We work from the Bristol Channel coast at Burnham and Minehead through Taunton, Bridgwater, Yeovil, Wells, Frome and Glastonbury and out into the villages, on everything from double-Roman pantiles to Mendip stone and modern estate tiling.
Somerset roof coverings and how they behave
Pantiles and double-Roman tiles
The single-lap clay and concrete pantile is the signature Somerset roof. It's quick to lay and looks right on a village cottage, but single-lap tiles are much less forgiving than plain tiles: one cracked or slipped tile leaves a direct path to the underlay, and it's often the underlay that fails next.
Stone slate and lias
Around the Mendips and the eastern edge of the county, you'll find heavy stone roofs laid in diminishing courses. They're magnificent and long-lived, but they do need a sound structure beneath them and someone who understands how they were coursed and bedded.
Estate and town housing
Taunton, Bridgwater and Yeovil have plenty of post-war housing where the covering, felt and mortar details are all reaching the same stage of life — the same re-roofing conversation we're having right across the West Country.
Damp, moss and the Somerset climate
Persistent humidity and shade mean moss can establish itself quickly on north-facing slopes, particularly under trees. It's not just cosmetic either: it holds water against the covering, lifts tile tails, blocks gutters and speeds up frost damage on porous tiles.
That same damp air makes ventilation more important than most people realise. A roof that can't dry out — because insulation's been stuffed into the eaves, or foam's been sprayed under the rafters — will rot sooner in Somerset than the same roof would in a drier county.
Flooding, exposure and older buildings
Property around the Levels and the river valleys has often lived through flooding, and buildings that have been wet at ground level tend to be the same ones built breathable with lime mortar and solid walls. Sealing a building like that up with impermeable modern materials — at the roof as much as anywhere — just traps moisture inside it.
Where we work on older Somerset property we specify breathable build-ups and reversible details, and we'll say so plainly in the quotation.
Access in a rural county
Long lanes, narrow gateways, soft verges and buildings set well back from the road can all affect how scaffold and materials reach a roof. We look at access at survey stage rather than discovering a problem on delivery day, and we'll price it honestly.
