When your roof in Burwell starts showing serious signs of age or damage, a full replacement is often the most cost-effective long-term answer.
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A roof replacement is not simply laying new tiles over old ones. The process starts with stripping everything back to the bare timbers, so we can see exactly what we are working with before a single new slate or tile goes on. That means removing the existing covering, the old underlay, and any damaged battens, then inspecting every rafter and purlin for rot, woodworm or movement.
Once the structure is sound, new breathable underlay goes down first, followed by treated timber battens fixed at the correct gauge for the tile or slate being used. Only then does the new covering go on, properly lapped and fixed to resist wind uplift. Ridge tiles are bedded and pointed, valleys are formed correctly, and all flashings around chimneys, dormers and abutments are replaced or re-dressed. Lead is still the material of choice for most flashings on pitched roofs because it moves with the building without cracking.
The job is finished with new or re-used hip and ridge tiles, mortar where specified, and a clear-up that leaves the property tidy. What you get at the end is a fully watertight roof built on a checked, sound structure rather than a patch over underlying problems.
This is the section most homeowners in Burwell ask about, because the decision between a repair and a full replacement is not always obvious from ground level. Here are the specific signs that point toward replacement rather than patching.
A single slipped tile after a storm is a repair job. When you are seeing slipped or missing tiles across several different areas of the roof, the problem is almost always the nibs on the backs of the tiles breaking down with age, or the fixing nails rusting through. Once fixings fail at scale, re-nailing or re-hanging the whole roof becomes as expensive as a full replacement, without the benefit of new underlay and battens underneath.
Concrete interlocking tiles from the 1970s and 1980s are a common source of trouble. They are heavy, and as they age they become porous, absorbing water that then freezes, expanding and cracking the tile face. Once concrete tiles start spalling on a significant portion of the roof, they cannot be reliably patched because matching the profile and colour of discontinued products is difficult, and the ones still in place are usually at the same point in their life cycle.
Natural slate is different: individual slates can last well over a hundred years, but the fixing nails corrode in around 60 to 80 years. A slate roof reaching that age often needs a full re-slate rather than piecemeal repairs, because the nails holding the remaining slates are equally corroded and will fail progressively.
If you can see points of light coming through from the loft on a bright day, the underlay has failed or was never present. Old roofs built before breathable membrane underlays became standard often have no secondary barrier at all, or they have a black bitumen felt that has become brittle and holed. Once the underlay is gone, the only thing keeping rain out is the tiles themselves, and that is not enough on its own.
If a roofer has fixed leaks and re-pointed ridges but you are still finding damp patches in the loft after wet weather, the underlay is the likely culprit. Water is finding its way under the tiles through small gaps and running along the underlay until it finds a hole, then dripping into the loft well away from the actual entry point. This makes it very hard to locate by inspection from below. A replacement solves this definitively because a new continuous membrane is laid across the whole roof.
A wavy or sagging roof line seen from the road is a structural signal. It usually means the rafters or purlins have softened with damp over many years, or that the roof load is greater than the timbers can handle without deflection. Before any new covering goes on, a roofer needs to assess the structure and replace or sister any damaged rafters. A sagging roof that gets a cosmetic re-cover without structural attention will continue to move.
Flashings are the metal pieces that seal the join between the roof and vertical surfaces such as chimney stacks, walls and dormer cheeks. On older roofs these are often mortar-only details, or they are made from zinc or aluminium that has corroded. When every flashing on the roof is failing at the same time, it is a sign that the roof as a whole is at the end of its serviceable life. Replacing flashings in isolation is expensive and the roof covering itself will need attention within a few years anyway.
Most of the warning signs above share the same root causes: time, freeze-thaw cycling in winter, and the cumulative effect of rain and wind. Frost is particularly damaging to porous materials because water expands by about nine per cent when it freezes, working cracks open from the inside. Wind drives rain horizontally into gaps that would shed vertical rain without difficulty. Over many years, small amounts of moisture work into mortar beds, underlay and timber, and the deterioration accelerates once water gets a foothold.
Poor original workmanship speeds the process up. Roofs laid with insufficient lap on the underlay, battens fixed at the wrong gauge, or ridge and hip tiles mortared without an adequate bed will fail earlier than a well-built roof of the same age and materials. When we strip a roof we often find shortcuts from the original or a previous repair that explain why the roof has failed ahead of schedule.
The material choice affects how the roof looks, how long it lasts, and the structural load it places on your timbers. Here is a straightforward summary of the main options for pitched roofs.
If you are replacing a flat roof section as part of the same project, the most practical modern systems are EPDM rubber membrane and built-up felt. EPDM is a single-ply rubber sheet bonded to the deck that handles expansion and contraction well and carries a long manufacturer life expectancy. Both are far preferable to the old three-layer torch-on felt systems that were standard until the 1990s.
A full roof replacement is the natural point to address fascias, soffits and guttering at the same time. The scaffolding is already up, which makes it significantly cheaper to combine the work than to re-erect it for a second job later. uPVC fascia and soffit boards, where they are in poor condition or where the originals are rotting timber, can be replaced as part of the same visit. New guttering can be fitted to the new fascia boards at the same time, giving you properly aligned falls and no overflows at the joints.
If you leave old guttering on new fascias, any existing sag or misalignment stays in place, and the gutter brackets were probably fixed to the old boards at a position that no longer lines up correctly with the new roof edge. It is worth asking your roofer to assess the guttering at survey stage so you know what you are getting into before the scaffold goes up.
Prices vary significantly depending on roof size, pitch, material choice and the condition of the underlying structure. As a general guide, a full re-slate or re-tile costs more with natural Welsh slate, which sits at the upper end, than with concrete interlocking tiles, which sit at the lower end. Larger detached properties or those with complex roof shapes including hips, valleys and dormers will cost more.
Flat roof replacement costs depend on the area and system used. EPDM rubber on a straightforward flat roof section runs at roughly £80 to £120 per square metre installed, including deck boarding if needed. Built-up felt systems are at the lower end of that range. Always get a breakdown that separates materials, labour, scaffold hire and skip costs so you can compare quotes on a like-for-like basis.
Be cautious of any quote that does not include scaffold, as working off ladders on a full re-roof is not safe practice and is a sign that corners may be cut elsewhere. Scaffold hire typically adds £500 to £1,500 to the overall cost depending on the property and duration.
Understanding what happens on site helps you plan around the work and ask the right questions before you confirm a job.
On a straightforward two-slope roof this process typically takes three to five working days from scaffold up to scaffold down. Complex roofs with dormers, multiple valleys or chimney stacks take longer.
Based in Cambridge, we carry out roof replacements across the surrounding villages including Burwell, Histon, Girton, Fulbourn, Waterbeach, Impington, Milton, Trumpington and Ely. If you are in a neighbouring village not listed here, get in touch and we can confirm coverage.
Before signing anything, ask the roofer these specific questions. The answers tell you a great deal about how the job will be done.
A roofer who can answer all of these clearly and specifically is one who has thought through the job properly. Vague answers to these questions are a warning sign in themselves.
If you have noticed any of the warning signs described on this page, or if your roof is over 30 years old and has not been surveyed recently, call us to arrange a roof survey in Burwell. We will inspect the covering, the structure and the flashings from proper access and give you a written breakdown of what the job involves before you commit to anything.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
