Roofers in Windsor
for period slate, tile
and traditional lead

The streets nearest the Castle and along Peascod Street and Sheet Street carry roofs where the lead valleys, chimney flashings and parapet gutters were hand-formed generations ago. After decades of thermal movement those details split along their folds and at their fixings, and on a listed building the temptation to patch rather than replace is strong because of the consent process.

Patching with mastic or flashing tape traps water against timber that is already old and often already partly decayed. We strip failed lead back to sound coursing and re-form it in sand-cast lead with correct welts and expansion allowance, and we will tell you in advance whether the work is likely to need listed building consent.

Properties close to the Thames in Old Windsor and Datchet sit in persistently damp air for much of the year. That moisture holds against slate and tile roof surfaces for longer than it would further from the river, encouraging moss and algae growth that traps water and accelerates frost damage and delamination.

We see slates here failing years earlier than an equivalent roof on a drier, more exposed site would. Regular cleaning and maintenance, and prompt attention to slipped or cracked slates before winter frosts get into them, is genuinely the cheapest way to protect a riverside roof.

A large share of the Victorian and Edwardian terraces in Clewer and Dedworth, and the later housing beyond them, have ridge and hip tiles bedded in sand-and-cement mortar. That mortar has a working life, and across these streets we regularly find beds cracked, hollow, or missing outright.

Mortar fragments in the gutter or a visibly shifted ridge tile are the usual first sign, followed by damp appearing high in a bedroom ceiling. Left unaddressed, wind gets under the loose tile, lifts it, and turns a maintenance job into a leak and a falling-tile hazard over a footpath below.

Windsor's Victorian and Edwardian stock is largely natural slate, and matching new slate to old, in size, colour and thickness, is a skill in itself, particularly where a conservation officer expects a consistent finish across a terrace.

We hand-sort slate to match existing coursing wherever possible, and where full re-slating is the honest answer rather than patch repairs, we say so and explain why, backed by photographs of the roof's actual condition.

Many Windsor properties, including period ones near the town centre, have had rear extensions added over the decades, often with flat roof sections tucked behind the original pitched roof. The junction between old and new is where leaks usually start: under-lapped flashings, felt turned up too short behind render, or a flat deck laid without proper falls.

Where a flat roof has reached the end of its life we take it back to sound structure rather than overlay a tired deck, and detail the upstands and abutments correctly against the original roof.

Open aspects around Old Windsor, Datchet and the edges of Dedworth take a harder hit from the storms that cross southern England each winter, with verges stripped, ridges lifted and flat roof coverings peeled back.

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 if you need to, without us making any claim about what a policy will or will not cover.