Roofing Specialists
in Kent

Kent's traditional roofs use small clay tiles hung on oak pegs or nibs over riven battens. Individually they are tough, but the fixings, battens and torching beneath them are hundreds of years old on some properties and give way long before the tile does.

The failure looks like isolated slippage. The cause is usually rotten batten or a lost peg, which means a patch repair with a modern tile does nothing except mark the roof. We reuse sound tiles and re-batten properly where the area demands it.

Kentish vernacular roofs run long catslide slopes down over rear additions and use swept or laced valleys instead of lead troughs. These details work beautifully when maintained and fail comprehensively when repaired badly.

Where lead is the right answer — secret gutters, tile-hung abutments, chimney soakers — it needs to be correctly sized, welded and lapped so it can move. Mastic across a Kent valley is a repair with a one-winter lifespan.

Properties around the Medway, Thanet, the Swale and the north Kent coast take salt-laden wind that corrodes fixings and works at verges and ridges far faster than inland.

That means mechanical fixings, dry-fix ridge and verge systems, and regular checks after named storms. It is also why our 24/7 emergency cover gets used most in Kent during winter gales.

The Weald is wooded, low-lying and damp. North-facing slopes stay wet, moss establishes quickly and holds water against the tile through freeze-thaw cycles that break edges and lift laps.

We remove moss by hand and treat with biocide. Pressure washing an old Kent peg tile roof is one of the fastest ways to destroy it, and we are frequently called in after someone has done exactly that.

Converted agricultural buildings across Kent carry unusual roof geometry, mixed coverings and junctions between old and new structures that were often detailed in a hurry.

These leak at the interfaces. A proper survey follows the water back rather than replacing the covering where the stain appears, which on a barn conversion can be several metres from the actual defect.

Spray foam was sold heavily in rural and semi-rural Kent, often onto old, irregular roof decks where it is even harder to inspect. Lenders and surveyors now treat it as a red flag.

We strip it out and reinstate the roof so the timber can be seen and assessed. No certificate exists for the removal itself, but every removal we have carried out has been signed off by building control and surveyors without issue.