Old buildings, put back the way they were built.
Listed houses, chapels, farm buildings and anything inside a conservation area. Reclaimed slate, lime mortar and traditional detailing — and the consent sorted out before anybody starts stripping.
No call-out charge, and the phone is answered 24 hours.
Written prices
the quote is the price, agreed before we start
Free quotes
no call-out charge, and a written price before anyone starts
24 hours
someone answers the phone, storm or shine
Fully insured
every job covered, from a single slate to a full re-roof
01/
Heritage roofing.
West Cumbria is full of buildings that were roofed long before anyone thought in terms of systems and guarantees: farmhouses in random slate, chapels, terraces of estate cottages, the odd hall. They were built out of materials that move and breathe, and they fail when they are repaired with materials that do neither.
So the mortar is lime rather than cement, because cement is harder than the stone around it and cracks the stone instead of itself in a frost. The slate is reclaimed and sorted so the courses carry on up the roof at the rate they were set out at, rather than stopping dead in a band of new blue-grey. Where a roof was torched underneath we re-torch it, or fit a membrane that lets the timbers dry — not a plastic felt that seals the damp into them.
If the building is listed or in a conservation area the work needs consent, and the application goes a great deal better when it is made before anything is touched. We are used to that conversation and will have it with the officer on your behalf.
What this involves
- Reclaimed slate and stone sourced to match what is already there
- Diminishing and random courses set out and carried up properly
- Lime mortar for bedding, pointing and flaunching
- Torching renewed, or a breather membrane that lets the timbers dry
- Repairs to original rafters, purlins and wall plates
- Lead valleys, secret gutters and parapet details renewed in code 5
- Stone ridges, kneelers and copings lifted and re-set
- Listed building consent and conservation officer liaison
Also called Heritage roofing · Listed building roofing · Conservation roofing
Want a price for this?
Describe what you can see from the ground and we'll tell you what it is likely to be. Coming out to look costs nothing.
What the work looks like.
Our own photographs, taken on our own roofs — not a stock library.
02/
Worth knowing.
- Lime, not cement
- Cement is harder than most old stone, so it will not move with the building and the stone cracks in its place. On an old roof it does damage worth more than it ever saved.
- Why reclaimed slate
- New slate laid next to two-hundred-year-old slate shows, and it will go on showing for another fifty years. Reclaimed is dearer and slower to find. It is also the only thing that looks right.
- Consent comes first
- Stripping a listed roof without consent is an offence rather than a paperwork problem. Ask before the scaffold goes up, not after.
- Grant funding
- Some heritage work attracts grant money, and most schemes want the quote laid out in a particular way. Tell us what you are applying to and we will write ours to suit.
03/
The rest of slating and tiling.
These sit alongside this one under slating and tiling. If yours turns out to be one of those instead, the price is worked out the same way.
New roof installation
The first roof on a new build, an extension, a dormer or a garage — worked out for the pitch and the exposure before a single slate goes on.
Re-roofing
Stripped to the rafters, felted, battened and re-covered. A standard semi is usually two days once the scaffold is up.
Slate roofing
Welsh, Spanish, reclaimed and Lakeland green — what separates one slate from another, and which one belongs on your house.
Stone roofs
Cumbrian stone slate and Westmorland green, graded and set out in diminishing courses. Heavy coverings, so the timbers get looked at before anything goes back on.
The other things we do.
Most jobs turn out to be more than one of these at once. If you're not sure which you need, describe what you can see and we'll work it out.
Slating and tiling
Nearly every pitched roof on this coast is slate. Stripping them, re-covering them, matching them to the terrace next door and putting stone back on the ones that had it.
Flat roofs
Fibreglass, EPDM rubber and torch-on felt for extensions, dormers, garages and porches. Laid to falls so water actually leaves the roof.
Repairs and leaks
Slipped slates, cracked tiles, failed valleys, damp patches on the ceiling. We find where the water is getting in before we quote for anything bigger.
Chimneys and leadwork
Repointing, flaunching, chimney removal and rebuilds, plus lead flashings, valleys and soakers cut and dressed on site.
Gutters, fascias and soffits
The cheapest part of the house to look after and the one most often left. Clearing, repairing and replacing gutters, downpipes, fascias and soffits.
Storm damage
Emergency call-outs, tarpaulins and temporary covers when the weather comes in off the Irish Sea. We work with insurers and can supply photos and reports.
- Roof maintenanceGeneral maintenance · Annual roof check · Roof survey · Moss removal
- Commercial and industrial roofingIndustrial and factory roofing · Factory roofing · Farm building roofing · Warehouse roofing · Commercial roofer
- Roof windows and glazingRooflights · Sky lights · Roof glazing · Daylight into a loft
- Roofing materialsRoofing material · Roofing supplies
Get a price for the old roof.
Coming out to look costs nothing and there's no call-out charge. You get a written price before anyone lifts a slate.
Fill this in and we'll come back to you the same day, usually within a couple of hours. If water is coming in right now, don't type — phone.
07743 455071- 01We ring you back to talk through what you've got.
- 02We come out and look at the roof properly, free of charge.
- 03You get a written price with nothing hidden in it.