Roofers in Berkshire

Roofing in Berkshire

Berkshire runs two roofing economies side by side. In the east, Reading, Slough, Bracknell and Wokingham expanded relentlessly through the post-war decades and again through the business-park years, leaving an enormous stock of houses with concrete interlocking tiles, plus flat-roofed extensions, dormers and garages in numbers you simply do not see in the rural west. That is reflected in the directory itself, where flat roofing ranks second among the services offered across the county's 176 listed firms, behind general repairs. Concrete tiles from the 1960s and 1970s are now old enough to be shedding their surface, and felt flat roofs of the same vintage have usually been recovered at least once already, often badly.

West of Newbury the county becomes chalk downland and river valley. Flint and brick cottages, clay tile, and thatch in the Kennet and Lambourn villages, with Windsor and Maidenhead adding listed buildings and tight conservation control at the eastern end. The Thames and Kennet flood plains matter here too: persistent ground damp and high water tables put pressure on rainwater goods, and blocked or undersized gutters cause far more visible damage on these buildings than they would on a modern estate house. Berkshire also has the highest emergency call-out provision in this batch, with 53 firms offering it, which fits a dense commuter county where a leak on Friday night is not going to wait until Monday.

If you have a flat roof in Bracknell, Slough or Reading, ask what system is being proposed and what the guarantee actually covers, because torch-on felt, EPDM and liquid systems have very different lifespans and very different repair characteristics. In the west, if the building is thatched or listed, involve the conservation officer early rather than after you have chosen a contractor.