Beacon Basingstoke Roofing

Roofers in New Alresford

New Alresford is 14.8 road miles south of Basingstoke, a planned market town whose Georgian streets were rebuilt after a great fire. Its roofs are mostly red tile and slate, many on listed houses, with thatch still standing in Mill Hill. We photograph your own roof, explain what it needs and write the price down.

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Brick estate houses with concrete tile roofs among pine trees

Roofs we see in New Alresford

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

    Georgian town houses

    A fire in 1689/90 destroyed 117 houses, and much of the town was rebuilt in the 18th century, which is why so many Georgian buildings line the main streets today. Houses of that period typically have brick chimney stacks shared between neighbours and, where a frontage rises to a parapet, a lead-lined gutter hidden behind it. The roofs are old, and their faults sit at the stacks, the gutters and the party walls.

  • House roof stripped to battens during a roof replacement

    Slate and red tile

    The town's own design statement describes its roofs as a mixture of red tile and slate. Slates are held by nails or pegs that corrode over the decades, so individual slates slip while the rest still look sound. Red clay tiles bring a different problem, because older, softer ones flake in frost. Both repair well in small sections when matching material can be found.

  • A row of Victorian terraced houses with Welsh slate roofs and brick chimneys in Reading

    Thatch and its neighbours

    Some thatched properties survive in Mill Hill, and the roofs beside them matter as much as the thatch itself. Brick chimneys that rise through a thatched roof, the lead or flashing around them, and adjoining tiled outbuildings all need to be sound, because water finding its way into thatch is hard to dry out. We work on the tiled, slated and leaded parts and say plainly where a specialist thatcher is the right call.

14.8 road miles south of Basingstoke

Planning and building control in New Alresford

Winchester City Council deals with planning and building control for New Alresford. The New Alresford Design Statement from 2008 says that most houses in the town are Grade II listed buildings, and that has a direct effect on roof work. The statement is held on the council's site as a design statement PDF, and it is worth skimming before you plan anything beyond a repair.

On a listed house, like-for-like repair is usually acceptable, but replacing slate with tile, swapping clay for concrete or altering how the roof looks may need listed building consent. Have a word with the conservation team at the council first, before any tile or slate is ordered. Away from the listed streets, a large re-cover can still be notifiable under building control, and that side of a job is one we handle for you. Adding a window to a loft slope in a listed or conservation setting is tightly controlled, so start with our page on conservation rooflights before approaching the council.

What we find on New Alresford roofs

A town rebuilt in the 18th century has roofs that are now very old, and many sit on houses with legal protection. That changes what a sensible repair looks like: keep what is sound, replace like for like, and record everything. Below are four situations that come up on New Alresford roofs, what usually lies behind them and the way we would put each right.

Chapter 1: Why are slates sliding off the roof of our Georgian house in New Alresford?

What we find

Slates are fixed with just two nails each, or on very old work with timber pegs, and the fixings are the first thing to give. Iron nails rust where condensation or rain reaches them, the slate loses its grip and slides a little, and eventually it drops into the gutter or onto the path. The slate itself may be perfectly sound. People often notice a pale gap in an otherwise even roof, or fragments on the ground after a windy night.

Georgian roofs in the town were laid long before modern underlay existed, so there may be nothing but the slates between the weather and the loft. Once a few slates slip, the surrounding ones lose their overlap, and water gets to the battens (the timber strips the slates are nailed to). Rot there makes the problem spread outward along the course.

What we fix

For isolated slips, we remove the loose slate and fit a replacement using a copper or aluminium clip, which holds without a new nail hole through the neighbours. Where a larger area has failed, we strip it, renew rotten battens, add a breathable underlay and relay the sound original slates, topping up with reclaimed matches. That keeps the roof's appearance and reduces the amount of new material.

If the house is listed, we record the roof with photographs first, so you can show the conservation officer exactly what exists. Typical UK prices for a single slate repair run from £100 to £250 in labour, with the slate itself £5 to £25, and scaffold or a tower is extra, from £300 to £800. The fixed quote comes after the survey. Our slate roofing page explains the choices in more detail.

Chapter 2: Is the lead gutter behind the parapet on our New Alresford terrace leaking?

What we find

Some Georgian frontages hide their roof behind a low wall, and between the wall and the slope runs a gutter lined in sheet lead (called a parapet or box gutter). Lead of this age moves with the temperature and eventually cracks along its folds. Because the gutter is hidden from the street, a failure can go unnoticed for years while water works its way into the brickwork and the ceilings below.

The signs are inside: a damp patch high on an upstairs wall, plaster blistering below the roofline, or a drip that arrives only after prolonged rain. Outside, a blocked outlet or a weed growing in the gutter suggests debris has been sitting there. Because neighbouring houses often share the same run of gutter, a fault on one property can cause damp next door, which is worth knowing before a dispute starts.

