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Langley · three-bedroom family home and the neighbouring property · clay plain tile roofs
We were already on site in Langley, working inside on the extension and refurbishment of a three-bedroom house, including two bathrooms and the sitting room. That work is covered in its own case study. This one is about the roof.
Partway through the job, the client told us he felt the roof needed replacing. Rather than decide from the ground, we recommended bringing in a specialist roofing surveyor with a drone, so that every slope, valley and ridge could be inspected properly and nothing was left to guesswork.
The drone inspection confirmed what the client suspected. There was damage across the roof and cracked tiles in a number of places, and patching it would only have put off the problem. With the full report in hand we priced the job, the client agreed, and we replaced the roof completely.
The work started as summer was coming to an end, heading into September, when the weather can turn at any time. We could not take any risks. A full scaffold went up with a temporary roof over the whole house and sheeting all the way around, so the house was completely watertight before we started stripping the old roof.
On every roof we replace, a temporary roof goes up first. It adds a little to the cost of the job, but it means the house is fully covered from the day the old roof comes off to the day the new one is finished, and the work inside can carry on without interruption. In roofing, it is always better to be safe than sorry.
The old roof was stripped right back to the rafters. We laid a new BBA-approved breathable membrane across every slope, then new treated battens, set out carefully so that every course of tiles would run straight and true across the full length of the roof.
The roof is finished in clay plain tiles in a mixed red and dark brindle, chosen to suit the age and character of the house. Plain tiles are small and each one is fixed by hand, so a roof of this size means thousands of tiles laid one at a time, with the coursing checked all the way up.
This is not a simple roof. It has hips, valleys and a large chimney, and these are the places where a poor roof lets water in. In the valleys we used purpose-made valley tiles, laid so the tiles turn the corner in one continuous sweep with no metal showing. Around the chimney we fitted new stepped lead flashing.
Along the ridges and hips we fitted half-round clay ridge tiles on a dry, ventilated fixing system. It lets the roof breathe, and because there is no mortar, there is nothing to crack and fall out in years to come.
While we were working, the owner of the house next door was watching. He saw how the house was protected, how the team worked, and how carefully every detail was finished. Before we had completed the first roof, he asked us to replace his roof as well.
We ended up roofing both houses at the same time, to the same standard. For us there is no better recommendation than a neighbour who watched us work every day and then asked us to do his own home.
A completely new clay tile roof, properly inspected, protected throughout and finished in every detail, and a second new roof on the house next door, built to exactly the same standard.
