Roofers and roof repairs in Balham, SW12Balham's Victorianand Edwardian Streets.
Balham is Victorian and Edwardian terraces almost without exception, from the Nightingale Triangle to Hyde Farm. Slate roofs with shared chimneys, back additions and, on nearly every street, loft conversions with dormers now twenty years old.
Over 25 years on local roofs
Free survey and written quote
24 hour emergency call out
CORC member 8125
Balham’s roofs
Terraces, Gablesand Back Additions.
The Heaver Streets
Much of Balham went up in the 1890s and 1900s, and the Heaver Estate on the Tooting Bec side shows the period at its best: red brick, front gables with timber detail, terracotta ridges and finials, and tall chimneys between neighbours. Being protected, the estate's roofs are repaired in kind, and matching the ridge pattern matters as much as stopping the leak.
Slate Over the Terraces
Nearer the station and up towards Clapham South the terraces are a little older and were roofed in Welsh slate. A good number lost that slate in the 1960s and 70s to heavy concrete tiles, which the original timbers were never sized for. Where the slate survives, it is usually the iron nails that have given up, not the slates themselves.
Back Additions
Nearly every Balham terrace has a two storey back addition with its own low roof. It drains towards a narrow valley or meets the main wall at a lead flashing, and that junction is where the water gets in. Access is the awkward part: the roof is out of sight from the street and usually reached through the house or over the garden.
Lofts and Dormers
Rear dormers, many of them L shaped over the back addition, went in across Balham from the 1990s onwards. Their flat tops were usually felted, and that felt is now at or past the end of its life. The lead cheeks and the joint between the dormer face and the slates are the other usual weak points.
Mansion Blocks on the High Road
Along Balham High Road the roofs change completely. The 1930s blocks, Du Cane Court the best known, and the earlier mansion flats have large flat roofs, parapets and internal gutters. That work is planned with freeholders and managing agents, and it is mostly about keeping water moving off a big flat area.
Hyde Farm and the Nightingale Triangle
Hyde Farm, on the Lambeth side, is a tidy estate of terraces built to a pattern and protected as a conservation area. The Nightingale Triangle is similar in feel. On streets this uniform, one house with the wrong tile or ridge stands out, so repairs here are about keeping each roof looking like its neighbours.
Cavendish Road and Clapham South
Towards Clapham South and along the Cavendish Road side, the houses grow taller and grander, with three storey fronts, deep bays and more elaborate roofs than the terraces nearer Tooting. Many have been split into flats, which brings shared roofs, shared costs and the need for every owner, or a managing agent, to agree the work before it starts.
What we are called to in Balham
- Slipped and cracked slates on the front slope
- Rear dormer flat roofs past the end of their felt
- Leaks where the back addition meets the main wall
- Shared stacks with tired flashings
- Bay roofs with split or creeping lead
- Overflowing gutters on the outriggers
What we do in Balham
Roofing and Roof Repairs,Across Balham.
Roof Repairs in Balham
From one slipped slate on the front slope to a back addition that leaks every winter, most Balham roofs want repairing, not replacing. We tell you which yours is.
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Flat Roofing in Balham
Dormers, back additions and kitchen extensions across Balham carry flat roofs. When the felt has gone we strip it and lay GRP or new felt to proper falls.
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Slate Roofing in Balham
Welsh slate is the original covering on most Balham terraces. Repairs use matched reclaimed slate, and a slope losing slates everywhere is re-slated on new battens.
Read moreAlso in BalhamRoofing Leadwork Tiled Roofing New Roofs Chimney Repairs Fascias, Soffits & Guttering
Roof repairs in Balham
Which of TheseIs Your Roof Doing?
Faults we find on Balham’s terraces more than any others. Pick whichever sounds like yours.
Likely cause
Usually the dormer's flat roof has reached the end of its felt, or the lead down the dormer cheeks has pulled away from the slates. On conversions from the 1990s and 2000s it is a very common fault in SW12.
Usually the job is
Flat Roofing in Balham
Likely cause
The slates are often sound; the iron nails holding them have rusted through. A few can be refixed with copper nails or clips. If they are going all over the roof, a re-slate is the honest answer, and you will see the photographs either way.
Usually the job is
Slate Roofing in Balham
Likely cause
That joint depends on a lead flashing tucked into the brickwork. In time the mortar holding it drops out or the lead splits, and rain runs down inside the wall. New lead, dressed and pointed in, is the fix.
Usually the job is
Leadwork in Balham
Likely cause
Most Balham stacks sit on the party wall and serve two houses. Open joints, cracked flaunching or worn lead let water in, and it often shows on one side only. We survey it and price it so the cost can be split with next door.
