Re-Roofing In Dartford
Is it time your roof was replaced instead of patched again?
Full strip and re-roof in tile or slate, with new membrane, battens and insulation
Re-roofing in Dartford usually means one of two houses. One is an interwar semi, like the ones going up around Heathview Crescent in the early 1930s, whose battens and fixings may have done the best part of a century. The other is a terrace where the roof has been patched so often it's more repair than roof. Either way, there comes a point where spending on fixes stops making sense. A re-roof strips everything back to the rafters. New breathable membrane, new battens, new or reclaimed covering, rebuilt ridges and verges, fresh lead where the roof meets a wall or chimney. You get a written 10 year guarantee on our workmanship. We also handle building control, which matters more than people expect, especially if you're switching from slate to concrete tile.
Book a re-roof survey
A roofer rings you back to arrange a visit.
What changes when the whole roof is renewed
A new roof isn't only new tiles. Most of the value is in the layers you never see once the scaffold comes down.
01
Every hidden layer is new
Repairs fix what you can see. A re-roof replaces what you can't: the battens the tiles hang from, the underlay, the nails and clips. On an interwar house those are often the original timbers, and plenty of roofs that age were never felted at all.
02
A warmer loft as part of the job
Under Building Regulations a roof counts as a thermal element, so a full re-cover should bring the insulation up to current standards. In practice that means a much thicker layer in the loft and a house that holds its heat better through a Kent winter.
03
Ten years in writing
Re-roofs come with our 10 year workmanship guarantee, on paper and with your address on it. Material warranties from the tile or slate maker sit alongside it. Keep both with the deeds, because a buyer's surveyor will ask about the roof.
04
Weight checked before anything goes up
Concrete interlocking tiles are noticeably heavier than natural slate. Swap one for the other and the rafters carry the difference. We check the timbers first, work out whether they need strengthening and arrange building control approval where the change calls for it.
05
Ridges and verges that stay where they are
Dry ridge and dry verge systems are screwed and clipped down, so there's no mortar to crack and drop onto the patio every few winters. Where a particular house suits a traditional mortar finish better, we bed it properly and fix it mechanically as well.
06
Planned around next door
Most Dartford houses share a roof with someone. We plan the join with the house next door, speak to your neighbours before scaffold goes up and finish the party-wall line so the new roof and their old one meet cleanly and stay watertight.
1,000+
Roofs repaired, renewed and rebuilt
10 yrs
Written guarantee on every re-roof
5★
The only rating anyone has left us
£0
For the survey and the written quote
Re-roofing when you share a roof with next door
Census figures for Dartford's town wards put detached houses at about 7.5% of homes. Nearly everything else is joined to something. So the hard part of most re-roofs here isn't the open slope in the middle. It's the edges: where your roof runs into your neighbour's along the party wall, and where a chimney stack straddles the line. If next door re-roofed in chunky concrete interlocking tiles twenty years ago and you're still on slate, the two roofs sit at different heights, and the junction between them needs careful detailing to stay dry.
Scaffold is the other local headache. Terraced streets often have narrow pavements and nowhere to park a lorry, and a scaffold on the public footway needs a licence from the highway authority. We arrange that, plan the scaffold so it doesn't block a neighbour's front door and, where the garden allows, put it up at the back instead. If two neighbours want to re-roof together, one scaffold shared between both houses brings the cost down for each of them.
"Most of the re-roofs we quote in Dartford are on houses where the tiles still look fine from the street but the battens behind them have gone soft."
Re-roofing your Dartford home, step by step
- 1
Survey the whole roof
We go up, and into the loft, to check the rafters, wall plates, chimneys and how your roof meets next door's. If a repair would genuinely do, you'll hear it now. If it won't, we photograph the reasons.
- 2
Quote, materials and approvals
The written quote lists covering, membrane, ridge and verge systems, leadwork, insulation and scaffold, with VAT. It also says whether building control approval is needed and who is making the application, which in most cases is us.
