Beacon Basingstoke Roofing

Roofers in Church Crookham

Church Crookham is 14 road miles east of Basingstoke, across the Basingstoke Canal from Fleet. Its roofs run from the late 1980s estates around Zebon Copse to the newer Crookham Park homes on the old barracks site. We photograph your own roof first, then give you a fixed written quote.

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A thatched cottage in a Test Valley village with a brick chimney

Roofs we see in Church Crookham

  • White uPVC fascia, soffit and guttering under a tiled roof

    Late 1980s estate houses

    Zebon Copse, south-west of the village, has over two hundred homes put up in the late 1980s, and houses of that era were commonly built with concrete interlocking tiles, a bitumen felt underlay beneath, mortar along the ridge and verge, and a timber or plastic fascia at the eaves. After more than thirty years the felt and the mortar are the parts that tire first, while the tiles themselves usually carry on.

  • Modern 2000s brick houses with grey concrete tile roofs on a new estate near Basingstoke

    Crookham Park and newer builds

    Queen Elizabeth Barracks served the British Army from 1938 to 2000, and the Crookham Park housing that replaced it has been going up since 2012. Roofs this young seldom leak through age. The faults we are asked about are workmanship ones: a flashing left short at a dormer or a bay, a valley lined badly, a vent tile that was never fitted, or a tile slipped after a storm.

  • Clay tiled pitched roof gable on a red-brick house

    Houses beside the canal

    The Basingstoke Canal bounds the north-east of Church Crookham and has long been the traditional divide from Fleet. Houses and outbuildings near the towpath sit under trees and over damp ground, so roof slopes stay wet for longer. Moss builds up on the shaded side, leaves fill the gutters and valleys, and the timber at the eaves is the first thing to suffer.

14 road miles east of Basingstoke

Planning and building control for Church Crookham homes

Hart District Council is the planning and building control authority for Church Crookham. The council's Basingstoke Canal Conservation Area follows the waterway along the north-east edge of the village, so a house or outbuilding close to the towpath may sit inside it. Check your address on the Hart District Council website before you plan anything beyond a like-for-like repair, and ask the council's conservation officer if the boundary is not clear. Inside a conservation area, changing the material or look of a roof can need consent, though matching repairs normally do not.

Most of the village is ordinary suburban housing where planning is rarely the issue and building control is. Stripping a whole roof and recovering it may count as notifiable work, as may a heavier covering, so we tell you what needs notifying before work begins and handle the paperwork. Thinking about a roof window in a loft room? The rules on roof windows are set out in our planning permission for skylights article, and our conservation rooflights page applies if you are near the canal.

What we find on Church Crookham roofs

Church Crookham is mostly a place of estates built in waves: the 1980s streets around Zebon Copse, then the barracks land redeveloped from 2012, with older houses and canal frontage in between. Each wave ages differently, so the faults differ from street to street.

Chapter 1: Why are there damp patches in the loft of our Zebon Copse era house?

What we find

Houses from the late 1980s were commonly roofed with concrete interlocking tiles over a bitumen felt underlay, the sheet laid across the rafters beneath the battens to catch any water that gets past the tiles. Thirty-odd years of sun and frost leave that felt dry and cracked, and it tends to fail first where it drapes over the ridge board and where it laps at the valleys. A damp patch in the loft with no matching hole in the tiles is the classic sign.

Condensation is the other suspect. Lofts of that era were often topped up with insulation that has since been pushed hard against the eaves, blocking the airflow, so warm air from the house condenses on the cold underside of the felt. A good survey separates the two, because one needs new felt and the other needs ventilation put back.

What we fix

From inside the loft we look for daylight, wet timber and drip marks, then lift a few tiles on the outside to inspect the felt and the battens beneath. If the problem is a local tear, we reslate the area with new felt and relay the same tiles. Where condensation is the cause, we fit eaves ventilators and tile vents and pull the insulation back from the eaves so air can pass. Our guide on whether you need tile vents explains how that works.

When the felt has perished across whole slopes, patching stops being honest and a strip and re-cover is the right answer. A concrete-tile re-roof on a typical three-bedroom semi is reported across the UK at £6,500 to £10,500, with the fixed quote following the survey. Our pitched roofing page sets out how those jobs run, including the breathable underlay we would use in place of the old felt.

Chapter 2: The ridge on our semi near Zebon Copse has started cracking. Is the whole ridge due for replacement?

What we find

The ridge is the line of capping tiles along the top of the roof, and on estates built in the late 1980s it was bedded in sand and cement mortar. Mortar of that age shrinks and splits away from the concrete, and each split lets in rain and frost. Eventually a ridge tile can rock in its bed, and the mortar at the gable end, along the verge, goes the same way. A few crumbs of mortar in the gutter after a windy night are usually the first clue.

It is rarely only one house. Streets were built in runs by the same crew, so a row of semis will often show the same cracking at a similar stage, and a neighbour's quote is a fair guide to what yours will find. Some roofs have already been patched with a thick dab of mortar, which hides the fault for a season and then lets go again.

