A new roof in Swanscombe is usually the end of a long story. The house has stood for generations, the roof has been repaired by whoever was around at the time, and now the felt underneath has gone brittle and the battens are soft. At that point another repair just buys a season. Maybe two. Re-roofing means stripping the covering back to the rafters, checking and replacing the timbers that need it, then fitting new membrane, battens, tiles or slates, ridges and leadwork. On a terrace it also means working neatly up to your neighbour's roof, which may be a completely different material. We survey first and tell you if a repair would do. We only quote for a full re-roof when the roof really needs one.
A roofer rings you back to arrange a visit.
A new roof should be your last big roofing bill for a long while. Here's what goes into making that true on a Swanscombe house.
01
Old felt, tired battens and failed fixings all come off. Whatever was hiding underneath, you start again with sound timbers and a modern breathable membrane, which lets the loft shed moisture instead of trapping it.
02
The Planning Portal says that when you re-cover a roof, the insulation should be upgraded too, because the roof counts as a thermal element. We build that into the price. The job meets the rules and the house keeps more of its heat.
03
Your new roof has to meet your neighbour's old one. We form that junction carefully, with a proper abutment detail, so you don't end up with a leak sitting right on the boundary five years from now.
04
Swanscombe is open to the river on more than one side. We choose tile fixings to suit the wind loading on your particular roof, and use mechanical ridge and verge systems that don't depend on mortar alone.
05
Swapping light slate for heavy concrete tile can overload older rafters, and adding 15% or more to the roof's weight brings building control in. We check before we specify, not after, and set out the options in writing.
06
Full re-roofs carry our 10 year guarantee. It's written down, it names the work, and it's worth keeping with the deeds, because a buyer's surveyor will ask about the roof when you come to sell.
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
Plenty of Swanscombe's terraces went up for the workforce of a cement plant that ran from 1825 to 1990. Since then they've been roofed, mended and partly re-covered many times over. When we strip one, we often find odd mixes underneath: sections of old felt next to newer membrane, battens of three different sizes, rafters doubled up where somebody found a problem years ago. A full re-roof clears all of that away and gives you one consistent roof again.
Because the houses join, your re-roof affects the people either side. Scaffold may need to cross their frontage, the abutment at the party wall has to be built well, and if anything structural happens on the shared wall the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 can come into play. We talk to neighbours early, so the first they hear of it isn't a scaffold lorry. A five-minute chat at the door saves a lot of bad feeling later.
And if your roof turns out to be sounder than you feared, we'll say so and point you towards roof repairs in Swanscombe instead.
"When we strip a Swanscombe terrace roof, the rafters are usually in better shape than the owner expected, and the felt is usually worse."
We look at the covering, the ridge and the stack from outside, then at the rafters, felt and any staining from inside the loft. That tells us whether this is a re-roof or just a bigger repair.
Your written price lists materials, insulation and scaffold, and states whether building control needs to be involved. Re-covering more than half the roof, changing material or adding weight usually means it does.
Scaffold goes up with edge protection and, on a terrace, after a word with next door. Where the old tiles come down matters on narrow streets, so we agree the skip position before day one.
Old tiles, battens and felt come off in sections, and the roof is covered at the end of each day. Any rotten timber is shown to you and replaced before anything new goes on top.
New insulation goes in where it's needed, then breathable membrane and treated battens set out for the chosen covering. You'll never see this layer again, and it's the one that decides how long the roof lasts. We don't cut corners on it.
Tiles or slates go on with fixings matched to the exposure, then the ridge, verges and abutments. Fresh lead is dressed around the stack and along the party wall line wherever it's needed.
The scaffold comes down, gutters are cleaned out and the site is cleared. You get photos of every stage, plus a building control completion certificate where one applies.
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".
Re-roof a house in Swanscombe 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.
Most terraces here suit either a slate or a tile re-cover, and weight, looks and budget all come into it. The table below compares the usual options for a house like yours.
| 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 |
A full re-roof on a Swanscombe terrace usually lands between £8,000 and £14,500. Where yours falls depends on the following.
A simple pitched terrace roof is the cheapest to re-cover. Hips, valleys, a rear outrigger or a dormer each add labour and lead. A semi or a detached house costs more, roughly £10,500 up to £24,000 or beyond depending on size.
Concrete tiles cost least to buy. Clay and natural slate cost more, and switching material may need building control approval. If the house next door is slate, matching it usually looks right across a terrace front.
On the older streets around Swanscombe Street and Galley Hill Road, fronts can sit tight to the pavement. A highway licence for the scaffold, a pedestrian gantry or extra boarding all add cost. We include them in the quote rather than springing them on you later.
Rafters are usually sound, but not always. If a section has rotted around an old leak or beside a chimney, we'll show you photos and price the timber repair before going ahead. It's the one part of a re-roof price nobody can fix in advance.
Not normally, if the new roof looks much like the old one. Planning permission comes into it when the external appearance changes materially, or when the building is listed. For old Swanscombe the planning authority is Dartford Borough Council. Inside Ebbsfleet Development Corporation's area it's EDC. Building regulations are a separate question, and a full re-roof nearly always crosses the threshold where building control has to be involved.
It can be. Rafters on older houses are often slimmer than modern ones, and putting heavy concrete tiles where slate used to be can lead to sagging over the years. If the new covering adds 15% or more to the roof's weight, building control has to approve it. We check timber sizes and spans during the survey and tell you what your roof can carry. If it can't take the tile you wanted, there's usually a lighter one that looks close.
A typical terrace takes around a week to ten days on the roof, plus scaffold going up and coming down. Bigger houses, hips and valleys, or a long run of rain add time. We sheet the roof every night, so you can carry on living in the house throughout. Expect some noise and dust in the loft during the strip, so clear anything valuable out of there first.
Yes, and on terraces that's what usually happens. The skill is in the junction: your new covering has to meet your neighbour's old one and stay watertight. We build a proper abutment at the party line and, where the materials differ, finish it so it looks deliberate rather than patched. Your neighbour doesn't have to re-roof too, though some decide to once they see the scaffold up.
Sound tiles can sometimes be kept for later repairs or stored for future patching. Everything else is taken away and disposed of properly. If we come across anything that might be asbestos, in old soffit boards for example, we stop work on that part and arrange for it to be dealt with correctly.
Park on the site of the old Barnfield gravel pit, where pieces of a human skull roughly 400,000 years old were dug up from 1935 onwards. Stone markers and panels along the paths explain the finds.
Learn more about Swanscombe Heritage Park on Google Maps
Marsh, grassland and old industrial ground on the peninsula north of the town. Natural England confirmed it as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 2021 because of the rare insects and spiders recorded there.
Learn more about Swanscombe Marshes on Google Maps
Grade I listed parish church, mostly 13th-century work, built of flint. Its west tower is capped with a tall shingled spire that can be seen across the surrounding streets.
Learn more about St Peter and St Paul Church on Google MapsEvery 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 Swanscombe, 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.
Book a free survey on 01322 946667. You'll get a written price, an honest view on whether a repair would do instead, and photos of what we found up there.