- 3
Scaffold up, neighbours told
Scaffold goes up a day or two before work starts, licensed if it sits on the pavement. We let the households on either side know the dates, the hours and what to expect from the noise of stripping.
- 4
Strip back to the rafters
Old tiles and battens come off and any reusable tiles are set aside. With the roof open, we inspect every rafter. Rotten feet, cracked timbers or a sagging purlin get dealt with now, while they're easy to reach.
- 5
Membrane, battens, covering
New breathable membrane goes on first, then treated battens set at the right gauge for your chosen tile or slate, then the covering itself. Lead is fitted at abutments, chimneys and along the party-wall line as the roof goes up.
- 6
Ridges, verges and insulation
Ridges and hips are fixed, verges finished and the loft insulation brought up to standard, with ventilation kept clear at the eaves. Where approval was needed, building control inspects the work before we take anything down.
- 7
Sign-off and your guarantee
We go over the finished roof with you, from the scaffold if you're happy to climb, from photos if not. Then the scaffold comes down, the site is cleared and your 10 year guarantee is in your hand.
10
Years' cover on a new roof
1,000+
Roofing jobs finished
Paperwork in your hand on the last day. Not posted out "in due course".
What the 10 year guarantee on a re-roof actually covers
Re-roof a house in Dartford with us and you get 10 years of cover on the workmanship. It's a written document. It has your address on it, lists what was done, and is dated the day the roof is signed off. If water gets in because something was fitted wrong - a batten, a fixing, a lap, a flashing - a roofer comes back and puts it right. You don't pay for that.
Why are we happy to promise ten years? Because of how the roof goes on. Every tile or slate is mechanically fixed to BS 5534, the current British Standard. Ridges and hips are fixed too, not just sat in mortar. A breathable membrane goes down first. Where a roof meets a wall, a chimney or the house next door, it gets proper lead or a tested dry system. Shortcuts there are what make a guarantee expensive, so we don't take them.
Tiles, slates and membranes also carry the maker's own warranty. Those vary by product, and your paperwork tells you which ones apply. If a job is too unusual to guarantee in the normal way, you'll hear that at quote stage.
Choosing a re-roofing roofer in Dartford: what good looks like
They price the layers under the tiles
Anyone can quote for tiles. A good roofer quotes for membrane, batten size and gauge, fixings, the ridge system and the lead, and names each one. If a re-roof quote is one line reading 'strip and re-tile roof', you can't compare it with anyone else's and you can't hold anybody to it later. Ask which membrane they use and why. You'll learn a lot from how comfortably they answer.
They bring up building control before you do
Re-covering more than half of a roof normally needs building control approval, and so does swapping slate for heavier concrete tile. A roofer who never mentions it is either planning to skip it or doesn't know. Either way it bites when you sell and the buyer's solicitor asks for the completion certificate. Our re-roof quotes say plainly whether an application is needed and include it in the price.
The guarantee is written and specific
A verbal promise to 'pop back if there's ever a problem' is worth nothing once the roofer's phone stops ringing. Look for a written workmanship guarantee that states its length, names your address and describes the work done. Ours runs for ten years on every re-roof. Ask too which manufacturer warranties apply to the tiles and membrane, and get those details on paper as well.
Which roof covering suits your house?
These are the four coverings we fit most often on re-roofs. The figures are typical ranges, not promises, and your survey will narrow them down for your roof.
| Comparison point | Concrete interlocking tile | Clay plain tile | Natural slate | Fibre cement slate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typical lifespan | 50 years or more | 60 to 100 years | 80 to 100+ years, depending on source | Around 30 years |
| Weight | Heavy | Heaviest, as each tile is double-lapped | Light | Lightest of the four |
| Relative cost | Lowest | Mid to high, slow to lay | Mid to high, Welsh slate dearest | Low to mid |
| Look | Chunky profile, common on postwar homes | Small, warm-coloured, traditional Kent look | Thin, dark and neat | Uniform slate look, flatter colour |
| Planning and conservation | Fine for most homes, can jar in a conservation area | Often expected on older Kent buildings | The like-for-like choice for slate roofs | May be refused on listed or conservation roofs |
| Best for | Budget re-roofs on postwar and newer houses | Period homes and steeper pitches | Victorian terraces, slate-to-slate jobs | Lighter swap where rafters are marginal |
Slate to concrete, or concrete back to slate?
