Expert guides, cost breakdowns and homeowner tips to help you get the job done right.
Underneath your roof tiles sits a layer of felt or membrane called the underlay. It is the roof's second line of defence — the thing that catches wind-driven rain that gets past the tiles and carri…
The ridge is the line along the very top of your roof, capped with a row of curved or angular tiles bedded down on mortar. It is the most exposed part of the whole building, and on a great many UK …
A roof valley is the channel where two roof slopes meet, and it carries more water than any other part of your roof. Every drop that lands on both slopes funnels down that one narrow line. When a v…
A redundant chimney is often more trouble than it's worth — taking up valuable internal space, leaking heat through the flue, and requiring ongoing maintenance to stay watertight. Removing the stac…
Owning a listed building is a privilege and a responsibility. The same architectural details that make these homes valuable — handmade clay tiles, riven stone slates, hand-dressed lead, lime-mortar…
Green roofs — sometimes called living, biodiverse or sedum roofs — turn an unused flat roof into a thriving planted surface that absorbs rainwater, supports pollinators, insulates the building belo…
Adding solar panels is one of the biggest decisions a homeowner can make about their roof — and one of the most common mistakes is fitting panels onto a roof that isn't ready for them. A 25-year so…
A standard homebuyer's survey rarely climbs onto the roof — most surveyors inspect from ground level with binoculars, with anything they can't see clearly recorded as "unable to inspect." For an as…
GRP (glass-reinforced polyester) fibreglass roofing produces one of the most solid, hard-wearing flat-roof finishes available — fully bonded to the deck, completely seamless, and walkable straight …
EPDM rubber roofing has become the default flat roof finish for most UK homes — used on extensions, garage roofs, dormers, bay windows and porches. Compared with traditional felt, modern EPDM is fa…
A slate roof is among the longest-lasting and most beautiful roofing finishes available in the UK — natural Welsh slate can comfortably last 100 years, and on Victorian buildings, original slate is…
If you live in a semi-detached or end-terrace house with a hipped (three-sided sloping) roof, a hip-to-gable conversion is often the single biggest opportunity to add real, usable space upstairs. B…
