Roofing Specialists
in West Sussex

On the coastal strip from Bognor Regis through Littlehampton and Worthing, salt-laden air attacks nails, clips and fixings. Slates and tiles can be sound while the nails holding them have quietly rusted through.

This is why coastal roofs often 'fail suddenly' in a storm — the fixings were already gone. A survey that lifts and checks rather than looking from the ground is the only way to catch it early.

Exposure ratings across West Sussex are high. Verges, ridges and hips take the brunt, and a mortar-bedded verge on an exposed plot is effectively on borrowed time.

Dry-fix systems mechanically clip each unit down. It costs a little more at renewal and saves the repeated repointing and emergency call-outs that follow every named storm.

The West Sussex coast has an unusually high proportion of bungalows, many built between the wars and in the post-war decades, often with shallow pitches and later extensions bolted on.

Shallow pitch is unforgiving: wind-driven rain gets under laps that would be fine at a steeper angle. Where the pitch is below what a covering needs, we say so rather than laying a system that will fail and void its own guarantee.

Around Horsham, Midhurst and the northern Weald you find clay plain tiles, tile-hung elevations and steep complex geometry with swept valleys and multiple abutments.

These roofs need matching tiles and proper lead detailing. We hand-dress and weld lead into valleys, soakers and secret gutters rather than filling the junction with mastic, because mastic on a Sussex valley fails within a season or two.

Inland West Sussex is heavily wooded and the northern slopes stay damp for most of the winter. Moss thickens, blocks valleys and gutters, and holds water where the tile laps overlap.

We hand-scrape and treat with biocide. On old clay tiles pressure washing removes the fired surface and shortens the roof's life dramatically — an expensive way to make a roof look temporarily cleaner.

West Sussex bungalows were a prime target for spray foam sales. Because bungalow lofts are large relative to the house, the foam covers a big area and hides the whole deck from inspection.

Removing it restores a saleable, mortgageable roof. We strip it completely and reinstate the deck; every removal we have carried out has passed building control and surveyor scrutiny.