Roofers in Wisborough Green

St Peter ad Vincula stands on a low mound, and Sussex Parish Churches records that its Victorian restorer, E Christian, kept the Horsham slab roofs in 1867 and 1868, roofs the guide calls some of the finest in Sussex. A Horsham slab is a thick sandstone slate cut from a flaggy rock, and it is heavy. Horsham District's conservation appraisal describes these roofs as steep, on stout timbers made to bear the weight, and notes that the stones seem to merge with age as moss, lichen and weather knit the surface together. For a roofer, the lesson is to read the roof before lifting anything. Which slabs are original, which were replaced, and where an old method has been patched all show on the surface to a trained eye. Well-meant patches of mortar or sealant deserve a look too, because a daub that traps water behind a slab can rot the fixings and battens beneath it, and we check for them before anything else.

At Newbridge, where the A272 crosses the River Arun, stood the highest point of the Arun Navigation and the southern end of the Wey and Arun Canal. Near water the ground stays damp, and a gutter that overflows soaks the foot of a wall, so on an old cottage we check where the downpipes discharge as well as what the roof is doing. Up in the loft, the rafters and wall plates are checked for old leaks and for movement, because a roof that has sagged or spread cannot simply be re-covered. A stone or clay roof that looks tired may need only repairs to the slipped sections, while one that has lost its fixings across every slope needs a proper strip. We recommend the smaller job that solves the cause, and we explain when it does not. Rain falling on a low-lying site has further to go before it drains, so valleys and gutters need to be clear and properly sized before winter; a blocked valley on a cottage roof is a common way for water to reach the timbers.