Roofers in South Cerney

The council's conservation area statement says that historically most roofs in South Cerney must have had natural stone slates, probably replacing thatch, and it names Silver Street, School Lane and Upper Up as streets where stone roofs are a feature of the cottages. Stone slate is heavy and long-lived, laid with the biggest stones at the bottom and gradually smaller ones towards the top. The stone itself is rarely the problem. Pegs rot, battens soften and lead tires, and those faults let slates slip, so repair usually means renewing the fixings and putting the same stones back.

From the middle of the nineteenth century the same statement records Welsh slate arriving in the village, brought in by the railway, and later plain clay tiles, used on new buildings and as replacements for old stone roofs. Tanners on the High Street is its named example of a Welsh slate roof. Slate is a thinner, lighter material, and its common faults are rusted nails, slipped slates and worn flashings at chimneys and walls. The statement also notes that All Hallows Church has dressed stone walls, a square stone tower and a red tiled roof. Clay tile and slate each age in their own way, so a mixed street like this calls for a survey that treats every roof as its own case. What suits one covering can harm another.

With a population near four thousand, South Cerney is a good deal bigger than the old core around the church. Later streets and estates, such as Jubilee Gardens off the High Street, can carry concrete or clay tiles, and owners have added garages, porches, conservatories and extensions over the years. The typical faults are cracked tiles, ridge bedding that has crumbled, valleys choked with moss, underlay that has perished and flat roofs where puddles now linger for days. These jobs are usually straightforward once the cause is traced, and a survey separates the small repairs from the few that really need a larger job.