01903 299063 Get a quote

Roofers in West Itchenor

West Itchenor sits at the mouth of Chichester Harbour, its main street ending at a quay. We survey its clay tile roofs and harbour-side additions, and send photographs of exactly what is wrong.

Get a quoteCall 01903 299063

Three West Itchenor roof types and their weak points

  • Handmade clay tiles on a roof

    Handmade clay tiles

    The council's appraisal notes handmade clay tiles as a roof covering in the village. No two are quite alike in thickness or curve, so a repair needs tiles that sit true beside them; loose nails and cracked edges are where we begin.

  • A roof junction beside a chimney

    Thatch beside tile on 1920s and 1930s houses

    Local builders Stearns built houses in the 1920s and 1930s with thatched roofs and eyebrow dormers, in a style meant to look old.

    Read more about Thatch beside tile on 1920s and 1930s houses

    Wherever a tiled addition, lead or a chimney touches thatch, each junction needs careful detailing.

  • A steeply pitched tiled roof

    The listed church and the Old Rectory

    St Nicholas' Church is listed Grade I, and the Victoria County History records a tile covering. The Old Rectory, Grade II, has a steeply pitched tiled roof.

    Read more about The listed church and the Old Rectory

    Both show how long tile can serve when it is kept dry.

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

What the planning records show for West Itchenor

Planning authority
Chichester District Council
Councils
Chichester District Council and West Sussex County Council
Conservation area
West Itchenor Conservation Area, with an appraisal and management proposals dated 2010
Article 4
A 2013 notice concerns solar panels and solar hot-water equipment on houses in the area
Listed buildings
St Nicholas' Church, Grade I; the Old Rectory, Grade II
From central Worthing
28.5 road miles, west, about 43 minutes by car

Itchenor roofs

Tile, thatch and a harbour quay

Three roofing questions from West Itchenor's clay tiles, its listed buildings and its harbour setting.

Chapter one

Handmade clay tiles beside Chichester Channel

Handmade tiles shed water well but are fussy to repair, and a harbour village puts every fixing to work.

West Itchenor is a small parish of 546 acres at the mouth of Chichester Harbour, and its main street ends in a quay on Chichester Channel. The council's conservation area appraisal notes handmade clay tiles for roofs there. A handmade tile is never perfectly flat or perfectly uniform, so it sheds water well but sits less snugly beside a machine-made replacement, and a repair that ignores the difference shows up as a patch that leaks round its edges.

At a glance

  • The appraisal notes handmade clay tiles for roofs
  • Marley's clay plain tiles need 30 to 40 degrees of pitch
  • Ridge and hip tiles need mechanical fixing as well as mortar
Lead-lined valley where two clay-tiled roof slopes meet
Lead-lined valley where two clay-tiled roof slopes meet

1.1 Spray, gales and fixings

The harbour brings spray and salt on the wind, and gales cross open water before they reach the roofs, so how a roof is fixed matters more than how it looks. Per Wienerberger, no single-lap tile goes on with fewer than one mechanical fixing, and the method is chosen to suit the plot's location and exposure. Plain tiles are different. They hang by small nibs from slim timber strips called battens, and they are nailed. On those roofs we check each nail and nib along the exposed verge and eaves courses, where a gust gets underneath first. From the ground we sight along each course for dips, which mark a broken batten or a slipped tile. Up in the loft we watch for daylight showing through, darkened rafters and underlay that has split, and we photograph each one, so the written quote follows from evidence you can see.

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

1.2 Pitch limits the choice

Marley gives clay plain tiles minimum slopes between 30 and 40 degrees, according to the pattern. That is why a low porch or lean-to cannot always be tiled to match the main roof, and why we measure a slope before suggesting a covering for it. Where the original tiles are sound, cleaning, re-fixing and re-bedding them beats buying new. When a whole slope has passed that point, the photographs show it and the recommendation follows.

1.3 Ridges and hips

Mortar on its own stopped being enough for ridge and hip tiles with the 2014 revision of BS 5534, which expects a screw, clip or similar fixing as well. A cracked run is therefore re-bedded with those fixings in place. Whether to re-bed or go dry-fix is a decision our ridge tile repairs page walks through.

Clay tile facts for a harbour roof

Minimum pitch, Marley clay plain tiles
30 to 40 degrees, by pattern
Minimum life, clay tile (Marley)
60 years
Replacement, clay tile (MyBuilder)
After 40 to 60 years
Old tile roofs
Age alone is a poor guide (Building Conservation Directory)
Fixing of ridge and hip tiles
Screw or clip as well as mortar (BS 5534:2014)

Source: Marley; MyBuilder, updated 21/08/2026; Building Conservation Directory; BSI, fetched October 2026

Chapter two

Listed St Nicholas and the Old Rectory roofs

One listed church and one listed rectory stand among newer houses, and what consent a roof needs turns on whose it is.

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

Listed Grade I, St Nicholas' has a late 12th-century core, and the Victoria County History records rubble walls with stone dressings and a covering of tile. The Old Rectory, listed Grade II, dates to the 15th century: a timber frame filled with brick, under a steeply pitched tiled roof. A steep pitch drains quickly, which spares the tiles, yet it also gives the wind a large face to push against, so ridge, hips and verges get our closest look on a building like that.

At a glance

  • St Nicholas' has a late 12th-century core
  • The Old Rectory dates to the 15th century
  • A 2013 notice concerns solar equipment in the conservation area

A timber frame also moves with the seasons, and a roof that sits on it has to move with it. The survey includes the rafter feet and the timber plate under the eaves, because a gutter that has leaked for years rots timber there long before any stain reaches a ceiling.

