Roofers in Devon

Roofing in Devon

Devon's roofs are shaped by two coasts and a lot of very old buildings. In the countryside and on the Dartmoor and Exmoor fringes you find genuine cob-and-thatch cottages, listed and needing a thatcher, alongside natural slate (historically from the West Country quarries) on the farmhouses and villages. The historic towns — Exeter, Totnes, Tavistock, Barnstaple — carry steep-pitched slate and clay roofs under heavy conservation control, and lime mortar rather than cement is the norm on the older stock.

The climate is the defining pressure. Both coasts — the Atlantic north (Ilfracombe, Bideford) and the softer south (Torbay, the South Hams) — take salt, gales and wind-driven rain, which corrodes fixings, strips poorly secured slate and thatch, and demands non-ferrous fixings and proper mechanical fixing near the sea. Steep pitches for slate and thatch mean access and labour are a large part of any job.

For Devon homeowners: match the tradition (slate for slate, and an accredited thatcher for thatch), specify corrosion-resistant fixings anywhere coastal, use lime not cement on historic buildings, and check conservation and listed status early — in much of Devon it governs what you're allowed to do.