Usually the job is
Chimney Repairs in Balham
Likely cause
Bay roofs were built small and shallow, with not much lead. A century on, that lead has cracked or crept and water gets into the window head. We strip the little roof and re-cover it properly, in lead or slate to match the street.
Usually the job is
Leadwork in Balham
Likely cause
Rear gutters on a terrace collect leaves, moss off the slates and whatever the pigeons leave. Once they sag or the joints open, water runs down the outrigger wall. We clear, refix or replace the run, and the fascia behind it if it has rotted.
Usually the job is
Fascias, Soffits & Guttering in Balham
How it works
From the Pavementto a Sound Roof.
Send the Picture
Ring the London line or send a photo from the pavement or the back garden. On a Balham terrace that is often enough to tell whether it is the slate, the lead or the dormer.
Up on the Roof
We look from the loft and from the roof, and photograph the parts you cannot see, including the back addition and the valley behind the front gable.
One Written Price
You get one itemised price in writing. If the street needs a pavement licence and a parking suspension for the scaffold, it says so, and we arrange both before the start.
Scaffold to Clear Up
Scaffold up, the work done and photographed as it goes, and the pavement, garden and gutters left clear when we come down.
“We had a leaking flat roof that was only recently installed Marley Roofing Specialists was incredibly responsive, rapid and professional in his work to fix the roof. He always maintained close contact and sent regular photo updates of the repair works. Overall an excellent experience and would highly recommend his roofing services.”
Recent work
Roofs We HaveFinished Nearby.
Slate and lead
Beside a rooflight
Tile hung dormer
Plain tiled roof
Rebuilt stack
Chimney repair
Flat roof
GRP covering
Balham questions
QuestionsFrom Balham.
Something else about your Balham roof? Ring 0203 507 1501 and you will speak to a roofer.
Do you cover the Hyde Farm and Heaver estates?
Yes, both, along with the Nightingale Triangle, Clapham South and the streets towards Tooting Bec. Both estates are conservation areas, so repairs there are made in matching materials to keep the look of the street.
My loft conversion leaks. Is that a roofing job?
After the first few years it nearly always is: either the dormer's flat roof or the lead around it. Once we have been up we can tell you which, and fix it without disturbing the room below more than we have to.
Can a Balham terrace go back from concrete tiles to slate?
Yes. Natural slate is lighter than the concrete tiles many terraces were given in the 1960s and 70s, and it suits the street. In a conservation area we check with the council before we quote, so you know what applies.
Who pays for a chimney shared with next door?
Usually both owners, split between you. We look at the stack from the roof, photograph every side and give one written price that the two households can share.
How does the scaffold go up on a Balham street?
Most jobs need scaffold on the pavement, under a licence from the council (Wandsworth, or Lambeth on the Hyde Farm side), and sometimes a parking bay suspension as well. We apply before the start date. Rear roofs are reached through the house or the garden, agreed with you first.
What if it is raining in when you get there?
We make it safe first, with a temporary cover or a holding repair, then come back for the proper job once it is dry enough to do it right. The mobile, 07513 397 799, is answered 24 hours.
Can you check a Balham roof before I buy?
Yes. We get onto the roof, photograph each slope, the back addition, the dormer and the stacks, and write up what is needed now and what is coming, which is useful before you exchange.
Do you work on the mansion blocks on the High Road?
Yes, for freeholders, managing agents and flat owners. Large flat roofs, parapets and internal gutters on those blocks need regular attention, and we survey and price them in a form that can be shared.
Nearby
Around Balham,We Also Cover.
Balham sits between Clapham, Tooting and Wandsworth Common, and we work across all of them. Find your street on the diagram, or open a neighbouring town.
A diagram of where we work, not a map. Positions are approximate.
Roofers in
Balham
- Postcodes
- SW12
- Borough
- Wandsworth
- From our base
- 14 miles
Most asked for in Balham
NearestRoofers in Tooting Roofers in Earlsfield Roofers in Clapham Clapham South · Wandsworth Common · Streatham
Further afield than this? Most of South West London is in reach, so ring and ask.
Free survey and quote
A Roof in Balham?Ring the London Line.
Send a photo of the slope, the dormer or the stain on the ceiling and we will say what it looks like. Surveys and written quotes on Balham roofs cost nothing.
- London
- 0203 507 1501
- Leatherhead
- 01372 540 258
- Reigate
- 01737 749202
- Mobile, 24 hours
- 07513 397 799