Roof Replacement Southampton

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.

In Southampton the Victorian and Edwardian terraces that survived the Blitz account for much of the older stock, and a director inspects the loft before the strip-back is priced. Where the felt has perished, the battens beneath it are examined along their length.

On roofs near the coast the strip-back regularly shows nails and clips corroded to a stain in the timber, with the tiles above held only by their own weight. Stripping and refixing the covering restores the fixing across every course, in non-ferrous nails and clips.

Southampton sits at the head of Southampton Water, and its roofs take air carried in off the estuary. The streets nearest the water show this first, and the fixings there are checked along the whole slope.

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.

Southampton was rebuilt in phases after the war, and a roof re-covered more than once during that rebuilding is common on the older streets. Each patch is removed as the slope is stripped, rather than worked around.

Lofts beneath older impermeable felt exhibit black mould and damp timber on the coldest mornings, because moisture from the household cannot pass through it. A replacement installs a breathable membrane permeable to that moisture, and a ventilated ridge at the head of every slope. Damp timber found at the same time is replaced before the membrane goes down.

Southampton’s post-war estate at Townhill Park was built to one design. The felt beneath its tiles is the same non-breathable kind throughout.

Valleys and chimney junctions convey considerably more water than any part of a slope, so the boards and lead beneath them deteriorate first. Where the strip-back exposes decayed junction timbers, new boards and lead go in as the slopes around them are laid.

Southampton’s Victorian and Edwardian terraces carry a chimney stack at nearly every party wall. The flashing around it is renewed at the same time as the slope beside it.

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. Southampton’s earliest surviving streets were roofed in natural slate, and clay tile followed as the city rebuilt through the twentieth century. A replacement on either matches like for like. Slate roofing goes back in the same dimension and colour, or clay tile to the original gauge and ridge detail. Where wartime rebuilding left one house newer than its neighbours, we match the new covering to the roofs on either side of it.

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. Southampton’s Victorian and Edwardian terraces, and the streets rebuilt in the decades after the war, 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 Southampton service area.