Roof inspections in Bedford

Why have your roof checked

You cannot see most of your roof from the ground, and small faults cost little to fix if they are found early. A cracked tile or gap in the pointing in October is a leak by February. One customer booked a roof check before winter, and we sent photos of cracked tiles and failing pointing, then fixed them there and then. They said afterwards there were no pushy sales, just straight advice.

Good times to book one

• In autumn, before the wet and the frost arrive
• After a storm, even if nothing has come through yet
• When you are buying a house and want a roofer's view
• When a neighbour's roof is being done and yours is the same age
• When a damp patch keeps coming back and nobody has found why
• Before you have solar panels fitted, so the roof under them is sound first

What we check

On the roof

• Tiles or slates: cracked, slipped, missing or worn
• Ridge and hip tiles, verges and their mortar or dry fixings
• Lead flashings, valleys and gutters
• Chimney pointing, flaunching and pots

In the loft

• The felt or membrane, especially at the eaves
• Battens and rafters for damp or rot
• Signs of past leaks, and whether they are still active
• How much loft insulation there is, and whether it is blocking airflow

At the edges

Gutters, downpipes, fascias and soffits, which tell you a lot about how water is leaving the roof.

What you get afterwards

Photos of what we found, with a plain explanation of each item. We sort them into what needs doing now, what should be done in the next year or so, and what is fine. Anything small, like a slipped tile, we can usually fix on the day if you are happy for us to. For anything bigger, you get a written quote, and you are under no pressure to take it.

Plenty of roofs in Bedford need nothing at all, and we will tell you that too. Keep the photos on file: next time you have the roof looked at, they make it easy to see whether anything has moved or worsened.