Roofers in Heddington

Heddington's best-known roof is the one over St Andrew's. The church was practically rebuilt in the 13th century and its stone slate covering sits on walls of ashlar and rubble stone. It is a handy roof to study, because it shows how stone slate is meant to be built, even if your own house is a good deal smaller.

Q1.1How do the courses run?

Stone slates are not cut to a single size. Along the eaves sit the largest, often in a doubled course, and sizes fall steadily as the roof climbs, which is what builders mean by diminishing courses. Every stone is drilled near the top and hung on a batten with a peg or nail, and the course below hides that fixing. When a fixing fails, the stone above slips, so one rotten peg can appear as a gap three courses higher.

Q1.2What does the weight ask of the timbers?

Stone is heavy. Cotswold District Council's technical guidance for owners, written in 2000, reckons a covering of stone slate comes to roughly 1000 kg for each 10 square metres. That load rests on rafters and wall plates that may be centuries old, so we inspect the timbers before trusting them with a re-laid slope. A sagging ridge line, a bellied slope or daylight at the wall head all say the frame needs attention first.

Q1.3What if the house has another covering?

We never guess what an older house in the parish is roofed with. Clay tile, slate and stone slate all turn up on rural buildings of this age, and each wants different handling. A roof patched over the decades with whatever came to hand is common, so working out which stones, tiles or slates belong to the original is the opening task of a survey. Our roof repairs and pitched roofing pages describe the methods we use on each.

The same sorting applies at the ridge. Stone ridges, clay ridge tiles and concrete ones are all bedded and fixed differently, and a mismatched ridge is often the first sign of an earlier, hurried repair.

On old village roofs the covering is seldom what gives up first. Fixings corrode, battens soften, mortar crumbles and lead at a chimney lets go. Each of those can be put right without stripping the whole roof, which is why we begin with the fault rather than the finished price.

Q3.1When is a patch enough?

If the leak traces back to one slipped stone, a cracked tile or a failed flashing, a repair that suits the surrounding roof will do. We photograph the problem and the repair so you can see what was wrong. A patch matched to its neighbours by size, colour and age outlasts a poor match, and it keeps the roof looking like the rest of the building.

Q3.2When should a slope be re-laid?

If a whole slope is on the move, the timbers beneath have gone soft or earlier patching has used up its luck, a repair buys only a short reprieve. Stripping with care, sorting what can be reused, renewing battens and fixings and laying the covering back is better value than another round of patches. On a listed building that route is often the only acceptable one.

Q3.3What about slopes you cannot see?

Valleys, rear slopes and the backs of outbuildings go unnoticed until stains appear indoors. A survey takes in every slope, and you receive the written quote together with pictures from your own roof. Our ridge, verge and dry-fix page covers the exposed edges that catch the wind first on this side of the downs. Our guarantee on the finished work is 10 years, in writing.