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Roofing in Surrey and south west London
From the Victorian terraces of Wandsworth and Wimbledon to the interwar avenues of Sutton and Cheam and the large tiled houses of the Surrey hills, this is the widest mix of roofs anywhere we work. Our own team re-roofs, repairs and maintains all of them.
Terraces in the inner south west
Clapham, Balham, Tooting and Wimbledon are terraced streets roofed in Welsh slate, many with a butterfly roof behind a front parapet or a valley gutter running between two slopes. The slate itself usually outlasts the nails holding it, so slates slipping in a different place each winter points to nail fatigue rather than a bad slate.
Behind almost every one of these houses is a rear addition with its own small roof and a flat roof somewhere on it. Those are where most of the leaks start, and they are worth looking at whenever anybody is up there.
Interwar suburbs and their detail
Sutton, Cheam, Morden, Worcester Park and much of Croydon are interwar semis with hipped roofs, bay roofs and tall chimneys. A hipped roof has more junctions than a gable, and the hip tiles on these houses are usually bedded in mortar that has had ninety years of frost. Rebedding, or converting to a dry fix, is a regular job here and is often all the roof needs.
Clay tile, tile hanging and steep pitches
Further out, around Guildford, Reigate, Dorking and Godalming, the larger houses carry handmade or machine-made clay plain tile on steep pitches, with catslides, swept valleys and often tile hanging on the upper walls. Plain tile is double lapped and lasts a very long time, but the valleys, the lead and the fixings do not, and a repair has to be done in the same tile or it will show for good.
Tile hanging is a roofing job even though it is on a wall. Slipped or missing tiles on a gable let water straight into the frame behind, and it is fixed in the same way as a roof slope.
Trees and gutters
Surrey is England's most wooded county, and it shows in the gutters. Valleys and gutters under oak and beech fill every autumn, water backs up under the tiles at the valley, and the stain appears inside only in heavy rain. Clearing them once or twice a year costs far less than the repair it prevents.
Where we work in Surrey and south west London
Our own team covers the whole county and the south west boroughs. If your town is not listed, send your postcode anyway.
- Croydon, Purley and Coulsdon
- Kingston, Surbiton and New Malden
- Sutton, Cheam and Worcester Park
- Wimbledon, Morden and Mitcham
- Wandsworth, Clapham, Balham and Tooting
- Richmond and Twickenham
- Epsom, Ewell and Leatherhead
- Guildford, Woking and Godalming
- Reigate, Redhill and Dorking
Recent jobs in Surrey and south west London
Questions
Can you repair a clay tile roof without it showing?
Usually, by matching the tile, which on an older roof often means reclaimed. We tell you what the match will be before the work starts.
Do you fix tile hanging on walls?
Yes. It is fixed like a roof slope, on battens, and slipped or missing tiles are a straightforward repair.
Do you charge to come out and quote?
No. The quote visit is free, and the price comes back fixed and in writing.