Understanding exactly what happens during a new roof installation in Lakenheath helps you plan properly and know what to expect at every stage.
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A new roof is not a small job. For most households it means scaffolding for a week or more, daily activity on the roof, and a period where the house is partially open to the weather. Knowing what each stage involves, what decisions need to be made and when, and what a properly finished job looks like gives you the tools to assess whether the work is being done correctly.
Thetford Roofers carry out new roof installations in Lakenheath and across the area.
Before any price is agreed and before work starts, the roof needs to be properly inspected. This means more than a look from the ground with a pair of binoculars. A roofer should get up close to assess the condition of the existing covering, the battens, the underlay, and wherever accessible, the visible timbers in the loft space.
The inspection should identify: the current tile or slate type and whether reclaimed matching material is available if the property is extended later; the condition of the fascias, soffits and guttering at roof level; the state of any flashings around chimneys, abutments or roof windows; and any evidence of rot or movement in the roof structure. All of these factors affect the scope of work and the eventual cost.
If a roofer gives you a fixed price for a new roof without inspecting the timbers from inside the loft, be cautious. The condition of the structure only becomes fully clear once the old covering is stripped, and a reputable roofer will explain how additional timber work would be priced if it becomes necessary.
Safe working at height requires a proper scaffold. For a standard two-storey house, this means a full perimeter scaffold or at least a working platform along the elevations being re-roofed. The scaffold also protects passers-by and the garden below from falling materials during the strip-out.
Scaffold is normally erected by a specialist scaffolding contractor and takes around a day for a standard semi-detached or detached house. It needs to be in place before any roofing work begins. The cost of scaffolding is usually included in a full roofing quotation but worth confirming - some prices are quoted for the roofing labour and materials only, with scaffold as an additional cost.
The old tiles or slates are removed first. On most jobs, the old material goes into a skip positioned nearby. Concrete tiles are heavy and the volume of waste from a full house roof is considerable - a standard semi generates several tonnes of material. The skip size and collection point needs to be agreed in advance, particularly where access or parking is limited.
Once the tiles are off, the battens and underlay come away next. This is when the condition of the roof timbers becomes fully visible. A good roofer will walk the rafters and joists at this point, checking for soft spots, rot, insect damage or any movement. Any rafter that has been carrying a leak for years may be partially rotten and will need splicing or replacing before new materials go on. This is not cutting corners if a roofer prices this separately - it is the correct way to handle something that cannot be accurately scoped until the covering is gone.
Any damaged rafters are repaired or replaced. Ridge boards, purlins and any other structural timbers that have deteriorated are dealt with at this stage. New timbers should be treated with preservative to protect against rot and insect attack.
Once the structure is confirmed sound, new counter battens or a single batten run are fixed across the rafters ready to take the underlay. The spacing of these battens is set by the gauge of the tile or slate being used - get this wrong and tiles will not seat correctly or the roof will not achieve the minimum required pitch for water run-off.
Roofing underlay is laid horizontally across the rafters, starting at the eaves and working up to the ridge. Each course overlaps the one below by the manufacturer's specified amount - typically 100 to 150 millimetres depending on the pitch and the underlay type. The overlap at vertical joints is equally important and is usually a minimum of 150 millimetres.
Breathable roofing membrane is the standard underlay for most new roofs today. It allows moisture vapour to pass outward through the roof structure rather than condensing on the underside and soaking into the timbers. The underlay is then battened down with tiling battens fixed at the correct gauge for the chosen tile or slate.
Tiles or slates are loaded onto the scaffold and lifted to the roof in manageable quantities. Work starts at the eaves with a double starter course and progresses up the roof to the ridge. Each tile is nailed to the batten - every tile on a new roof should be nailed, not just those at the edges. Under-nailing is a common fault on older roofs and a major cause of tiles lifting in wind.
Verge edges - the sides of the roof at the gable ends - can be finished with traditional mortar or with a dry-fix verge system using plastic clips and undercloak. Dry-fix verges are more weather-resistant long-term as they remove the mortar joint that is a recurring maintenance point on older roofs.
Hip tiles, where roofs meet at an external angle, are also bedded and fixed at this stage. As with ridges, dry-fix hip systems are available and avoid the mortar maintenance issue.
The ridge is the last section to be covered and arguably the most important for weather-tightness at the apex. Ridge tiles can be mortar-bedded in the traditional way or installed using a dry-fix ridge system. A dry-fix ridge uses mechanical fixings and a ventilated underlayer rather than mortar, which removes the most common cause of ridge tiles lifting in wind. On a new roof, a dry-fix ridge is worth the additional cost for most homeowners.
Any chimney flashings, abutment flashings, valley linings or roof-window surrounds are fitted or replaced at this stage. Lead is the traditional and most durable material for this work. Flashings should be cut, formed and fixed correctly - a lead flashing that is simply pushed into a raked joint and pointed over is a repair; a proper installation has the lead dressed into a chased joint in the masonry and sealed with a suitable pointing compound or lead wedges.
Chimney stacks need the flashing checked at all four sides - apron flashing at the front, stepped flashings up the sides, and a back gutter or soaker at the rear. The mortar pointing and top haunching of the stack should also be assessed and re-pointed where necessary to prevent water entering from above.
Once the roof is complete, gutters and fascias are inspected. If old cast iron or wooden guttering is being replaced with uPVC, this typically happens at this stage while the scaffold is still in place. New guttering at roof replacement time makes practical sense as the cost of a return scaffold visit later is avoided.
The final stage is clean-up. All old tiles, slate, broken material, packaging and debris should be cleared and removed. The skip is collected, the scaffold is struck, and the garden or driveway is swept down. Any minor damage to soft landscaping that occurred during the job should be made good. A well-run roofing job leaves no trace of itself on the ground when the scaffold comes down.
Stand back and look at the finished roof from the street. Tile courses should be straight and level. The ridge should be straight. Verge edges should be neat and consistent. There should be no visible mortar smeared across tile faces and no gaps in the pointing where it has been used. All lead flashings should be neatly dressed with no ragged edges.
Inside the loft, the underlay should be taut with no sagging between rafters, the batten runs should be parallel, and there should be no daylight visible between tiles.
We carry out new roof installations in Lakenheath and the surrounding area. If you want to talk through what a new roof on your property would involve, call us to arrange a survey.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
