membrane beneath the covering. We replace the slate with a proper fixing, not a smear of sealant that hides the gap for a season. At the gable we check bargeboards for rot where the timber meets the wall. Where a slope meets a chimney we examine the flashing, the strip of lead sealing that join, and the soakers, the small folded pieces of lead worked in under each course. A failed flashing can send water into a ceiling while the stain sits somewhere else. Matching is the other half of the job: new slate beside old Welsh slate weathers differently, so we match size, colour and thickness before we order a single one.

Chapter three

Slinfold's conservation area, windows-only Article 4 and the church

The conservation area shapes what you may change, yet repairing what is there and choosing a new covering are separate questions.

Slinfold Conservation Area was first designated in 1976, and the council adopted a new appraisal and management plan in September 2020. The planning authority for the village is Horsham District Council, not the South Downs National Park. The appraisal also records an Article 4 direction, which withdraws a permitted development right. The one recorded here covers alterations to a dwellinghouse that remove an external window where the work fronts a highway, watercourse or open space. That is a windows rule, and it does not touch roof coverings.

At a glance

  • Slinfold Conservation Area dates from 1976
  • The Article 4 direction concerns windows, not roofs
  • St Peter's roof work follows the Church's faculty route

3.1 Like for like, and what changes the answer

Putting back what the house already wears rarely means an application, since its outward look stays the same. The answer shifts for a listed house, or when you want a different material, such as concrete tiles in place of handmade clay. Ask Horsham District Council before the covering type changes anywhere in the conservation area. If you are unsure whether your house is listed, send us the address and we will point you to the right council record before the written quote is drawn up. Our roof planning permission guide explains roof windows and dormers, which follow separate rules. At St Peter's, any roof job is routed through the Church of England's faculty process while services continue, because the ecclesiastical exemption keeps it outside the council's consent regime.

3.2 Building Regulations on a larger job

Planning Portal guidance sets two tests for re-covering: under 25 per cent of the building envelope, and under 50 per cent of the roof. Meet both and no application to building control is normally needed. A breach of either, a structural change, or a new covering weighing 15 per cent or more above the old one's weight means approval is required, and Part L may then ask for better insulation. Stone and handmade tile are heavy, and an old frame was sized for the covering it was built to carry, so we weigh up what a different covering would do to the rafters and wall plates before we price it. Where work is notifiable, we deal with the notification, through the council's building control team or a registered building control approver, whichever you prefer. Bat roosts and birds' nests in use are covered by wildlife law, so the loft gets a proper look before any strip-out begins on a roof this old.

What people sayOnce Horsham Stone or handmade tiles start to slip, the whole roof has to come off.

What is trueSlipping is often a fixing or batten fault; sound slabs and tiles are lifted, checked and relaid, and only the failed pieces are replaced.

Roofing services for Slinfold houses

Slinfold roof questions, from oak frames to the spire

Can a Slinfold cottage keep its Horsham Stone while the timbers beneath are repaired?

Usually yes. We take the slope off slab by slab, grade the stone by size, put right the rafters or battens, then relay the same stone in diminishing courses. Reusing the original stone comes first in Stone Roofing Association advice, with new Horsham stone filling any gap. On a listed cottage, confirm consent with Horsham District Council before work starts, since altering a listed stone roof can need listed building consent.

Does the Article 4 direction in Slinfold stop me replacing my roof tiles?

The direction in the council's appraisal deals with removing external windows where work fronts a highway, watercourse or open space. Nothing there makes it a roof rule. Renewing the covering you already have rarely needs an application, although a listed building is another matter. A quick call to Horsham District Council is sensible before you switch to a different type of covering.

Our Georgian hips keep shedding mortar. Would a dry ridge suit a Slinfold house?

It can. Dry-fix systems are tested to BS 8612:2018 and clip the tiles down without any mortar bed. The real question is appearance, because a hip should still read as part of an older roof. We would inspect the existing tiles first and re-fix them with clips if they are sound. Ask Horsham District Council about any change of look inside the conservation area.

Would a bigger re-roof in Slinfold need Building Regulations sign-off?

Possibly. Planning Portal guidance says no building control application is normally needed while work touches under 25 per cent of the envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof. Fitting a covering 15 per cent or more heavier needs approval as well. The survey shows which side of the line your roof sits on, and the route and paperwork are explained at that stage.

Roofers near Slinfold

Tell us about your roof

Describe what is happening and we will call you back to arrange a visit.

  • Photographs of what we find
  • A written quote with one total price
  • Or call 01903 299063

10-year workmanship guarantee, in writing.

Call Get a quote