Beacon Basingstoke Roofing

Roofers in Alton

Alton is 12.9 road miles south-east of Basingstoke, a market town on the A31 at the eastern end of the Hampshire Downs, where the River Wey has a source. Its old streets, the church of St Lawrence and its conservation area give it roofs that deserve a careful look. We survey with photographs, then quote a fixed price in writing.

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Clay tiled pitched roof gable on a red-brick house

Roofs we see in Alton

  • 1960s and 70s brick semi-detached houses with concrete interlocking tile roofs on a Basingstoke estate street

    Old town-centre buildings

    Alton has been a town for a long time. St Lawrence's church still carries bullet holes from the 1643 battle, and the streets around it hold buildings from many periods, side by side. Older roofs here have often been patched over generations, with later repairs and the odd change of material. Surveying one means reading its history from the loft as well as from the street.

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

    Houses on the chalk downs

    Alton sits at the eastern end of the Hampshire Downs, a belt of chalk that looks out over the Weald. Houses on higher ground take the wind and rain straight off open country, and exposure shows up on the roofs as loose ridge tiles, lifted verges and worn felt at the eaves. The surrounding fields and hedges also drop leaf litter and seed onto slopes and gutters.

  • Roofer fitting roof tiles on a brick house near Basingstoke

    Later houses, garages and extensions

    Beyond the old centre, the town has a good deal of newer housing, with its own set of roofs: concrete or clay tile on semis and detached houses, plus the garages, porches and kitchen extensions that were added later. Many of those later additions are flat. Each covering ages in its own way, and each is surveyed on its own merits and priced after we have seen the photographs.

12.9 road miles south-east of Basingstoke

Planning and building control in Alton

Alton falls under East Hampshire District Council for planning and building control. The council's conservation area records include an Alton conservation area, so some roofs in the town sit inside it, and the council publishes its planning and conservation information on the East Hampshire website. If your house is old, or close to the church and the main streets, it is worth confirming with the planning team whether it is inside the boundary before any roof work is planned.

Inside a conservation area, like-for-like repair, with the same tile or slate in the same colour, is normally acceptable. A change of material, or anything that alters how the roof looks from the street, may need consent, so ask the council's conservation officer before ordering. The same goes for any listed building. Outside the conservation area the issue is usually building control: a full strip and re-cover can be notifiable, and we deal with that for you. For roof windows, our guide to planning permission for roof windows sets out the rules in full.

What we find on Alton roofs

Alton's roofs vary with their position. In the old centre they are steep, aged and full of detail. On the higher ground out towards the downs they are exposed to weather, and further out they are the roofs of modern housing and its additions. Four problems recur here: weathered roof edges, old tile that has lost its fixings, chimneys and lead at the junctions, and flat roofs added to the back of a house. Each is covered below, with how it starts and what we do about it.

Chapter 1: Why are the ridge and verge tiles lifting on our house on the high side of Alton?

What we find

Roofs on the higher ground above the town face the wind with nothing in the way, and the first parts to give are the edges. The ridge is the capping along the top, and the verge is the finished edge of the roof at a gable end. Both were traditionally bedded in sand and cement mortar. Years of frost, sun and driving rain make that mortar shrink and crack away from the tiles, leaving them to rock loose in a gust.

You will often notice crumbs of mortar in the gutter or on the drive, or a ridge tile sitting slightly proud of its neighbours. From the loft, daylight along the top of the roof or a damp mark on the ridge timber tells the same story. A loose verge tile can also let wind get under the first row of tiles, which then lifts in a storm.

What we fix

We take up a few tiles first to see whether the tiles are sound and only the mortar has failed, which is the usual finding. BS 5534 requires ridge, hip and verge components to be mechanically fixed, with mortar no longer relied on alone, so on exposed roofs we normally recommend a dry-fix system: the ridge tiles are clipped or screwed to a batten over a ventilated roll, and the verge is finished with a clip-on dry verge. Dry-fix products are covered by BS 8612.

The roll lets air move through the ridge, which also helps keep the loft dry. A typical UK range for a dry ridge on a semi is £900 to £1,600, with scaffold at £300 to £900 on top; your fixed quote follows the survey. If the tiles themselves are cracked, we replace those too. Our ridge tile repairs page explains the options.

Chapter 2: The tiles on our old house near St Lawrence's church are slipping. Is it time for a new roof?

What we find

Old clay tiles in a town centre have often been repaired many times, and a roof like that behaves in particular ways. Tiles are held by a nib over the batten and sometimes by a nail, and where the nail has corroded the tile slides down its course. Roofers call this nail sickness. In frost, soft clay flakes on its face, and old battens can become brittle. Newer repairs in a different tile stand out as patches of different colour on the slope.

Slipped tiles are an early sign, not a death sentence. Look for a gap in the courses, tiles sitting at odd angles and debris in the gutter. From the loft, damp patches on the underlay and dark stains on the rafters show where water has been getting in. A roof can be well worth keeping even though it looks uneven from the street.

