Cambridge Roofers installs new roofs in Soham and the surrounding area, covering everything from clay and concrete tiles to natural slate on homes and commercial buildings.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
A new roof is one of the largest single investments you will make in your home. Done well, it protects the building for decades. Done poorly, it fails within a few years and the problems it causes - rotten timbers, damp walls, failed ceilings - cost far more to fix than the original roof ever did.
The work itself covers stripping the old covering down to the roof structure, inspecting every rafter, purlin and ridge board, replacing any timber that has softened or split, then laying new breathable underlay before battening out and fixing the new tiles or slate. Flashings at chimneys, abutments and valleys are cut and dressed in lead or an approved lead-compatible alternative. The ridge is bedded and pointed, or a dry-ridge system is fitted. Nothing is rushed, because every stage depends on the one before it.
The right material depends on the pitch of your roof, the age and character of your property, and any planning conditions that apply.
There is no shortage of people willing to put a new roof on your house. The difficulty is telling the ones who will do it properly from the ones who will not. This section covers the questions worth asking before you sign anything, and the answers that should reassure you versus the ones that should give you pause.
A written quote should itemise the materials by type and specification, the scope of timber work included, the method of fixing (nails, clips or both), the underlay specification, how the flashings will be dressed, and what happens to the old materials. If a quote simply says "supply and fit new roof tiles" for a round number, you have no way of knowing what you are buying.
Getting two or three quotes also gives you a realistic sense of what the job should cost. For a standard pitched roof re-covering in concrete interlocking tiles, typical UK prices currently run from around £70 to £110 per square metre of roof area, depending on access, roof complexity and the material chosen. Natural slate costs more, typically £90 to £150 per square metre. These are market rates, not a quote for your specific job - a proper price can only come from a surveyed roof.
Before you commit to any contractor, ask these questions directly and judge the response:
A confident, experienced roofer will answer every one of those questions without hesitation. If a contractor becomes evasive, changes the subject or dismisses a question as unnecessary, treat that as a warning. The quality of the conversation before the job starts is usually a reliable indicator of the quality of the work itself.
A good contractor will also point things out you had not asked about - a cracked chimney pot, a gutter that needs refixing, a fascia board that is starting to go. That is not upselling; it is what you want from someone who knows roofs.
In most cases, replacing a roof with the same type of material is classed as permitted development and does not require planning permission. However, if the property is listed, within a conservation area, or if you want to change the material - say, from concrete tiles to natural slate - you may need consent. Always check with the local planning authority before agreeing on a material, or ask your contractor whether they have experience of working in planning-sensitive areas locally.
The covering you choose affects the cost, the look, and how long the roof lasts before it needs attention again.
New tiles on rotten timbers is money wasted. Before any new covering goes on, the structure must be checked - not just the visible rafters from inside the loft, but the condition of battens, wall plates and any areas near the eaves and valleys where moisture tends to sit. Replacing a rafter is straightforward during a strip; doing it after new tiles are on is expensive. Make sure your quote is clear about what timber replacement is included and what would be charged as extra.
A new roof protects everything below it: the structure, the insulation, the plaster, the electrics, the contents of the house. A roof that leaks within two or three years of being replaced - because the underlay was wrong, the flashings were poorly dressed or the tiles were under-fixed - causes damage that runs well beyond the cost of the roof itself. The saving made by choosing the cheapest quote rarely covers the cost of putting right what goes wrong.
Cambridge Roofers covers Soham and the wider area including Ely, Newmarket and Cambridge itself. Call us to arrange a roof survey so we can give you an accurate, itemised price for your new roof.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
