Roof Replacement In Newcastle
Been told you need a whole new roof and not sure whether to believe it?
Straight advice on whether your roof actually needs replacing, and a proper strip and re-cover in natural slate, fibre cement, clay or concrete tile when it does
Most of the roofs we are asked to replace in Newcastle do not need replacing, and we say so. A few slipped slates, a tired ridge and some moss is a repair, whatever the last quote said. But some roofs are genuinely finished: nails rusted through across the whole slope, felt gone to dust, concrete tiles flaking apart in your hand. When that is the case we strip it, re-batten, fit a breathable membrane and re-cover it in a material that suits the house and the street. Free inspection, honest verdict, written quote either way.
- We tell you if a repair will do, and most of the time it will
- New battens, breathable membrane and fixings on every re-roof
- Natural slate, fibre cement, clay and concrete tile options priced
- Building Control, scaffold and skips all in the written quote
Get A Free Roof Inspection
Tell us what is going on and we will ring you back to arrange a look.
Signs A Roof Genuinely Needs Replacing, And Signs It Only Looks That Way
The first four are the real thing. The last two are what people get frightened into a new roof over, and both are a repair.
Nail Sickness Right Across The Slope
On the Welsh slate roofs of Jesmond, Heaton and Sandyford the slates are usually fine. It is the iron nails that have rusted through. When one slips a year it is a repair. When they are letting go in rows and you can lift a slate off with your fingers, the roof has to come off and go back on with new fixings.
Felt Perished From Eaves To Ridge
Bitumen felt from the 60s and 70s does not fail in one spot. It goes brittle everywhere at once, tears at the eaves and crumbles when touched. Patching it from inside the loft is not a thing. If the felt has gone across the whole roof, the only way to replace it is to take the covering off.
Concrete Tiles Flaking Apart
Post-war concrete interlockers on the estates around Longbenton and Newbiggin Hall are at the age where the surface delaminates. Layers lift off in frost, the tile gets thinner and more porous, and replacements no longer match. When most of a slope is doing it, you are replacing tiles faster than it makes sense to.
A Dip You Can See From The Street
Sag along a ridge or a hollow in a slope means the timber underneath has moved. Sometimes it is a rotten rafter end at the eaves, sometimes a purlin that has split. Either way the covering has to come off to get at it, and once it is off, putting old tiles back on new timber rarely adds up.
Moss, A Few Slipped Tiles: Repairable
A green roof looks terrible and is nearly always fine underneath. Moss sits on the surface, holds water, and shoves tiles about a bit in a hard frost. Clearing it, refitting the odd tile and sorting the ridge is a day's work. Nobody should be quoting a re-roof for moss.
Ridge Mortar Gone, One Bad Flashing: Repairable
Loose ridge tiles and a split lead flashing at the chimney are the two most common reasons a roof gets condemned by a roofer who wants a bigger job. Both are repairs. Re-bedding or dry-fixing a ridge and re-dressing a flashing costs a few hundred pounds, not several thousand.
How A Re-Roof Goes From Verdict To Handover
A new roof is the biggest single bill most homeowners ever pay for a repair, so the process has to be clear from the first visit.
Inspection And An Honest Answer
We go on the roof and into the loft, check the fixings, the felt, the timber and the covering, and tell you one of three things: it is a repair, it is a part re-roof, or it genuinely needs the lot. Photos of the evidence come with the verdict.
Specification And Written Quote
If it is a re-roof, the quote lists the material options with prices for each, the batten grade, the membrane, the fixings, the ridge and verge system, the scaffold, skips and Building Control fee. Nothing is bundled into a single number you cannot question.
Notification And Scaffold
Replacing a roof is notifiable building work, so Building Control at the council are told before we start. The scaffold goes up with edge protection and a lift at the eaves, which is the only safe and legal way to strip a two-storey roof.
Strip And Check The Timber
Old covering, battens and felt come off and into the skip. Every rafter is looked at, the eaves and wall plate especially. Rot is cut out and spliced, and anything that needs strengthening is sorted while it is exposed. This is the stage where surprises turn up, and where we show you them.
Membrane, Battens And Covering
Breathable membrane goes on with proper laps, then new treated battens set to the gauge the tile or slate needs. The covering is laid and fixed to the current standard, with every slate nailed or hooked and tiles clipped where the exposure calls for it, which on a coastal site means nearly everywhere.
Ridges, Verges, Flashings And Handover
Dry ridge and dry verge systems are fitted so nothing relies on mortar that will crack in five winters. Lead at chimneys and abutments is renewed and dressed. We walk the finished roof with you, hand over the written guarantee and the Building Control completion paperwork, and the scaffold comes down.
Only When It Needs Doing, And Then Done Right
Every roof we replace comes with a written workmanship guarantee, ten years in writing, covering the stripping, the timber work, the battening, the membrane and the laying of the covering. If something we fitted fails, you ring us and we put it right. That is the same promise we make on a two-hour repair, applied to the biggest job we do.