What we fix

If the battens and rafters are sound, repair is the better route. We strip back the affected area, replace rotten battens, renew the underlay where it has failed and relay the tiles, using reclaimed or handmade plain tiles to fill the gaps so the colour and texture match. Fixings go in with stainless steel nails or clips, and every sound tile is kept. In a conservation area this matching matters, and we photograph before and after.

If the whole slope has gone, we say so and explain what a full re-roof involves. Typical UK figures for re-roofing a three-bed semi in concrete tile are £6,500 to £10,500, and clay costs more; your fixed quote follows the survey. Work of that size can be notifiable, so we handle the building control side. Our roof replacement page explains the process.

Chapter 3: Why does the lead around our chimney in Alton keep leaking?

What we find

Chimney stacks in Alton stand at the highest point of a roof, and downland weather hits them hard. The joint where the stack meets the roof is sealed by lead flashing, which is a strip tucked into the brick joints, and by soakers, small lead pieces that interleave with the tiles on each side. If any part loosens, rain runs down the brick and appears inside as a stain on the chimney breast or the ceiling beside it.

The brickwork itself matters as well. Lime or sand mortar joints erode over time, and the flaunching around the pots cracks. Sealant smeared along an open flashing is a common attempt to fix it, and it fails within a season or two, because lead moves with the temperature and the sealant does not. Birds and moss can also lift the edges of old lead.

What we fix

We take off the failed lead, check the brickwork behind it and repoint where the joints have gone. New flashings are cut into the mortar course, not stuck on the surface, and the soakers are fitted to match the tile gauge. A back gutter is added behind the stack if the roof needs one to carry water around it. The flaunching and any loose pots are rebedded, so water has no easy path down the flue.

Typical UK prices for replacing chimney leadwork run from £350 to £920, with an average around £570, and four-sided flashing is about £525 without scaffold; your fixed quote follows the survey. Repointing a chimney is typically £450 to £1,200. If the stack is leaning or the brick is crumbling, the quote will say it needs a rebuild. Our chimney repairs page sets out the options.

Chapter 4: Should the flat roof on our Alton kitchen extension be repaired or replaced?

What we find

Many Alton houses have had a kitchen extension or porch added with a flat roof. On houses of different ages, those roofs were covered in whichever material was current at the time, and each has a typical way of failing. Bitumen felt blisters and splits at the laps, especially where it meets the house wall. A roof with too little fall holds puddles, and the water finds any weakness. The edge trim along the gutter can also come away.

Inside, a brown ring on the extension ceiling, damp near the wall junction or mould on the ceiling corners are the signs. On the roof itself, look for ponding that remains the day after rain, cracks, and felt that has lifted at the edges. The deck beneath can be wet without the surface showing it, which is why we check from underneath where we can.

What we fix

If the deck is sound and the covering has failed in one place, a repair may be enough, and the quote reflects that. If the covering is worn out, we strip to the deck, replace any soft boards, add insulation to the standard that applies and re-cover in EPDM (a single-sheet rubber membrane) or GRP (glass-reinforced plastic, laid wet and cured hard). The wall junction is finished with a proper upstand and lead flashing so that water cannot track behind it.

Typical UK prices run from £80 to £120 per square metre for EPDM and £100 to £160 for GRP, supplied and fitted; your fixed quote follows the survey. Replacing a membrane can bring the insulation upgrade rules into play, and we deal with the building control side. Our flat roofing page compares the materials in detail.

Alton roofing questions

Can a flat roof added to the back of an Alton house be repaired rather than replaced?

Often, yes. Rear flat roofs usually fail at the upstands, laps and outlets while the deck below is still sound. If the covering is only split in one place, a patch or localised repair can hold. If it has blistered or ponded across the whole surface, a new EPDM, GRP or felt covering is the better spend. The survey photographs show which of these your roof needs.

Is my house inside the Alton conservation area?

East Hampshire District Council holds the boundary of the Alton conservation area, and its planning team can tell you whether your address is inside it. If it is, ask before changing the colour or material of the roof, because consent may be needed. Like-for-like repair is usually acceptable, and our photographs of the roof as it stands will help with that conversation.

Are the old bullet holes in St Lawrence's church the sort of damage you can repair?

That is a matter for the church and the conservation specialists who look after it, not for us. We work on houses, outbuildings and commercial premises. What the story does show is how long some buildings in Alton have stood, and old roofs like these respond best to careful repair with matched materials, rather than wholesale replacement.

Can you fit a conservation rooflight in a clay-tiled house near the town centre?

Often, yes, though in a conservation area the style and position matter more than usual. Read our conservation rooflights guide, then check with East Hampshire's planning team before ordering. A slim-framed window set low in the slope and flashed neatly into the tiles tends to sit best on a plain clay roof.

Our roof sits high on the downs and takes the wind. How do we protect it?

Start with the edges. Ridge, hip and verge tiles on an exposed roof should be mechanically fixed, not left to mortar alone, and the eaves and underlay should be checked for lift. We survey the roof, show you what we find in photographs and quote for the repairs that matter. If the roof has years left in it, the report will record that, and the work carries our written 10-year workmanship guarantee.

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