New roofs in Leatherhead, Surrey and South West London

A New Roof,Done Once.

Scaffold up, old covering off, timbers checked and repaired, new breathable underlay, new treated battens at the right gauge, then slates or tiles laid and mechanically fixed to the current standard. Ridges and verges dry fixed. Lead formed new. Every tile on a modern roof is fixed, which is more than most old roofs ever had.

A re roof runs in a set order. The scaffold goes up. The old covering, battens and underlay come off and the rafters are checked and repaired. New breathable underlay and treated battens go on at the gauge the covering needs. The slates or tiles are laid, every one fixed, with dry ridge and dry verge systems, new lead at the chimneys and valleys, and ventilation built in at the eaves and the ridge.

A typical house takes one to two weeks depending on size and weather, and it is watertight every night of the job.

A new roof is built to BS 5534 for the slating and tiling and to the Building Regulations for insulation, ventilation and structure. Re covering more than a quarter of a roof is notifiable building work, so Building Control is told and the insulation is brought up to the current standard; we handle that paperwork as part of the job.

Sound natural slate and clay tiles are worth keeping. We re lay them on new battens and underlay and make up the shortfall with matched reclaimed stock, which keeps the look and a good deal of the cost down.

Welsh slate and hand made clay tiles are often better than anything you could buy new, and reusing them keeps the house looking like itself. We sort the sound ones, re lay them on the new battens and make up the difference from matched reclaimed stock.

Sound original slates or clay tiles can be re laid with new fixings, underlay and battens under them. It keeps the character of the roof, it is often the only way to match a period house, and it saves a good part of the material cost.

With the roof off, the loft ventilation and the insulation can be done right. Dry vent ridges, eaves ventilation and the right depth of insulation, built in rather than bolted on later.

A new roof is the one chance to get the loft working properly. We fit ventilation at the eaves and the ridge, check the insulation depth and make sure the two do not fight each other, so the roof and the timbers stay dry from below.

Roof insulation on a cold loft is normally brought to 270 millimetres of mineral wool or its equivalent, with a clear air path at the eaves and ventilation at the ridge. On a room in roof or a loft conversion the insulation goes between and over the rafters instead, and the ventilation detail changes with it.

Roofs for new houses, extensions, garages and outbuildings, pitched or flat, to the drawings and to the current standard.

We roof new houses, extensions, garages and outbuildings, pitched or flat, working from the drawings and to the current standard, and we are used to fitting in with a builder’s programme.

We work from the architect’s drawings and the structural engineer’s specification, order the covering to the drawing, and fit in with the builder’s programme so the building is watertight when the trades inside need it to be.