Beacon Basingstoke Roofing

Roofers in Theale

Theale is 16.5 road miles north of Basingstoke, a village hard by the M4 and the Kennet and Avon Canal, with a Victorian red brick high street, four conservation areas and a single thatched building. We photograph your own roof before we quote, and the price we give is fixed and in writing.

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An Edwardian red-brick detached house with clay tile roof and tile-hung gables in north Hampshire

Roofs we see in Theale

  • A Hampshire village cottage of flint and brick with a steep clay plain tile roof

    Victorian high street buildings

    Theale High Street is built up with mainly Victorian buildings in red brick, some with patterned brickwork and others rendered in lime plaster. Their roofs are typically pitched, in clay tile or natural slate, with brick chimneys, and a mix of shops and homes underneath. Lead, chimney flashings and gutters on the street frontage are often the first things to fail, and because the buildings stand shoulder to shoulder, a fault on one roof can show up as damp in the neighbour's wall. Access is usually from the street or a rear yard, so scaffold has to be planned with the pavement and the shop frontages in mind.

  • 1930s semi-detached houses with hipped clay tile roofs and bay windows on a suburban road

    A thatched roof and listed buildings

    The Old Lamb, a former coaching inn now a hotel, is the only thatched building in Theale. Across the parish, 32 buildings were listed in 1984, all at Grade II apart from Holy Trinity Church, completed in 1832 and listed Grade I. That means a good deal of the village's older stock needs repair done to the same materials as the original. The patchwork of tiles, slates and brick that results is part of the village's character, and it is our job to repair it so that it still looks like Theale afterwards.

  • House roof stripped to battens during a roof replacement

    Canal-side and edge-of-village homes

    The parish is bounded to the south and south-east by the Kennet and Avon Canal, with the River Kennet running south of the village, and newer homes sit towards the edges. These are the housing of later decades: concrete tile roofs, flat-roofed extensions and garages, and in low ground a lot of damp air that keeps moss on north slopes. Roofs of this age often have chimney flashings in cement fillets rather than lead, and these crack first. The lead replacement is a small job when done early and a bigger one when the water has reached the ceiling below.

16.5 road miles north of Basingstoke

Planning and building control in Theale

West Berkshire Council is the body to speak to in Theale, for planning and for building control alike. The village has four conservation areas: High Street/Blossom Lane, Holy Trinity and The Lamb, all designated in 1971, and Sheffield Bridge, designated in 1983 to protect the canal swing bridge. Check the boundaries on the West Berkshire Council website, because they cover parts of the older village and a house that looks ordinary from the road may be inside one.

Inside a conservation area, repair like for like is normally straightforward, whereas changing the covering, the look of the roof or the chimney could need consent. Put the question to West Berkshire's conservation officer first. The same applies to any of the 32 buildings listed in the parish. Outside the conservation areas, a full re-roof can be notifiable to building control, and we deal with it. A bay window, a dormer or a roof window changes the roof as well, which is worth knowing before you plan an attic room, and our planning permission guide covers the rules for roof windows.

What we find on Theale roofs

Theale roofs split into three camps: the Victorian frontages on the high street, the listed and thatched buildings of the older village, and later houses at its edges. Each has its own faults.

Chapter 1: Why is water coming through the roof of our Victorian high street building in Theale?

What we find

A Victorian terrace on a high street usually has a pitched roof in clay tile or slate behind a parapet or an eaves gutter, with party walls running up between each property. The chimneys on those party walls and the valleys between roofs are the places where leaks begin. Slates slip when their fixings corrode, and the lead flashings along the chimney or the parapet crack with age.

The gutters on the street frontage may be cast iron, built into the eaves, and when they rust through or fill with debris the water soaks the brickwork and the timber behind. Inside, it shows as damp on an upper wall or a ceiling stain close to the chimney breast, and the plaster may bubble or lift in sheets where it has been wet for a long time. In shops with a flat rear roof, the join between flat and pitched roof is another weak point.

What we fix

We inspect the slates, tiles, lead and gutters from the roof and photograph each fault. Slipped slates can be refixed or replaced with matching ones, flashings renewed in lead, and valleys relaid. Sound cast iron gutters are repaired and repainted; those beyond saving are replaced in a matching profile.

If a flat rear roof meets the pitched roof, we check that the flashing is sealed and the membrane is turned up properly. Reported UK prices for mending a single slate are £100 to £250 in labour, and the slate itself costs little, with scaffold on top, and you get the fixed figure after the survey. See our slate roofing page.

Chapter 2: How do you look after tiled roofs and chimneys next to a thatched building like the Old Lamb?

What we find

Thatch is a specialist trade and we do not claim it. In Theale the thatched Old Lamb is the only thatched building, but it matters to neighbours wherever thatch sits close to a tiled roof. Where a tiled roof adjoins a thatched one, the junction is difficult: water that runs off the tiles can sit on the thatch, and sparks from an ill-kept chimney are a risk to straw.

