Roof Replacement Totton

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 Totton the inter-war streets and the later estates account for most of the stock, and a director inspects the loft interior before the strip-back is priced. Where the felt has perished, the battens beneath it are examined along their length.

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.

Totton sits on the edge of the New Forest, and mature trees along that boundary shade the nearest roofs for much of the day. Those slopes are stripped back to find sound timber.

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.

Totton sits at the tidal head of Southampton Water, where Bartley Water meets the estuary. Roofs nearest that stretch show fixings corroded ahead of the tiles above them.

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.

Totton’s estates at Calmore, Rushington and West Totton were built in separate phases. A roof extended or re-covered since often carries a patch from each phase, and every patch comes off as the slope is stripped.

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.

The Calmore estate, built in the early 1970s, was roofed to one plan, and its felt is the same non-breathable kind throughout.

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. Totton’s inter-war streets were roofed in clay tile, and the estates that followed at Calmore, Rushington and West Totton went up in concrete interlocking tile to one profile. A replacement on either matches like for like. Slate roofing goes back in the same dimension and colour on Eling’s older streets, or tile to the original gauge and ridge detail elsewhere. Where an estate profile is no longer made, we show you the closest current match at survey.

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. Totton’s inter-war streets, and the earliest of its post-war estates, 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 Totton service area.