What we fix

We lift a few capping tiles to learn if it is just the bedding that has gone while the tiles themselves are fine, which is the usual finding. Good tiles can be reused, though under BS 5534 the ridge, hips and verges are meant to be fixed mechanically, so we would not trust mortar on its own. A dry-fix system, covered by BS 8612, screws or clips the ridge tiles to a batten over a breathable roll. Dry verge caps, clip-on plastic units that cover the tile ends, deal with the gable edge in the same visit.

Reported UK figures for dry-fixing the ridge of a semi start at £900 and reach £1,600, with scaffold at £300 to £900 on top, so the fixed quote comes only after the survey. Our ridge tile repairs service explains the options in more detail. If the tiles are sound and only a couple have lifted, a smaller repair may be all that is needed, and we say so.

Chapter 3: Why does the roof of our house backing on to the Basingstoke Canal go green so quickly?

What we find

Land next to the canal is low, damp and well treed, and the air above a stretch of water holds moisture. On a roof slope that faces north or lies in the shade of a mature tree, the tiles stay wet for much of the day and algae and moss move in. Moss itself is not an immediate threat, but it holds water against concrete tiles, packs the gaps between them and sheds spores and debris into the gutters below.

The gutters and valleys are where we usually see the damage. A valley (the channel where two roof slopes meet) full of leaves overflows into the roof edge instead of running away, and a blocked downpipe soaks the fascia behind it. Rot in the timber along the eaves is often the reason a canalside house gets a stain on the bedroom ceiling.

What we fix

We clear the moss by hand with scrapers and brushes, treat the slope with a biocide, and leave the surface to bleach out over the following weeks. We avoid pressure washing on concrete tiles, because it can strip the surface and push water under the laps. Gutters, valleys and outlets are cleared on the same visit, and any rotten fascia board is replaced before the gutter goes back. Our page on roof cleaning covers the methods.

Typical UK charges reported for hand moss removal run from £748 for a small roof to £978 for a large one, though the fixed quote follows the survey visit. Tree work is your own affair, but cutting back a few overhanging branches makes a real difference to how fast the moss returns. Where the roof sits close to the water, we also check for nesting birds and bats before work starts, as both are protected.

Chapter 4: Our newer Crookham Park house leaks around the bay window roof. Who should fix it?

What we find

The houses that replaced Queen Elizabeth Barracks were built from 2012, so most of them are within the age where a builder's defect might still be a live question. The common weak points on houses of this period are small lead or fabric flashings, where a bay window roof or a porch meets the main wall. A flashing that was cut short, or lapped too little under the tiles, works until a heavy shower comes at it sideways.

Staining on the ceiling below a bay is the usual sign, or a damp patch on the inside of the outer wall. Because the problem is often a single detail rather than the covering as a whole, the roof can look perfect from the road. The cause is usually found by looking at the abutment and the soakers (the small folded pieces of lead interleaved with the tiles) rather than anything higher up.

What we fix

We photograph the junction, show you what we find, and explain whether it looks like a fixing fault or storm damage, since you may want to speak to the builder or your warranty provider before anyone repairs it. If you want it mended now, we form new lead flashings and soakers to suit the tile profile, seal and dress them so water cannot track behind, and test the area before we leave. Our guide to signs of failing lead flashing shows what to look for.

Leadwork to a single chimney is reported at £350 to £920 in typical UK ranges, which gives a rough idea of scale for one small detail, and the fixed quote follows once we have surveyed. A bay or porch flashing is normally a straightforward repair that does not need the whole roof to be touched.

Church Crookham roofing questions

What fails first on a 1980s estate roof, the tiles or the details around them?

The concrete tiles themselves tend to outlast the parts around them. The mortar bedding under ridge and hip tiles cracks, the felt underlay beneath the tiles ages, and lead flashings or verge mortar can loosen. A repair is often a re-bed or a switch to mechanically fixed dry-fix ridge, with failed pieces replaced, rather than a new roof. The survey photographs each of those details.

Should we get a survey before the first buyer's inspection if we are selling a Zebon Copse house?

It can help. A roof from the late 1980s is the age where a buyer's surveyor tends to flag ridge mortar and felt. Our survey photographs those parts, tells you what is merely worn and what needs work, and gives you a written quote you can show a buyer. Fixing a cracked ridge before the sale is often cheaper than negotiating over it afterwards, and the work carries our 10-year workmanship guarantee.

Can you work on a house close to the canal towpath without disturbing the water or wildlife?

Yes. We keep tools, debris and cleaning treatments away from the water, sheet the ground below the work, and take waste away with us. Bats and nesting birds are protected, so on an older roof or a tree-lined plot we check before we lift tiles and time the work around them where we have to. The conservation area may also apply, so we suggest asking Hart District Council if you are unsure about a change of material.

Do you cover the outbuildings and stables around Tweseldown as well as houses?

We do. Tweseldown racecourse gave Church Crookham a place in the 1948 Olympics, and outbuildings, barns and field shelters on land nearby are the sort of buildings we repair. Profile sheet and corrugated roofs on these buildings need a different approach from tiled houses, including a check for asbestos cement on older sheeting. Send photographs or ask for a survey and we will say what each roof needs.

Which neighbouring towns do you cover alongside Church Crookham?

Just across the canal is Fleet, and Crookham Village is close by, both of which we cover. See our pages for roofers in Fleet and roofers in Crookham Village if your address is nearer to either. The survey, the fixed quote and the guarantee are the same wherever you are.

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