Roofers in Henley-on-Thames
for period slate, tile
and sand-cast lead

Town-centre roofs on Hart Street, Bell Street and around the market place were built with hand-formed lead valleys, parapet gutters and box gutters. After well over a century of thermal movement, those details split along the folds and at the fixings, and the failure is often invisible from ground level.

We see a lot of past patching with mastic or bitumen paint, which holds for a season and then fails worse than before because water gets trapped behind it against timber. We strip failed lead back and re-form it correctly, in the sized lead the detail actually needs, with proper welts and clips.

A large part of central Henley falls within the conservation area, and several buildings are individually listed. That restricts materials and methods: natural slate rather than fibre cement, clay or handmade tile rather than concrete, sand-cast lead rather than a modern alternative, and coursing that matches what is already there.

Working outside those constraints, even with good intentions, can mean enforcement action or a rejected planning application. We tell you upfront what your property is likely to need consent for, and we detail our quotes so they can be submitted alongside a planning application if required.

Henley sits low in the Thames valley, and river humidity combined with heavy tree cover in Remenham, Harpsden and along the Shiplake and Wargrave lanes keeps roof surfaces damp for much of the year. That accelerates moss and algae growth on slate and tile, and frost then works into the resulting cracks.

The same conditions block valley gutters and hopper heads with leaf litter, so water backs up under the lowest courses of tile or slate where the laps are shortest. Left unaddressed, that finds its way into eaves, wall plates and rafter feet before it ever shows as a stain on a ceiling.

The brick-and-flint cottages and farmhouses through Harpsden, the Hambleden valley and the smaller lanes around Henley were built with steep pitches and deep eaves for a more exposed rural setting. Clay plain tile and handmade tile on these roofs are typically hung on timber battens with a nail fixing that ages and corrodes over decades.

As nails fail, tiles slip or lift in wind without any visible pattern to it from the ground, and a single missing tile at height on a steep pitch is more of a safety and access job than it looks. We assess these roofs section by section rather than assuming a spot repair will hold.

Properties close to the river in Henley, Shiplake and Wargrave sit near or on the flood plain, and the combination of high water tables and river mist keeps timber and masonry damp at roof level even when the roof covering itself is sound.

We see this most often as damp tracking down inside chimney breasts and party walls near roof abutments, rather than as a straightforward leak. Correct flashing detail and ventilation at these junctions matters more here than on a drier, more elevated site.

The open stretches of river frontage and the higher ground around the Hambleden valley take a harder hit from winter storms than the sheltered streets of the town centre. Ridge tiles, verges and flashing details are the first to go.

After a storm the priority is making the roof watertight and recording the damage properly. Our photographic reports are written so you can pass them to an insurer, without us making any claim about what a particular policy will or will not pay.