This is the big decision on a lot of Dartford terraces. Concrete interlocking tiles cost less and go on quicker. But they're heavier than the slate many older roofs were built to carry, and the Planning Portal says changing the material is likely to need building control approval. Approval is also needed if the new covering adds 15% or more to the load on the roof. Sometimes that means strengthening rafters, which adds cost and time.
Going the other way, from concrete back to slate, lightens the load and usually looks right on a period house, though you'll pay more for it. Our cost guide sets out the ranges for each type of house.
See re-roof prices by house type
What a re-roof costs in Dartford
On a typical terrace, expect £8,000 to £11,500 in concrete tile, or £10,000 to £14,500 in natural slate. An interwar semi usually falls between £10,500 and £16,000. Detached houses start around £14,000 and can pass £24,000 on a large or complicated roof. Chimney work, rafter strengthening and insulation all move the final figure.
Re-roofing questions we get asked in Dartford
Do I need planning permission to re-roof in Dartford?
Not usually. Like-for-like re-roofing doesn't materially change how a house looks, so no planning application is required. Listed buildings are another matter, and so are homes in the Town Centre conservation area, the sole conservation area within Dartford. Article 4 directions also cover 31-35 West Hill and Hampden Place at 73-87 West Hill. In any of those cases, speak to Dartford Borough Council before choosing a different material.
When does a re-roof need building regulations approval?
Planning Portal guidance says you won't normally need a building control application if the work affects less than 25% of the building's envelope and less than 50% of the roof. A full re-roof goes past that, so it needs approval. So does any structural alteration, or a new covering that raises the weight on the roof by 15% or more. Changing from slate to tile will likely need it too.
How long does a re-roof take?
On a terrace or semi, usually one to two weeks on the roof, plus a day each end for scaffold. Rain slows the stripping stage, because we only open up as much as we can make watertight by the end of each day. Detached houses and roofs with dormers, valleys or several chimneys take longer. Your quote gives an estimated start and finish date.
My neighbour doesn't want to re-roof. Can I still do mine?
Yes. Plenty of Dartford terraces have one house re-roofed and the next one not. We finish your roof up to the party wall and form a watertight join with your neighbour's covering, usually with a lead detail or a carefully cut row of tiles. If the party wall itself needs raising or cutting into, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 could come into play, which we'd raise when quoting.
Should I keep my chimney when I re-roof?
If you use it, or it's in good shape, keep it and get it repointed while the scaffold is up anyway. If it's redundant and leaks every winter, a re-roof is the cheapest moment to take it down below roof level and tile over the hole. If the stack is shared, next door has to say yes first. Our chimney repairs page goes through the options in more detail.
What does the 10 year guarantee cover?
Our workmanship on the new roof. If water gets in because a tile, batten, flashing or fixing we installed wasn't fitted correctly, we return and fix it at no cost to you. It doesn't cover damage from storms beyond what a properly fitted roof should withstand, or damage caused later by other trades such as aerial or solar installers. Manufacturer warranties on the materials run alongside it.
Related: Roof repairs · Chimney repairs · Roof windows · Guttering, fascias and soffits
Reviews from Dartford homeowners
Every review left for us so far has been five stars. We're adding them here as they come in.
Reviews only tell you so much anyway. When a roofer comes out to Dartford, ask to see photos of a recent job on a house like yours. A good roofer will have plenty and won't mind you asking.
Ready to stop patching?
Book a free re-roof survey. You'll get photos of the roof as it stands, a written quote naming every layer, and an honest view on whether replacing it now actually makes sense.