Roof Replacement Alton

The bitumen felt beneath most twentieth-century roofs becomes brittle earlier than the tiles above it, and tears at every lap, admitting water to the battens. A roof inspection from within the loft establishes its condition before any decision to strip and renew.

Alton’s outer residential areas and New Town account for much of that stock. The loft interior there is examined in full before any strip-back is priced.

Tiles are nailed to battens, and battens decay where moss and overhanging trees keep a slope damp. The covering above stays in line while the timber beneath it softens, so a tile refixed there has no sound timber to hold it, and the slope is stripped and re-battened.

Mature trees line the narrow lanes around Holybourne, and roof slopes shaded by them stay damp for longer after rain.

A leak too minor to stain a ceiling can saturate the same rafter or valley board for years. The deterioration is apparent only once the tiles come off, and replacement is the stage at which those timbers come out. Where a rafter has lost its strength, new timber is sistered alongside it before the battens are set out.

The oldest roofs in Alton stand in its historic centre. A slow leak there can run for generations before the rafter beneath it is seen.

Roofs of the earliest generation were laid without any underlay, so the slates or tiles are the only barrier between the loft and the weather. A membrane can only be laid where the covering above it is lifted, so a replacement is the point at which every slope receives one.

Holybourne’s oldest houses date from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. Roofs of that age were laid before underlay was standard practice.

Roofs patched by successive contractors carry mismatched tiles, sealants and flashing details, each of a different age. The layers beneath a patch cannot be assessed until it is lifted, so a full strip removes every patch and the roof is relaid in one covering on new battens.

Many of the brick and rendered houses around Alton’s historic centre have passed through several owners. Each owner added a repair of their own.

The scaffold, the skip and the first deliveries of battens, underlay and tile arrive at times and locations agreed beforehand. You move garden furniture and vehicles clear of the working area before the first morning. Our team manages everything else on the schedule.

The morning forecast determines how many courses come off, and no more is stripped than new underlay and battens can close by evening. Any section not reached is left weathertight, so the loft and the ceilings beneath it are protected overnight.

If the strip-back uncovers a rafter, purlin or flashing detail beyond the quote, work there stops until you have seen it and agreed the price. A written note records any further work before it proceeds. No item appears on the final invoice without your approval.

Underlay, battens, flashings and the new tiles go on in that order, each course lapping the one beneath. Whether the specification is tile roofing or natural slate, each slope is completed and its ridge and verge detailed before the next is started.

A director walks you round the finished roof from ground level and hands over the written documentation for the work. Our team removes the waste and clears the new gutters, and the scaffold is booked off site once the final check is signed.

Four factors determine the cost of a replacement:

• The quantity of tile and batten removed, and its disposal
• Any rafter or batten renewal the strip-back proves necessary
• The dimensions, pitch and complexity of the slopes
• The tiles or slates going back on, over new underlay and fixings

A free survey conducted by a director establishes all four, and your written, itemised quote follows within 48 hours of it, with every item priced and no hidden extras.

Yes, and the match is specified at survey. Around Alton’s historic centre and in Holybourne the houses are brick and rendered, and a replacement there is matched to whichever tile or slate the house already carries. Slate roofing goes back to the same dimension and colour where the roof already carries it, with clay tile matched to the original gauge and ridge detail elsewhere. On the outer residential areas the profile is measured from the roof before any tile is ordered.

In most cases, no. Where the new roof is similar in appearance to the one it replaces, a like-for-like replacement is normally permitted development and no application is necessary. A listed building is the exception, and consent is required before the covering or the chimney stack details change. Controls in a conservation area differ from one designation to the next, and a change of covering can require consent. We establish which applies at survey, and the quote accounts for it before any work begins.

On an older property it generally is. The houses around Alton’s historic centre and in Holybourne carry roofs at the age where individual repairs begin to recur. A replacement adds the layers absent from a roof of that generation, including a breathable roof underlay, mechanically fixed tiles and a ventilated ridge. The fixings then meet current standards across every slope, and the loft has a ventilation path.

Contact us by telephone or through the enquiry form on this website. The free survey is conducted by a director at a time convenient to you, covering the eaves, flashings and loft interior. If the roof retains serviceable life, we recommend a repair and quote for that instead. Otherwise your written, itemised quote for the replacement follows within 48 hours of the visit. We cover the whole of our Alton service area.