2.1 Who gives consent

Faculty rules apply to St Nicholas while it stays in Anglican worship: its works go through the Church's own system under the ecclesiastical exemption. Houses are treated differently. Consent from Chichester District Council can be needed where repairs are not made in matching materials, and that applies to Grade II as it does to Grade I. When a listed roof needs work, we identify the covering, record each slope and speak to the council's planning team before anything changes. For an unlisted house, putting back the same tile is generally not a planning matter, and our roof planning permission guide explains where that stops being true.

2.2 The solar notice

An Article 4 notice dated 15 August 2013 applies in the conservation area and concerns solar panels and solar water heating on houses. A separate confirmed direction also exists, and Chichester's planning team can say whether it reaches anything beyond solar. Anyone planning panels here should ask before ordering them. Re-covering a roof with tile is a different matter from mounting equipment on it, but the two are often planned together, so it pays to raise both at once.

2.3 Bats under old tile

Old tiled roofs with deep voids can hold bat roosts, and bats are protected. At survey we look in the loft for droppings and staining, and we stop work if we find any.

What people sayAn Article 4 direction means nothing at all can be done to your roof.

What is trueA direction withdraws specified permitted development rights; planning permission is then needed for the matters it lists, so ask the council before starting.

Chapter three

Flat roofs and extensions beside the harbour

Boat sheds, porches and extension roofs fail in ways a tiled roof does not, and the salt air adds its own work.

Boat building and the sailing club are important to West Itchenor's economy, and the Admiralty used the village during the Second World War in connection with the D-Day landings. A shed built for boats is typically a wide, low structure, and homes in the village sometimes carry flat-roofed porches or extensions. Flat roofs and large sheds fail differently from tiled ones, and a harbour makes the checks more pressing.

At a glance

  • Flat roofs are designed to 1:40 to finish at 1:80
  • EPDM can last 20 to 30 years or more
  • A new waterproof layer is renovation under Part L
Glass roof lantern on a flat-roofed extension seen from the garden
Glass roof lantern on a flat-roofed extension seen from the garden

3.1 Falls and ponding

Water must run off a flat roof, not sit on it. IKO, citing BS 6229:2018, recommends a minimum finished fall of 1:80 and says to design for 1:40, to allow for building tolerances and sagging. Standing water shortens the life of any membrane. As a guide, GreenSpec gives EPDM an expected service life of 20 to 30 years, Less gives GRP 25 to 40 years and torch-on felt 10 to 20, and workmanship moves every one of those figures. Our flat roofing page covers the coverings in turn, and the commercial roofing page covers larger buildings.

Glass roof lantern on a flat-roofed extension seen from the garden
Glass roof lantern on a flat-roofed extension seen from the garden

3.2 Salt and insulation

HomeBuilding observes that sea air is salty, and that rain never reaches soffits and fascias to rinse their deposits away. In a village at the harbour mouth that is worth a wash each year and a look at the paint and fixings behind it. Insulation is the other thing to plan for. Approved Document L treats a new waterproofing layer over a flat roof as renovation work, and when the renovated area passes 50 per cent the upgrade applies to the entire roof, not just the patch. A renewal can therefore carry insulation work and a building control application with it.

3.3 Access near the water

Scaffolding that stands on or over the highway needs a Highways Act licence from the highway authority, West Sussex County Council in West Itchenor's case. The licence is the scaffold firm's to apply for, with 10 working days' notice asked by the council at the least. On a village street that ends at a quay, room for a scaffold and a skip is worth settling before the start date is fixed.

What flat roof coverings cost in national guides, per m²

  • Torch-on felt£70 to £100
  • EPDM rubber£90 to £130
  • PVC single ply£95 to £140
  • GRP fibreglass£95 to £150

Your own figure waits for the survey and is then written down as one total price, with access and the build-up beneath taken into account. Source: MyBuilder flat roof cost guide, updated 21/08/2026.

Our services, for West Itchenor roofs

West Itchenor roof questions, from the quay to the church

How do you match handmade clay tiles when a few crack on a West Itchenor roof?

We start by saving every sound tile, lifting each carefully and setting it aside. Salvaged tiles of similar age and curve fill the gaps in the main field, and new handmade ones go where they will be least visible, such as a rear slope. Because the tiles vary, we dry-lay a few courses before fixing anything. The aim is a patch that sheds water and does not draw the eye.

Does the solar Article 4 notice in West Itchenor affect re-covering a roof?

The 2013 notice concerns solar equipment on houses in the conservation area, not tiles or slates. Re-covering with the same material is generally outside planning control. If panels are part of your plans, ask Chichester District Council's planning team first, and ask whether the confirmed direction takes away anything beyond solar before you settle the design.

What gets checked where a tiled extension meets a thatched house?

The seam between them, since that is where water collects. We look at the lead flashing, the pointing behind it and any chimney close by, and we record the junction so you can see its condition. Approved Document J sets bigger gaps around flue outlets where thatch is close, which matters if a new stack is planned beside the old roof.

Does renewing a flat roof beside Chichester Harbour need building control?

It can. Under Approved Document L a fresh waterproofing layer over a flat roof is renovation of its thermal element, and past 50 per cent of the surface the upgrade covers all of it. That usually brings added insulation and an application to a registered building control approver or the council's team. We explain which applies at survey and manage the notification.

Roofers near West Itchenor

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