So for tiled buildings near thatch, we pay attention to the chimney. The pot, the flaunching (the mortar cap that holds the pot) and the flue liner all have to be sound. Cracked flaunching and open joints let water into the stack and weaken it. Staining that runs down from a stack is a sign, and so is a pot that leans or a stack that has started to lose brick faces.

What we fix

We rebuild or repair the flaunching, repoint the stack in a mortar suited to the brick, replace cracked pots and fit a rain cowl where the flue is not in use. Chimney flashings are replaced in lead, and valleys between tile and thatch kept clear of debris. If your roof is thatched, a specialist thatcher is the right person and we tell you so plainly.

For chimney work, typical UK prices are reported at about £750 for repointing and from £500 to £2,000 for chimney repairs, and the fixed figure arrives once we have surveyed. More detail is on our chimney repairs page.

Chapter 3: Can the roof of one of Theale's 32 listed buildings be repaired without a new covering?

What we find

In 1984 the parish had 32 listed buildings, all Grade II except Holy Trinity Church, completed in 1832 and listed at Grade I. Many have been repaired in earlier generations with whatever was to hand: a patch of modern tile beside old clay, a cement fillet where lime would have been used, or felt laid over a failed section. Those compromises tend to cause problems later, because hard cement traps water in soft brick.

Common faults are slipped tiles, rotting battens, failed lead and cement pointing around chimneys that has cracked and let water in. Because listed status covers the whole building, even a small repair can change the character if done badly.

What we fix

Our approach is to repair as little as we can and match what is there. We strip only the failed area, keep every sound tile, and make good with reclaimed or matching material. Cement is cut out and replaced with lime mortar, new battens go in beneath, and lead is renewed to the existing detail.

Before you touch anything, we give you the photographic survey so you can take it to the conservation officer. Where a listed roof needs something beyond like-for-like repair, you will want consent first. Wildlife law protects nesting birds and bats, so timing can matter and we flag it. For the broader picture, see our pitched roofing page.

Chapter 4: What makes a flat roof on a canal-side Theale extension hold water after rain?

What we find

Houses on the low ground near the Kennet and Avon Canal and the river sit in damp air, and flat-roofed extensions and garages show it. A felt roof from a few decades back splits at the laps and blisters, and wherever the deck has dipped, water lies in a pond. Moisture then finds the seams. Ponding that lasts more than a day or two after rain is a sign that the fall (the slope towards the outlet) has gone.

You may notice a ceiling stain in the extension that grows after rain, soft boards at the edge of the roof, or a roof surface that looks like a shallow dish. Each of these has its own cause, and the right repair depends on telling them apart. A roof that is badly dished may also have lost some of its insulation to damp, which is a further reason to open it up and look rather than paint over it.

What we fix

We check the deck from above and below. If the boards are sound and the felt has simply aged, a re-cover in EPDM or GRP will do. If the deck is soft or has dipped, we replace the boards and lay new tapered insulation so that water drains. Edge trims, drips and gutters at the front of the roof are renewed at the same time, and we check the wall junctions where a flat roof meets brickwork, because that flashing is where most leaks into an extension begin.

Cost guides quote roughly £80 to £160 a square metre across EPDM and GRP, depending on the system, and the number you pay comes from the survey. Read our flat roofing page for the materials, and garage roof replacement if yours is a garage.

Theale roofing questions

Can the flat roof at the back of a Victorian high street building be recovered?

Usually, yes. Rear flat roofs on older buildings tend to fail at the upstands, laps and outlets, and the deck beneath is often still sound. Where it is, we strip the old covering and lay a new one in EPDM, GRP or torch-on felt, with the upstands and outlets renewed at the same time. Where the deck has softened, we replace the damaged boards first. The survey photographs show which case you have.

Is my house in one of Theale's four conservation areas?

Theale has four: High Street/Blossom Lane, Holy Trinity, The Lamb and Sheffield Bridge. Whether your house is inside one depends on the boundary, so check with West Berkshire Council's planning team before work starts. If it is, we recommend like-for-like materials and keep the survey photographs for the conservation officer.

Can you repair roofs on the Victorian shops on Theale High Street?

Yes. Shops and flats on the high street often have a pitched roof at the front and a flat roof behind, and we work on both. We agree access with the occupiers, keep the pavement and doors clear, and plan around trading hours where we can.

Will the M4 noise or location affect how you work?

It affects very little. M4 Junction 12 lies just east of the village, which makes Theale easy for us to reach. Traffic does influence deliveries, so we plan material drops and skips around busy times and tell you the arrangements in the quote.

Do you do thatched roofs?

No, thatch is a specialist trade and the right person for a thatched roof is a thatcher. The Old Lamb is Theale's only thatched building. We do work on tiled roofs next to thatch, taking particular care with chimneys, flashings and valleys at the junction.

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