When your roof starts sending warning signals you cannot ignore, Newmarket Roofers carry out complete roof replacements across Chippenham and the surrounding area.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
A repair can extend a roof's life by years, but there comes a point where patching becomes poor value. If you are calling a roofer out every twelve to eighteen months to deal with fresh leaks or slipped tiles, the roof itself is telling you something. A full replacement gives you a clean, weathertight structure rather than a patchwork of fixes that will keep failing.
The decision between repair and replacement usually comes down to the age of the roof, how widespread the problems are, and the condition of the underlying structure. A roof in its thirties or forties that is losing tiles regularly, showing damp patches internally, or where the felt underlay has rotted away will almost always be more cost-effective to replace outright.
Most roofs do not fail overnight. The deterioration is gradual, and many homeowners miss the early signals until a serious leak appears. Knowing what to look for can save you from expensive damage to ceilings, timbers and insulation.
Understanding why a roof deteriorates helps you make sense of what you are seeing and ask better questions when you get quotes. Most roof failures in this part of the country come down to a handful of causes.
Roofing felt (the underlay beneath the tiles or slates) has a finite lifespan. Traditional bitumen felt laid in older properties can become brittle and crack over several decades, particularly where it is exposed to temperature extremes. Once the felt fails, rainwater that gets under tiles has nowhere to be redirected and tracks straight into the roof structure. A new roof will always include a modern breathable membrane that manages moisture far more effectively and lasts considerably longer than original bitumen felt.
Tiling battens are the horizontal strips of treated timber that tiles hang from. In older roofs, these were often untreated or lightly treated, and decades of minor moisture exposure cause them to soften and rot. When a batten rots, tiles above it can slip without warning. During a strip-off we can assess every rafter and batten, replacing any timber that has been compromised before the new covering goes on.
Porous tiles absorb water. When temperatures drop below freezing, that water expands and the tile surface can spall or crack. Concrete tiles are particularly susceptible to this once their surface coating wears down. Frost damage tends to be cumulative and is often more obvious after a hard winter. A tile that looks intact from the ground may be deeply cracked once you are up close.
Not every roof was laid to a good standard in the first place. Common problems in older roofs include insufficient tile overlap, battens fixed at the wrong centres (leaving tiles too exposed at the bottom), and lead flashings that were never properly dressed or pointed. A re-roof carried out correctly addresses all of these issues from scratch.
A complete re-roof is a significant job, and it helps to know what the process looks like before work starts. Scaffolding is erected around the property to give safe access for the entire duration. The scaffold also provides a platform to manage old materials safely and protects the property below.
Once the scaffold is in place, the existing tiles or slates are stripped off completely. The roof timbers are inspected at this stage, and any damaged rafters or battens are replaced. A new breathable roofing membrane is laid across the entire deck, new battens are fixed, and the chosen tile or slate is then fixed from eaves to ridge.
Ridge tiles are bedded and pointed, and all flashings around chimneys, valleys, abutments and any roof penetrations are replaced or re-laid in fresh lead. The gutters are checked and re-fixed if needed before the scaffold comes down.
The material you choose affects both the appearance and the long-term performance of the roof. The main options for pitched roofs are concrete interlocking tiles, natural slate and clay tiles.
If your property has a flat or low-pitched section, such as a rear extension, a bay window top or a garage roof, these are dealt with separately from the main pitched roof. Felt systems and EPDM rubber membranes are the standard options. EPDM is a single-ply rubber membrane that is bonded to the deck and is significantly more resistant to cracking and UV degradation than traditional mineral felt. Flat roof replacement costs vary depending on the area and the system chosen, but as a general guide, EPDM work typically costs more per square metre than a felt system and is usually worth the difference in longevity.
A re-roof is the right time to sort out any chimney or flashing issues properly. Lead flashing around a chimney stack, a dormer or a party wall parapet is the most common point of failure on an otherwise sound roof. Flashings are cut and dressed into the brickwork joints and then pointed with a flexible mortar to create a waterproof seal. If the brickwork itself is in poor condition, it makes sense to have it repointed or rendered at the same time while the scaffold is up.
If a chimney is unused and in poor repair, capping or removing it during a re-roof can eliminate a future maintenance liability. This is worth discussing before work starts.
A re-roof is also a sensible point to inspect or replace fascias, soffits and guttering. These components take years of weathering and are often in a poor state by the time the roof itself needs replacing. Replacing them while the scaffold is in place avoids a separate scaffold hire at a later date. uPVC fascias and soffits require very little maintenance once fitted, and new guttering ensures drainage is working correctly before the new roof covering is finished.
Roof replacement costs vary depending on roof size, pitch, material chosen and the amount of timber work required. As a rough guide, a standard three-bedroom semi-detached with a concrete tile re-roof will typically fall somewhere between £5,000 and £10,000, with natural slate at the upper end of that range and beyond for larger properties. These figures cover materials, labour and scaffold but not any significant structural timber replacement, which is priced separately once the roof is stripped and the extent of damage is known.
The most reliable way to get an accurate price is to have someone on the roof, not just looking at it from the ground. A proper inspection from scaffold level will tell you what the timbers are actually like and whether there is anything structural to factor in.
As a practical guide: if your roof is under twenty years old and the problems are isolated (one area of damage, a handful of broken tiles, a single failed flashing), repair is almost certainly the right answer. If the roof is thirty or more years old, the underlay is failing, tiles are slipping in multiple locations, or there is evidence of widespread timber damp, a full replacement will cost you less over the next decade than repeated repairs.
If you are unsure, call us for a roof survey. We will give you an honest assessment of what the roof actually needs, whether that is a patch repair, a partial re-roof of a failing section, or a full strip and re-cover.
We cover Chippenham and the surrounding area as part of our wider work across Newmarket, Moulton, Dullingham, Six Mile Bottom and neighbouring villages. If you are in or near Chippenham and need a roof survey or a replacement quote, call Newmarket Roofers directly and we will arrange a visit to assess the job properly.
No obligation · We'll call you to arrange a free visit
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
