Roof Repairs in Great Barr

Ageing concrete tile roofs

Concrete interlocking tiles were fitted on thousands of homes around Red House Park and the Scott Arms in the post-war building years. They typically give around fifty to sixty years of service, and a lot of them are now at or past that point. The tiles go porous, start to spall and crack in frost, and they get heavier and more brittle with age. We replace broken tiles, sort out slipped courses and renew the bedding where the ridge and hip tiles have worked loose.

Ridges, verges and pointing

The single most common repair we carry out on Great Barr semis is failed mortar bedding. Once the old sand and cement cracks, ridge tiles lift in the wind and rain gets under them. We re-bed and repoint, or fit a dry ridge system that does not rely on mortar at all and lets the roof breathe.

• Replacement of cracked, porous or frost-damaged concrete tiles
• Re-bedding and repointing of ridge and hip tiles, or dry ridge upgrades
• Renewing perished underfelt and verge detailing
• Bungalow roofs, which sit lower and are easier for us to inspect thoroughly

Leaks and damp in the loft

A common call-out on the Great Barr semis is a damp patch on an upstairs ceiling, and it is not always the obvious tile above it. Water gets in through a cracked tile or a gap at the ridge, then runs down the felt and the rafters before it shows inside, often a good distance from where it actually got in. We go into the loft to trace it back to the real entry point rather than guessing from the stain, so the repair fixes the cause and the damp does not come back the next time it rains hard.

Repair or recover?

Because so many of these roofs are at end of life, we give you an honest call on whether a repair is worth it or whether you are throwing money at a covering that needs replacing. On the clay subsoil around here we also keep an eye on movement that can show up as a dip in the roof line. We are NFRC, TrustMark and Guild of Master Craftsmen accredited, and our repairs carry a lifetime workmanship guarantee.