A new roof is disruptive for a short while and then forgotten for a very long one, so it pays to know the order of events before the scaffold goes up. The sequence is the same for a bungalow in Goring and a Victorian terrace near the seafront, though the detail shifts with the covering and the access.
This guide follows a re-roof from the first survey to the final walk round. It names each stage, explains the trade terms as they arise, and says what the neighbours, the pavement and your garden will see. It gives no fixed number of days, because how long it takes depends on roof area, the covering chosen, the amount of timber needing work and the weather coming off the Channel.
Where it touches rules, such as the Building Regulations and the scaffold licence, it says who deals with them. If you have not yet decided to replace at all, begin with the roof replacement overview and return here once you have.
Before anything is ordered: survey, quote and paperwork
Everything starts with a survey. We climb into the loft, trace any water to its entry point, and look over the outside: covering, ridge, hips, valleys, flashings and gutters. Pictures taken on your roof are handed over with the written quote, which gives one total. With any quote, ask whether VAT and scaffold sit inside that figure.
Once you agree, the contract is made at your home, so a 14-day cancellation period applies. We start early solely on your written request, and if you cancel after it has begun you pay in proportion for what has been done. Many people let the fortnight run while materials are ordered and the scaffold is arranged.
The big choice made now is the covering. A match for the old tile or slate preserves the look of the street and often sidesteps planning questions, while a heavier one can change the structure and the paperwork. A covering that weighs 15 per cent or more above the existing one is a trigger for approval, according to the Planning Portal, which also suggests consulting an engineer or surveyor if the new tile is noticeably heavier or lighter.
Consent and notification
A full re-roof normally exceeds the limits below which no application is needed, which the Planning Portal gives as 25 per cent of the building envelope and 50 per cent of the roof. We explain how that lands on your house and then deal with the Building Regulations notification where the work is notifiable. A listed building, or a conservation area with an Article 4 direction, is raised at the survey so nothing catches you out later.
Detail is on our page about the Building Regulations for re-roofing.
Day one: scaffold, protection and the strip
The scaffold goes up first, and one piece of paperwork must be in place before it does. A scaffold erected over a road or pavement needs a licence under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980, which the scaffold firm arranges. For Worthing and Adur it is West Sussex County Council that grants the licence, and it wants 10 working days' notice or more between application and erection. Brighton and Hove has its own licensing, run by the city council. That notice period is a frequent reason a start date sits a little way ahead.
Scaffold is a cost line worth knowing about: MyBuilder gives £850 to £1,200 for a typical two-storey house. It earns it, giving roofers a safe working edge and catching anything that falls.
Next the crew protects the ground and the house. Plants, furniture and cars are moved or covered. Then the strip begins. Tiles or slates are lifted in sections, sorted into those worth reusing and those that are not, and lowered by hand or chute instead of thrown. The ridge, the capping along the top, comes off with the hips, and then the battens and underlay in the area being opened.
Opening only what can be closed
The usual method is to open only as much roof as can be made watertight again before the weather turns. It explains why the first day can look slow and why part of the roof may be sheeted overnight. On a sea-facing slope that caution counts, since the weather off the Channel can change fast.
This is also the noisiest stage, with covering being loaded into skips, so warn the neighbours. Our page on staying at home during a re-roof covers living through it.
Opening up: timbers, rot and what the strip reveals
With the covering off, the roof frame is open to view from above, often for the first time in decades, and the survey estimate meets reality. Rafters, the sloping timbers running from eaves to ridge, are checked along their length. The wall plates, the long timbers bedded along the inner top of each wall that the rafter feet rest on, get the same check, and so do the purlins, the stout beams partway down each slope.
Most frames turn out reasonable, but the usual finds are rot at the eaves where gutters leaked for years, soft rafter ends, woodworm, and old unfinished repairs. Small areas are cut out and new timber is bolted or nailed beside the original, called sistering. Bigger defects need a structural opinion first. Either way we tell you before work carries on, with photographs, because this is the one part of a re-roof that cannot be priced exactly in advance.
This is also where protected wildlife can appear. Wild birds and bats are legally protected, roof work can disturb them, and a bat found in the structure halts the job until advice is taken.
Chimney, walls and roofline
The strip exposes what the covering hid: the back of the chimney stack, old flashings, the joint with a neighbour's wall, and the state of the verge, the finishing edge along a gable wall. A stack needing repointing or rebuilding is best done now, before the new roof closes in around it.
