The roofs round here
Tonbridge is a town of two roof ages sitting next to each other. The older streets running off the High Street and down towards the river carry Victorian and Edwardian roofs, which means clay tile and natural slate, valleys between back additions, and chimney stacks that were built for four fireplaces and now serve none. Those stacks are where a large share of the leak calls in TN9 come from: the flaunching cracks, the pointing washes out of the top courses, and the water ends up on a bedroom ceiling rather than in the flue. The post-war and later estates spreading north and east are a different roof entirely, mostly concrete interlocking tile on a shallower pitch, with felt underneath that is now at the age where it perishes at the eaves. Those roofs rarely fail dramatically. They fail at the edges, a bit at a time, and the first sign is usually a damp patch upstairs after a southwesterly rather than a tile on the lawn.
TN9, TN10, TN11 · also Hildenborough, Hadlow, Golden Green
The usual call-outs round here
- Cracked flaunching and washed-out pointing on old four-flue stacks
- Slipped and broken tiles after a windy week
- Valleys between back additions silting up over a few autumns
- Perished felt at the eaves on the post-war estates
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Mostly roof leaks and repairs here
The spot where water comes through a ceiling is almost never the spot where it got in. Finding the difference is most of the job.
Johnny was incredible. When quoting he took the time (almost an hour across two evenings) to diagnose the problem. He worked hard throughout and is fantastic at documenting the work with photos. He even went above and beyond, changing a roof tile and some dodgy work done by a previous builder. Good, honest, hardworking roofers are difficult to find and in the future we will not hesitate to call him.
David, Tonbridge