Beacon Basingstoke Roofing

Roofers in Herriard

Herriard is 5.4 road miles south of Basingstoke, mostly along the A339 towards Alton, in a parish of high, open ground with an old church, the Herriard Park estate and farmland. Its roofs take a lot of wind. We photograph yours before we price anything, and the written quote you receive does not move.

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

Roofs we see in Herriard

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

    Exposed hilltop houses

    The Victoria County History records that even the lowest ground in Herriard parish stands 500 ft above ordnance datum, rising past 680 ft near Shalden Green. A house at that height meets the weather head on. Ridge tiles, verges and the bottom row of tiles at the eaves take the worst of it, and those are the first places we look.

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

    Estate and church-side cottages

    St Mary's Church was built by Sir Richard de Herriard around 1200, and Herriard Park fills the whole north-east of the parish, so older cottages and estate buildings are part of the picture. Where one of them carries plain clay tiles hung on battens, it suits careful patching with matched tiles far better than it suits a new covering.

  • Roofer fitting roof tiles on a brick house near Basingstoke

    Barns, garages and outbuildings

    In farming country, the roofs that cause trouble are often the ones nobody looks at: a garage, a workshop, a converted barn or a lean-to with corrugated sheets or felt. Older sheet roofs may contain asbestos cement, which has to be handled to HSE guidance. Felt roofs split, blister and pond. We find out which you have first.

5.4 road miles south of Basingstoke

Planning and building control in Herriard

The borough council, Basingstoke and Deane, handles both planning and building control for Herriard. The parish is small and rural, built around a church founded about 1200, with its western tower added in 1878, and the grounds of Herriard Park. Whether a given house is listed, or sits inside a conservation area, is a question for the council, and its conservation appraisals page is the quickest way to check a particular street or building.

For an ordinary house, a repair or partial re-cover rarely needs a building control application, while a complete strip and new covering can be notifiable. We deal with the application where one is needed. Older estate cottages are different, because a change of material may need consent, and the planning team is the right first call. Thinking about a roof window? Our page on planning rules for a skylight or roof window explains the limits, and the conservation rooflights page covers sensitive roofs.

What we find on Herriard roofs

Herriard's roofs are shaped by height, wind and age. The parish sits on high ground, the older cottages need matched repairs, and the newer outbuildings have often been left to fend for themselves.

Chapter 1: Why do ridge and verge tiles keep working loose on our Herriard house after every gale?

What we find

Altitude is the cause. With the lowest land in the parish 500 ft above ordnance datum, houses here sit above much of the surrounding countryside, and wind arrives with little to slow it. A gust moving up the slope lifts at the roof edge, and the suction at the ridge and the gable end is where it does most damage. On older roofs, the ridge tiles are bedded in sand and cement mortar and the verge is pointed in the same way. After years of frost, that mortar shrinks and cracks, and nothing then holds the tiles except their own weight.

You may find a tile on the lawn after a storm, or notice a ridge line that has gone wavy. In the loft, light along the ridge board or a damp patch on the timbers at the gable are clues.

What we fix

Mortar alone is not enough on a site like this: the tile-fixing standard, BS 5534:2014, calls for mechanical fixing of ridge, hip and verge components. We lift the old ridge, clean off the mortar, and refit using a dry-fix system: a continuous batten, screwed ridge tiles and a vented roll that keeps the roof breathing. Dry verge units clip over the tile ends at the gable and keep the wind out. These systems fall under BS 8612:2018.

Your fixed quote follows the survey, but typical UK reports put a dry ridge on a semi at £900 to £1,600, plus scaffolding at £300 to £900. For the options in full, see our ridge tile repairs page.

Chapter 2: The rainwater from our Herriard downpipes sits against the wall. Is the problem the gutters or the soil?

What we find

The parish soil is clay and chalk over a chalk subsoil, and that mix behaves in a particular way. Chalk drains well in the lower layers, but the clay above it holds water and swells when wet, so a downpipe that discharges beside a wall can soak the ground at the foundation line for days. If a gutter joint is leaking too, a steady drip in the same spot wets the footing every time it rains.

On the roof, the usual culprits are ageing joints between lengths of plastic gutter, brackets that have pulled out of rotten fascia, and outlets blocked with moss and grit from the tiles. Cast iron gutters on older cottages rust through at the joints, and the leaks are hard to see from the ground.

What we fix

We check the whole system with water, mark where it escapes and renew joints, brackets and any failed lengths. Fascias that have started to rot are cut out and replaced, and downpipes are pointed away from the wall onto a proper drain or soakaway, so water leaves the building instead of collecting beside it. We re-set the fall of each gutter run towards its outlet too.

