Roofers in Badbury

The old village is small enough to take in on a short walk, and the council's appraisal gives a clear picture of what stands along the road. Stone is the walling of the older houses, thatch is the covering the appraisal ties to the Wessex downlands, and newer houses and bungalows from the later twentieth century sit among them.

Q1.1What surrounds the thatch?

Thatch is a thick, steeply pitched coat of straw or reed, shaped by hand over rafters and battens, so each roof differs from its neighbour. What surrounds it is where we are usually asked to help: the chimney stack rising through the slope, the lead where a stack or gable wall meets the roof, and the porch, outbuilding and extension roofs that were added later in tile, slate or felt. Flashing, in roofing, is the lead or metal strip that bridges the gap where a slope butts against a wall or stack. If it lifts, water runs down behind it and into the masonry, and where thatch meets a stack that seal has to be right.

Q1.2How do the newer tiled roofs fail?

Some of the newer dwellings use reconstituted stone walls with concrete tile roofs. Concrete tile is heavier than slate and is laid in regular courses on battens, over an underlay, which is the membrane beneath the tiles that catches whatever gets past them. The usual faults are loosened ridge tiles, cracked tiles and flashings that have lifted. Moss and lichen build up on north-facing slopes shaded by trees or a neighbouring wall, and a gutter choked with that debris sends water over the edge and down the wall below.

Our roof repairs page explains how we approach a leak: find the source first, photograph it, and quote for the smallest job that fixes it.

Along the road the bungalows raise a different set of questions. Their roofs are low and easy to reach, but gutters, fascias and verges there can go unwatched for years, and a quick look from the ground often tells us where to start.

Plenty of roof jobs in the village need no paperwork: refixing a few tiles, renewing a flashing or re-bedding a ridge with matching material counts as maintenance. Three kinds of job are different.

Q3.1When is a Badbury re-roof big enough to need approval?

A building control application is not normally required, says the Planning Portal, when less than 25 per cent of the total building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof is involved. Above those limits the work needs building control approval, and the insulation in the roof might have to be improved at the same time. Approval also applies when a new covering outweighs the old by 15 per cent or more. The borough's own building control team takes those applications, and where a job is notifiable we make the notification for you.

Q3.2What if the material changes?

The conservation area dates from 30 April 1990, when Thamesdown Borough Council designated it, and Swindon Borough Council's Planning Committee approved the current appraisal and management plan on 10 February 2009. The council's list of Article 4 directions names Bishopstone and the Swindon railway village, not Badbury. Matching repairs leave the street as it was, so they seldom need an application, whereas a change of material can. A word with the council before you commit costs nothing.

Q3.3What about the listed cottages?

The Manor is Grade II listed, and several of the thatched cottages are listed too. Altering a listed house's character, down to the roofing material, needs listed building consent before the work begins. The North Wessex Downs National Landscape body advises on planning in the wider area, but the council makes the decision.

We start from like for like: same material, same fixing method. If a different covering seems sensible, that conversation happens with you before anything is priced.