If gutters, fascias or soffits are failing, they are far easier to replace while the scaffold stands and the edge of the roof is clear. We raise them at this point, so you choose before the new covering makes it awkward.
Old asbestos-bearing material is rare on a domestic tiled roof but possible in old soffits or sheets, and it follows its own rules. Do not disturb anything you suspect.
Membrane, ventilation and battens
With the frame sound, the roof is closed again from the bottom up. First comes the underlay, a sheet laid over the rafters to shed any water that slips past the tiles. It is rolled across the rafters in horizontal strips, each lapped over the one below it, and the first strip at the eaves is set so that it discharges into the gutter.
Ventilation is part of the work, not an afterthought. Marley's summary of BS 5250 gives, for a high-resistance underlay, a continuous 25mm gap along the eaves at pitches of 15° or less and 10mm above 15°, plus a further 5mm higher up on pitches beyond 35° or spans over 10m. Marley adds that a low-resistance type, used with an airtight ceiling and a covering that lets air through, needs only the 3mm that ordinary eaves construction gives, if its third-party certification is met. Which applies depends on the roof, so the underlay is chosen at survey and not on the day.
Next come the battens, the timber strips across the rafters that the tiles or slates hang from. Their spacing follows the covering chosen, since it fixes how much of each course is exposed to the weather. They are nailed down in straight lines, checked with a string, and finished with the extra pieces needed at eaves, ridge and verge.
The stage nobody sees again
Neither membrane nor battens will be visible once the covering is on. That makes this the stage most worth watching, and it is where progress photographs matter most, since you cannot inspect it afterwards.
If the insulation is being upgraded, it is dealt with around this point. Our guide to insulating a roof during replacement explains what Part L asks.
The new covering, flashings and ridge
Now it looks like a roof again. Tiles or slates are laid from the eaves upward, course by course, with the first course doubled. Each goes on to a specification drawn up for the site, which takes in where the house stands, how high up it is and how windy the spot is. According to Wienerberger, every single-lap tile gets at least one mechanical fixing, and Marley notes that tiles round the perimeter are fixed twice. Houses near Shoreham airport may need extra advice on the tile maker's specification, which we flag at the survey if it might apply.
Wherever the roof meets a wall or chimney, lead flashings go in. These are lead strips tucked into the brickwork at one edge and dressed over the covering at the other. In valleys, where two slopes meet, a lead lining carries the water of both. Lead is shaped by hand to suit each joint, and Leadworx describes code 4 as the standard weight for general flashing, with code 3 kept for soakers, the little lead pieces folded under tile courses.
Ridge and verge
The ridge comes last of the big items. A 2014 revision of BS 5534 ended reliance on bedding mortar alone for these tiles, so each also receives a mechanical fixing. Many roofers use a dry-fix system tested to BS 8612:2018, which clips the ridge down instead of bedding it in mortar. The verge, the sloping edge at a gable, follows the same approach.
This is the detail we care about most on this coast, because gales test ridge and verge harder than anything else. A ridge bedded and fixed properly stays put in a storm. One that depends on mortar alone is the sort found on the lawn next morning.
When the covering is complete the gutters are reconnected, and the whole roof is walked for loose or damaged items.
Scaffold down: sign-off, clearing up and what you keep
The final stage feels quick but counts as much as any. Before the scaffold comes down, the roof is gone over from top to bottom: each ridge fixing, each flashing, the gutters, the lines of the courses from the ground. Anything wrong is far easier to correct while the scaffold stands.
Then the site is cleared. Offcuts, tools and old covering go with us, the drive and garden are swept, and the waste is carted away. Where sound tiles were set aside for future repairs, you can keep a few.
Where the job is notifiable, building control comes next. Adur & Worthing Councils explain that the owner has to inform them as the job passes certain stages, and that inspection visits are booked through their team. We handle the notification, and the registered building control approver or the council signs off the finished work. Because stages are inspected, they may ask to see the loft while work is in progress.
The papers you should end up with
You should finish with the written quote, the photographs, the product details for the materials fitted and any building control completion documents. Keep them together in one folder. A buyer's solicitor or surveyor will ask for them if you sell, and an insurer may too.
Walk the garden a few days later to look for stray nails, and again after the first heavy rain. If a tile has moved or a flashing sits wrong, call us straight away. A replacement is a large decision, and the follow-up visit is what shows it was the right one.