; typical UK prices for a complete uPVC roofline on a semi are £1,800 to £3,500. Our guttering, soffits and fascias service explains what is involved, and a soakaway or drain is a job for a drainage contractor, which we will tell you plainly.

Chapter 3: Can the plain clay tiles on our old Herriard cottage be patched, or does it need a new roof?

What we find

With a roof of this age, the tiles are usually better than the fixings. Plain clay tiles were hung on wooden pegs or iron nails, and these give out long before the clay does. Pegs rot, nails corrode, and a tile that has lost its hold slides down until it jams against the next course. Softer tiles lose the face of the clay after frost, leaving a rough, pitted surface that holds water.

Then there is the roof structure. Cottages of this age may have rafters that have shifted, battens that are thin and brittle, and no underlay at all. From the ground, a slipped tile or two looks like a small repair, though the loft can tell a different story. A professional look at both sides of the roof, from outside and from the loft, is the only reliable guide, and it is what the survey provides.

What we fix

We usually repair. Failed sections are stripped, sound tiles are saved and the gaps are filled with reclaimed tiles of the same size and shade, fixed to new battens with modern fixings. Where the roof has no underlay at all, we may add a breathable one under the stripped area. Chimney flashings and soakers get fresh lead cut to the existing tile gauge.

If the survey shows most of the roof failing, we say so and quote for a full re-cover, with the sound tiles reused where they can be. A new roof is often unnecessary, which is why we put the photographs in front of you first. If the building is listed or in a conservation area, ask the council before you choose materials. Our pitched roofing page explains the repair routes.

Chapter 4: The corrugated roof on our garage near Herriard looks old. Could it be asbestos?

What we find

It is possible. Corrugated sheets on garages, sheds and farm outbuildings were often made of asbestos cement through much of the twentieth century, and the grey, weathered, lichen-spotted look is typical of them. Nobody can identify the material for certain by eye, so any sheet roof of that age should be treated as suspect until it has been tested.

While the sheets are intact and undisturbed, the risk is low, but they become brittle with age. Cracks run out from the bolt holes, moss builds up on the surface, and a sheet can split under a ladder or a foot. Drilling, breaking, scrubbing or pressure washing releases fibres, which is why none of those should happen. Felt roofs on similar buildings show different warning signs: blisters, splits at the edge and soft boards below.

What we fix

Under HSE guidance, taking down asbestos cement sheets carefully, without breaking them, is non-licensed work, provided there is a risk assessment, proper controls and trained workers. Should the sheets have to be broken up, the work turns notifiable, which is why we plan removal around keeping them whole. The sheets are wrapped and taken to a permitted site for disposal. Overlaying with a new roof is sometimes the better choice on a small building.

One vendor reports removal of a single garage roof at £1,200 to £2,000, so treat that only as a guide. For felt roofs, we strip back, repair the deck and re-cover in a rubber membrane or fibreglass. See our garage roof replacement page for the choices.

Herriard roofing questions

How do you match tiles on an older Herriard cottage whose roof has been patched over the years?

We photograph the existing tiles and note their size, colour and camber, then source matching new or reclaimed tiles. Patched roofs are rarely a perfect match, so we plan which slope takes the reclaimed tiles and put the best colour match on the face that is seen from the road. The battens and fixings are checked at the same time, so the repair lasts as long as the tiles around it.

Our house stands high above the surrounding fields. Should the roof be checked for wind damage?

Yes, especially after a storm. High ground means more suction at the ridge, the verges and the eaves, and fixings can loosen long before a tile falls. The survey covers each of these, with photographs taken from a ladder or tower. Loose ridge tiles and cracked mortar are inexpensive to fix if caught early, and expensive if a tile comes through a conservatory roof.

Does living near Herriard Park affect what I can do to the roof of my house?

Only if your property is listed or inside a conservation area, which the borough council can confirm. Herriard Park fills the north-east of the parish, with the house itself hidden from the road in the south-west of the park, but being near it does not by itself restrict a neighbouring house. Ask Basingstoke and Deane's planning team about your address. We can attach the survey photographs to any query you send them.

Can you roof a converted barn or an agricultural outbuilding near Herriard?

We can, with a survey first. Barns and outbuildings often combine old timber, heavy tile or sheet roofing and awkward access. We check the timbers, the covering and any asbestos risk, then quote for repair or replacement. If you plan to use it as a dwelling, building control approval is likely, and we handle that for the roofing work.

Is moss on my roof a problem if the house is on a hill?

It can be. High ground does not guarantee a dry roof, because shaded slopes and trees still keep tiles damp. Moss holds water against concrete tile, fills the joints and washes into gutters. We clear it by hand and apply a biocide rather than pressure washing. Dummer and other nearby villages see the same pattern.

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