The promise that matters more on this page is the one about not replacing roofs that do not need it. We make our living from repairs, and a re-roof we talk someone out of is a customer who rings us for the next twenty years. If you have been quoted a full roof by someone else, have us look before you sign. More often than not we will find a repair, and if we do not, you will know the re-roof was the right call.
What To Check Before You Sign For A New Roof
Did They Ever Say No?
Ask the roofer when they last told a customer a re-roof was unnecessary. If the answer is a blank look, be careful. A roofer who inspects properly turns down more new roofs than they take on, because most roofs in Newcastle are repairable. One who finds a reason to strip every roof they stand on is pricing their mortgage, not your house.
Is The Spec In Writing, Line By Line?
A good re-roof quote reads like a shopping list: the covering named by product, batten size and grade, membrane by name, type of ridge and verge system, number and type of fixings, what happens to the lead. A quote that just says 're-roof in slate, £9,000' leaves every one of those decisions to be made on the day by whoever wants the cheapest option.
Scaffold And Building Control Included?
Both are legal requirements on a re-roof and both cost money. A quote that leaves them out looks cheaper by a thousand pounds or more and is not comparable with one that includes them. Ask directly who is notifying Building Control, who is paying the fee, and whether the scaffold has edge protection. If the answer to any of those is a shrug, keep looking.
Fix The Faults, Do Part Of It, Or Strip The Lot?
Three honest routes for a roof that is showing its age, and when each one is the right spend on a typical Newcastle semi or terrace.
| Repair the faults | Overlay or part re-roof | Full strip and re-roof | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What is done | Slipped tiles refitted, ridge re-bedded, flashings renewed, eaves felt replaced where torn | One slope, or the worst section, stripped and re-covered; or a new covering over a sound existing deck on a flat roof | Everything off to the rafters, timber checked, new membrane, battens, covering, ridge, verge and lead |
| Guide price | £150 - £1,500 | £2,500 - £6,000 | £5,500 - £14,000 |
| Time on site | Hours to a day | Two to three days | Two to five days on a semi, longer on a large detached |
| Scaffold and Building Control | Ladder or tower, no notification | Scaffold usually, notification if more than half the roof is renewed | Scaffold, notification and completion certificate |
| What you get | A sound roof with its remaining life, often decades | A new slope on an old roof; the other side will want doing later | A roof that is new from the timber up, with the insulation brought up to standard |
| Right choice when | The faults are local and the fixings and felt are mostly sound | One elevation takes all the weather and the other is fine | Nail sickness, perished felt or delaminating tiles across the whole roof |
A Semi In Newcastle, Stripped And Ready For Tiles
The house in the photo is a 1930s semi in Newcastle at the halfway point of a re-roof. The old concrete tiles were delaminating across both slopes, the felt tore when you looked at it, and the bay roof below the bedroom window had been patched three times. In the picture the stripping is done, the membrane and new battens are on the main roof and the bay, the chimney has been checked and re-flaunched while the scaffold is there, and the new tiles are stacked ready to go on. Two days in, two to go.
The decision to strip it was made in the loft, not from the drive. Had the felt been sound and the tiles only mossy, we would have been doing a tile repair and sending the owner a far smaller invoice. The ridge came off with the tiles and went back on as a dry ridge system, which is the standard we use on every re-roof now rather than the mortar bedding that was coming loose on the old one. If a ridge is the only problem on an otherwise sound roof, that is a ridge and hip job on its own, not a reason to re-roof.
You get photos at every stage: the old roof, the stripped timber, the membrane and battens, and the finished covering. It is your money and your house, and you should be able to see what it bought.
Based on the inspections we carry out across Newcastle, roughly three in every four roofs we are asked to quote for replacing turn out to need a repair instead, and we quote the repair.
Based on the enquiries and jobs handled by Huckleberry Roofing Ltd. A rough picture of what we see, not a formal survey.What A New Roof Costs In Newcastle
A concrete interlocking tile re-roof on a standard semi sits at the lower end. Fibre cement slate is a step up, natural slate another, and a large detached or a terrace with a long slope and several chimneys reaches the top. Scaffold, skips, Building Control and VAT are in the figure, in writing, before we start.
£5,500 - £14,000
See The Full Cost GuideRoof Replacement Questions From Newcastle Homeowners
How long does a roof replacement take?
Natural slate, fibre cement or concrete tile: which should I choose?
Will I have to add insulation when the roof is replaced?
Does Building Control need to know about a re-roof?
Can you re-roof one side of my house and leave the other?
Do I need planning permission to replace my roof in Newcastle?
Roof Replacement Across Tyne And Wear
Newcastle upon Tyne is home turf, and we cover the rest of Tyne and Wear from there. Pick your area for the local page, or just ring if you are somewhere in between.
Had A Big Quote? Get A Second Look First.
Free inspection, including the loft. If it is a repair we will quote the repair. If it genuinely needs replacing you will get a line-by-line written quote with every material option priced.