Blog

We were asked to reroof a 1760s house on the banks of the Thames at Twickenham. It adjoined a similar smaller cottage whose roof had been regularly maintained and whose dead straight ridge line spoke volumes. Ours on the other hand had suffered from centuries of...

We had three instructions from the district surveyor:   If we discover any rotten wood, cut it back, treat it, but not to remove it. Use as many of the original pantiles as possible. We saved only 20%. Because the shape of the roof was so unusual, we were not to...

A commercial roof survey is always recommended when purchasing a property. It can help spot any small signs of water ingress early before the damage can spread including general wear and tear. Over time any roof will suffer some damage from the UV rays, the rain, the...

The attraction for us as roofers was that this 100-year-old building had its original pantiles remaining which the client and district surveyor insisted we use. These hand-made terracotta tiles look fabulous but are notoriously difficult to fit as they differ in both...

The roofs in New Mexico are delightful and often comic (in a good way) from the corrugated iron ones of Albuquerque to the high-end public buildings of Santa Fe. However, what strikes me first as a roofer is the lack of guttering. Everywhere the flat roofs dump their...

Although roofing has always been associated with the use of ladders, for the most part scaffolding has replaced them as a form of access. For extensive re-roofing and repair work, scaffolding is perfectly justifiable both from a logistical and safety point of view. On...

One of the common reactions we get when deploying a long ladder up onto a roof is “shouldn’t you be using a scaffold?” It is as if ladders are no longer considered safe. People are shocked when I tell them that our longest ladder, which can extend up to 45 feet or 3 ½...

Handmade tiles by their very nature tend to be used on older and generally more expensively built properties. It is their very slight difference in shape, colour and contour that gives them their appeal. I personally have found they are also less liable to frost...

A lack of felt shouldn't lead to a new roof! Just because your house is potentially nearing a hundred years old and has no felt, you shouldn’t be bullied into having a new roof. You see, in some ways, the felt lining is a hindrance, even on a slated roof. A leak will...

Think of it, someone designs a property that rather than discarding rainwater off the roof flanks to the gutters, funnels it downwards to a central valley that runs front to back of the property along the centre line of the bedrooms. They’re usually three of four...