Soham is a market town in the Cambridgeshire fens with a mix of older terraces, semis and post-war housing. Many properties here have pitched clay or concrete tile roofs, and the flat, open landscape means roofs are exposed to wind and rain with little shelter from surrounding buildings or trees. Roofs in this part of the fens take a lot of exposure, which can wear pointing, flashings and lead work over time. If your roof is showing its age, we're the team to call - we'll tell you straight what needs doing and what can wait.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
Soham sits in the fenland of Cambridgeshire, east of both Cambridge and Ely. Open countryside gives roofs less natural wind shelter than sheltered sites, so mortar and pointing can weather faster.
Soham's housing stock spans several generations, and each era brings its own roofing challenges. The older terraced properties near the town centre often have clay tiles. Those tiles can last well, but the mortar bedding on ridges and hips eventually fails, and when it does, ridge tiles shift and let water in at the very top of the roof. A common problem on these older roofs is that small leaks go unnoticed in the loft until water reaches the ceiling below - by which point the felt underlay and sometimes the timbers need attention too.
Semis across the wider town often have concrete interlocking tiles. These are heavier than clay, and over decades the battens can weaken. Cracked or slipped tiles are usually the first sign, often spotted after a spell of frost or wind. A single slipped tile won't always cause an immediate leak, but it leaves the tile beneath exposed at the head and water tracks in from there.
Open countryside means roofs get plenty of wind exposure. Wind lifts loose mortar, works ridge tiles side to side, and drives rain into any gap in the flashing. Frost then does its own damage: water sits in cracks, freezes overnight and widens them. Chimney stacks are particularly vulnerable because they project above the roof line and get the full force of the weather on all four sides.
Lead flashing around chimney stacks and where a roof meets a dormer or extension wall is a common source of leaks. Lead has a long lifespan when it is correctly dressed, but cheap repairs using lap sealer or flash tape rarely last more than a season or two. Properly dressed lead, with correct step and cover flashing, is the right way to waterproof those junctions.
Many properties have a flat-roofed garage, rear extension or outbuilding. Older felt flat roofs typically have a lifespan of around 10-15 years, and many are well past that. Signs of failure include blistering, ponding water, cracked felt at the edges and staining on the fascia or interior walls below. When a felt flat roof is at end of life, replacement with a modern EPDM rubber membrane is worth considering. EPDM is a single-ply rubber membrane that bonds well to most deck types, handles thermal movement without cracking, and typically carries a manufacturer's product lifespan of 20-25 years or more, though actual longevity depends on the quality of the installation and the deck condition beneath.
Flat roof replacement costs in the UK typically run from around £70 to £120 per square metre for felt systems, and £90 to £150 per square metre for EPDM, depending on deck condition, access and the specifics of the job. A straight garage roof replacement is usually a one or two-day job once materials are on site.
Timber soffits and fascias on older properties can rot from the back, where moisture collects behind the fascia board. By the time the paint starts to bubble or the wood feels soft to the touch, rot has usually progressed further than it looks. uPVC replacement boards are the standard solution - they don't rot, need no painting and provide a clean base for new guttering. uPVC fascia and soffit replacement on a standard semi-detached house typically costs in the region of £900 to £1,500, depending on the length of run, whether a full scaffold or tower is needed and the condition of the rafter feet behind.
Blocked gutters are worth mentioning here because they cause a surprising amount of damage. When a gutter runs full and overflows, water saturates the fascia, runs behind it, and soaks the wall beneath. Cleaning gutters twice a year - autumn and spring - is the simplest way to avoid a repair bill.
Older houses often have redundant chimney stacks - the fireplaces have been blocked off but the stack remains. Unused stacks still need maintenance. Rain enters through the pot, saturates the internal brickwork and the moisture travels down inside the stack, causing damp patches on the chimney breast inside the house. Options are to fit a chimney cap or cowl to keep rain out while allowing ventilation, or to have the stack taken down to below roof level and the opening properly waterproofed with lead and re-tiled over.
Removing a chimney stack to below roof level typically costs £800 to £1,500 on a standard two-storey house, depending on the height and width of the stack and the scaffold required. If the stack is part of a shared wall in a terrace, planning permission and neighbour notification may apply, so it's worth checking with the local planning authority before work starts.
A full roof replacement - stripping the old tiles, replacing any damaged battens and felt underlay, then re-tiling - is a significant job. Clay tiles cost more than concrete but tend to last longer and suit older properties better aesthetically. Scaffolding typically adds £800 to £1,500 to the overall cost and is not optional for safe working at height on a two-storey house.
Before committing to a full re-roof, it is always worth having a proper inspection to establish whether repairs are genuinely the better option. Sometimes a roof that looks tired from the ground just needs ridge repointing, a handful of tile replacements and new flashing - a repair that costs a fraction of a full replacement. Call us and we'll come and look at it properly before recommending anything.
When roofing work is underway, it is a good opportunity to check loft insulation at the same time. Current Building Regulations recommend a minimum of 270mm of mineral wool insulation between and over the joists in an uninsulated loft. While installing insulation is a separate job from roofing, it makes sense to assess what is there while the loft is being inspected for a quote.
We cover Soham and the surrounding fenland villages as part of our regular working area out of Cambridge. If you have a leak, a failing flat roof, a chimney problem or you want to know whether your roof needs replacing or repairing, call us for a roof survey. We will tell you what we find, what it will cost and what the options are - no pressure, no upselling.
A mixture of terraces in the town centre, semis across the wider town, and some newer detached properties on the outskirts.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
