If you want to know exactly what happens during a full roof replacement in Lakenheath, this page walks through every stage - from the first inspection to the moment the scaffolding comes down.
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A roof replacement is one of the larger jobs a homeowner is likely to commission. It involves scaffolding, several days of noisy work, a skip on the drive and a period when your home's main weather barrier is temporarily open. Knowing what to expect at each stage removes uncertainty and makes it easier to spot whether a job is being done properly.
What follows is an honest account of how a full pitched roof replacement should go - the sequence of work, the decisions made along the way, and what a good contractor does at each step that a careless one might skip.
Before any price can be given or any work planned, the roof needs a proper look. A visual assessment from the ground - using binoculars or a drone camera - gives a useful first picture: slipped or cracked tiles, missing mortar at the ridge, lift at the verges, discolouration that might indicate damp tracking. But it is not enough on its own to plan a replacement.
A roofer should get onto the roof itself, or at minimum into the loft space, before quoting. From inside the loft, you can see daylight through failed coverings, damp staining on the rafters, softness in the sarking boards and any sign of structural movement. From the roof surface, you can test ridge mortar, check the condition of valleys, lift a tile to inspect the batten and underlay beneath, and assess the lead at chimney and wall junctions properly.
This inspection is what the quote is based on. A quote produced purely from ground level or from a satellite image is not reliable - it will either be priced too low and generate extras later, or padded with unknowns that inflate the price unnecessarily. Ask whether the roofer has been onto the roof before committing to any figure.
Roof work at height requires safe access and a stable working platform. For a full replacement, a full perimeter scaffold is standard - freestanding tube and fitting or a system scaffold erected around the building and across the roof slope. This gives roofers safe access to every point, allows materials to be lifted and lowered safely, and prevents tiles and debris from falling to ground level.
Scaffold hire is usually priced as part of the overall replacement contract rather than separately. Check that any quote you receive includes erection, hire for the expected duration of the works, and dismantling. A job that runs longer than expected due to weather or unforeseen structural work will usually incur an extended hire charge - ask in advance how this is handled.
In tight locations, or where a neighbour's property or a public path sits close to the building, the scaffold design may need a licence from the relevant authority or agreement from the adjoining owner. Your roofer should identify this at the survey stage.
Once the scaffold is in place and a skip is positioned, stripping begins. Tiles are removed course by course from the ridge downward. Ridge tiles and hip tiles come off first, then field tiles working down to the eaves. Verge mortar is raked out, valley sections are lifted, and lead flashings at chimneys and abutments are removed.
A methodical strip is important. Tiles broken during stripping are a normal element of the work, but excessive breakage caused by careless removal - dropping tiles onto the courses below rather than lifting them clear - wastes material unnecessarily if any tiles are being salvaged for reuse elsewhere.
Once the tiles are off, the felt underlay or sarking boards are removed and the whole timber structure is exposed. Everything that was hidden under the covering is now visible and accessible, and this is the point at which a thorough inspection of the timber happens.
With the covering stripped, every rafter, purlin, ridge board and wall plate can be checked. Soft, dark or crumbling timber is a sign of long-term moisture ingress - often from a failing underlay or persistent flashing leaks. Any timber that is structurally compromised needs to be cut out and replaced with new treated timber before the new covering goes on.
Common problems found at this stage include:
A good roofer will photograph or show you any structural defects before repairing them, so you understand what has been found and why the work is being done. Timber repairs are a normal part of most replacements on older properties - they are not a reason to panic, but they do need doing properly.
With sound timber throughout, the next stage is the underlay. A breathable membrane is now standard on all new work. It is laid horizontally across the roof, starting at the eaves and working upward, with each course overlapping the one below by at least 150mm so water cannot track back through the lap.
At the eaves, the membrane runs into a fascia board gutter or drapes into the gutter to direct any water that passes the tiles away from the fascia. At the ridge, it is dressed up and over. At abutments and chimneys, it is cut and dressed carefully so the later lead work can lap over it.
Battens are then fixed across the membrane at the gauge required for the tile being used. Gauge - the spacing between battens - is specific to each tile type and is determined by the tile's minimum and maximum headlap specification. Getting gauge right means every tile sits flat, sheds water correctly into the course below and is held firmly by its nib. A roof battened at the wrong gauge looks wrong and performs worse.
Tiling starts at the eaves and works upward. The first course sets the pattern for everything above it, so it needs to be laid level and at the correct overhang over the gutter. On a hipped roof, a roofer will set out the central line of the roof from the ridge down and work outward to maintain symmetry. On a gable roof, the tile courses are set to minimise small cuts at the verge.
At valleys - the internal angles where two roof slopes meet - the tile is cut and either laid against an open lead gutter or swept and mitre-cut to form a closed valley. Lead valleys need to be correctly sized for the roof's catchment area; a valley that is too narrow will overflow in heavy rain. Swept and mitre-cut valleys require precise cutting and careful bedding to stay watertight.
Around chimneys and at abutments with walls, lead flashings are dressed in as tiling reaches that level. Stepped lead soakers are fixed between each tile course and turned up against the masonry. A cover flashing over the top is turned into a raked mortar joint and wedged and pointed. Done correctly, this junction remains watertight for decades. Done poorly, it is the first place a new roof will leak.
Ridge tiles are fixed last, using either a dry-ridge system - where a batten and clip arrangement holds the ridge tile mechanically - or traditional mortar bedding and pointing. Dry-fix ridges do not rely on mortar adhesion and do not require future repointing, which is why they are now the preferred method on most replacements.
Once tiling and ridge work are complete, the gutters are checked and, if necessary, re-seated. Stripping work and the weight of operatives walking the roof edge can pull gutters out of alignment. Any sections that have dropped or separated from the fascia are refixed before the scaffold comes down, because correcting a gutter issue afterwards requires a ladder or a return visit.
A final check of the whole roof is carried out from the roof itself before scaffold is released - walking every ridge, checking every valley, testing every flashing and verifying that no tiles have been left sitting proud or are missing a fixing. This is the point at which minor snagging items are corrected.
The scaffold is then struck and removed. All waste - stripped tiles, old felt, broken timber - should have been loaded to the skip throughout the job. Before leaving, the area around the building is cleared of any debris, and the skip is collected.
A standard three-bedroom semi-detached house with a straightforward roof will typically take three to five working days from scaffold erection to scaffold removal. Larger or more complex roofs - multiple hips, large chimney stacks, dormers or a mansard section - take longer. Weather affects progress: tiling should not be carried out in high winds or driving rain, and lead work requires dry conditions for correct dressing.
A full roof replacement on a standard three-bedroom semi in this area typically costs between £5,000 and £10,000, depending on roof size, the material specified, the extent of any structural timber work and the complexity of flashings and valleys. That figure should include scaffold, materials, labour and waste disposal. Always ask for a breakdown rather than a single lump-sum figure so you can compare quotes properly.
Thetford Roofers is based in Thetford and works across Lakenheath and the surrounding area, including Mundford, Brandon, Kilverstone, Elveden, East Wretham, Croxton, Brettenham and Barnham. If your roof needs replacing and you want a thorough inspection and a clear, itemised quote, 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.