What we fix

We clear the gutter, trace the fault and, if the lead is cracked in a small area, repair it with a welded or lead-burned patch. Where the sheet is simply worn out, we re-lay it in new lead to the right thickness, with correct falls to the outlet, and new flashings up the parapet wall. Sealant is a temporary measure at best, and it hides the problem until the next downpour.

On a listed building, lead is the correct material and we would keep it. Typical UK prices for chimney leadwork average about £570, with a range of £350 to £920, which gives a rough idea of lead costs, though a long parapet gutter is a larger job and is priced from the survey. See our lead roofing and leadwork page for how we work.

Chapter 3: What should we check on the roof next to a thatched cottage in Mill Hill?

What we find

Thatch is a different trade, and we do not claim to cover it, but the parts of the roof around it belong to ours. A brick chimney that rises through straw needs flashing (the lead that seals the junction) and a sound stack, because a leak there feeds water straight into the thatch where it can sit for months. Embers and sparks from a working fire are a separate concern for the owner and a thatcher to discuss.

Tiled extensions and outbuildings beside the cottage may shed rainwater onto the thatch or into a shared valley. A blocked gutter or an overflowing downpipe near a thatched wall wets the base of the straw. We also see old tiled roofs with stack leaks that homeowners assumed were thatch faults, so it pays to have both checked together.

What we fix

We inspect the chimney, repoint failed joints, renew the flashing and soakers in lead, and fit a cap to any unused flue. The adjoining tiled and slated roofs get their own check, with gutters cleared and falls set so rainwater runs away from the thatch rather than onto it.

If the thatch itself is worn, we tell you to speak to a thatcher, and we can share the photographs of the chimney and the surrounding roofs with them so the two jobs fit together. Our chimney repairs page covers the stack work in detail. Chimney repointing is typically reported at between £450 and £1,200 across the UK, and we fix your own price once we have looked.

Chapter 4: Why is there moss and green staining on the roof near Alresford Pond?

What we find

Alresford Pond, formed by the Great Weir across the River Alre, sits at the centre of a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, and the river corridor keeps the air damp around it. Roofs close to the water and the trees beside it dry slowly after rain, so moss and algae build up, especially on north-facing slopes and on old clay tile, which is porous.

The growth does more than look untidy. Moss soaks up water and holds it against the tile, where frost can then flake the face off. It packs into the joints, lifts edges and sheds onto the gutters below, where it blocks the outlets. A roof with this problem often has a lining of green at the eaves, and gutters that overflow in ordinary rain.

What we fix

We clean by hand, brushing off the bulk and applying a biocide that keeps working for months. We avoid pressure washing on old clay, which can strip the face of a soft tile and push water under the laps. Gutters and outlets are cleared at the same time, and any broken or flaked tiles are replaced with matching ones.

Near a protected water body, we take care with what runs off the roof, and we will talk through the treatment before we use it. Typical UK prices reported for a roof pressure wash run from £553 to £723, while hand removal with biocide is £748 to £978, the dearer option being the gentler on old tile. Your fixed quote follows from the survey. Read more on our roof cleaning page.

New Alresford roofing questions

Can a lead valley or box gutter on a Georgian town house be patched?

Sometimes. A split seam or a single cracked fold can be repaired, but if the lead has thinned or cracked in several places, laying it afresh lasts longer than patching. Water backing up in a valley gutter also means the outlet needs clearing and the falls need checking. On a listed house we keep to lead and discuss any change with the conservation officer first.

Our New Alresford house is listed. Can you repair its roof?

Yes, with care. Most houses in the town are Grade II listed, according to the design statement, and consent from Winchester City Council may be needed for anything that alters materials or appearance. We lean toward like-for-like repair in matching slate, clay tile and lead, and we hand you a photo record to take to the conservation officer. All our work is covered by a written ten-year workmanship guarantee.

Can you match the old slates and tiles used here?

Often, yes. We source reclaimed slates and clay tiles of the right size, colour and thickness, because new ones rarely sit well beside weathered originals. The town's roofs are a mixture of red tile and slate, so we look at what each house carries and match it. Where a perfect match is not available, we tell you, and place the nearest tiles on the least visible slope.

Is bat or bird activity something to worry about on an old roof here?

Old tiled and slated roofs with undisturbed lofts suit both. The law protects roosting bats and nesting birds alike, so work might have to wait for the right season or follow a survey. A brief look in the loft and under the eaves during our survey tells us whether anything needs flagging, and we raise it with you before the job is scheduled.

How does the A31 bypass affect getting scaffold to town-centre roofs?

The bypass takes through traffic away, which makes the streets calmer, but many frontages here are narrow and some roofs are reached over a pavement. We plan access at the survey, and where scaffold or a tower would sit on a public footway, the right permission is arranged before work starts. That cost is included in the quote, not added later.

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