Roofs in a Surrey Hills village of half-timbered cottages and listed houses.
Albury sits in the Tillingbourne valley, inside the Surrey Hills National Landscape and partly within a conservation area. Our survey comes first, with photos of your roof, and one written total follows.
The Victoria County History noted many half-timber cottages in and around Albury. Where a roof meets an old timber frame or a chimney, the joins and flashings are what we photograph first, because water finds them before it finds the tiles.
Old tiled cottage roof and chimney
In 1911 the old church was recorded with Horsham slabs, tiles, slates and lead on different parts. Whatever your own roof is made of, we identify the covering before we propose any repair or match any replacement.
Slate roof with lead flashing
Albury has listed buildings, among them Albury House and 6 the Street. On a listed house, work that alters its character needs consent first, so we ask the right questions before the price is written.
Period brick house with tiled roof
Map of Albury and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
Albury lies in the Tillingbourne valley on the sand just south of the chalk ridge, five miles east of Guildford, with Newlands Corner above it.
Albury roof notes
Three short chapters on how we identify an old covering, what the conservation area and National Landscape change, and how scaffold and permissions work on a village road.
Stage 01 · First look
Albury is a village of half-timbered cottages and mixed roof materials, so the first job is to find out what you actually have overhead.
Albury is a Surrey Hills village in the Tillingbourne valley, and its roofs reflect the place: half-timbered cottages, stone churches and Grade II listed houses sit close together. The Victoria County History named Madgehole, Jelleys, Colman's Hollow, Mayor House Farm and Shophouse Farm among the many half-timber cottages and houses in and around the parish. Before we quote anything here, we work out which covering we are looking at, because the right repair depends on it, and a wrong match shows from the lane for years.
The same history recorded the old church with Horsham slabs on the nave, tiles on the aisle and porch, slates on the transept and a domed covering of wooden tiles and lead on the tower. That was 1911, and it shows how many materials can turn up in one small place. We look at the colour, thickness and fixings of your covering, then lift a tile or slate at the edge to read the battens, which are the timber laths the covering hangs from, and the underlay, the sheet beneath that catches wind-blown water. The photos we take go with the written price, so you see exactly what we saw, and so does anyone else you want to show.
On an Albury survey
Published figures are only a guide. The Building Research Establishment gives clay tiles a minimum life expectancy of 60 years, although for old peg tile that 60-year figure is described as not a reliable guide. The Confederation of Roofing Contractors says slate, if well maintained, can last 100+ years. Age alone rarely settles the question. What decides it is the state of the nails, the nibs on the tiles and the battens underneath. When those are sound, a repair is the better buy, and our pitched roofing page shows how we deal with slipped and cracked coverings without stripping a slope that does not need it.
Very often at a join. Flashing is the strip of metal that seals the gap where a roof meets a chimney or a wall, and on an old house with an uneven wall line it works hard. Lead holds up well, with one cost guide putting its life at over 80 years, so a failed strip is a repair, not a verdict on the roof. Our lead work page covers how we renew it, and we show you the old strip beside the new one before the job is signed off.
Stage 02 · Permissions
Part of Albury is a conservation area, the village sits in the Surrey Hills, and some houses are listed, so question order matters.
Putting a roof back as it was is treated differently from changing how it looks. In planning law, works that do not materially change the external appearance are not development at all. So a slipped tile swapped for a matching one, or a failed length of flashing renewed, sits on the simple side. The questions start when the covering changes, when a window or dormer is wanted, or when the house is listed.
The national planning data shows part of Albury inside the Albury conservation area, so we check where your house sits before we plan a re-roof. Conservation areas and areas of outstanding natural beauty both count as what the rules call article 2(3) land, which narrows what can go ahead without an application. The Surrey Hills was one of the first landscapes in the country to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in 1958, and it is now branded a National Landscape. Our post on planning permission for roof work sets out which alterations need an application, and Guildford Borough Council's planning team is the place to confirm anything about your own address.
Terms you may meet
On an old village house, asking before we price costs nothing and saves a great deal of re-doing.
Listed building consent is needed for works that would alter a listed building's character. Albury has Grade II entries, including Albury House and 6 the Street. The test is whether the work affects that character, and Guildford Borough Council is the body that decides it for an Albury house: swapping a few tiles for matching ones is one thing, stripping and changing the covering is quite another. If your house is on the list, mention it when you first contact us and we will shape the quote around what the council is likely to want to see.
Matching matters in a village like this. We note the tile or slate size, colour, thickness and laying pattern as we survey, and we try to source a covering that blends into the rest of the slope instead of showing as a patch. Where reclaimed material suits better than new, the quote names it and states what waiting for it would add.
Stage 03 · On site
Village roads are narrow, hedges are close and old roofs can shelter wildlife, so access and timing are planned before any work begins.
Once the covering is identified and the permissions are clear, the practical questions take over: where the scaffold stands, how materials reach the roof, and what we might disturb when the tiles come off. A tidy site matters more on a village lane than almost anywhere, because the neighbours are a few steps away and everyone shares the same road.
When the scaffold stands on or over the public highway, yes. Surrey County Council is the highway authority, and its page asks you to apply at least 10 working days ahead of the date you want it up, at £208 per 28 day period. Scaffolding on your own drive or garden needs no highway licence. Ask the scaffolder who applies, since the council does not say; we sort out the licence together with them and set the start date around it. If the front of the house opens straight onto the road, the quote tells you, and we let the neighbours know before anything goes up.
Before work starts
Roof repairs appear in the government's list of work that can affect bats, whose breeding sites and resting places are protected by law. An old roof beside trees and open country is the sort of place they may use. Should we find droppings or a roosting crevice at the survey or while stripping, the job pauses while we agree the next step with you. A bird's nest that is in use is protected as well, so a nest in the eaves can move the date.
The Planning Portal says approval is not normally needed when less than 25 per cent of the building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof is affected. Choosing a heavier covering, or one that behaves differently in a fire, changes the answer. Guildford Borough Council runs its own building control service, so that is the body to ask, and we check with it before a larger job is fixed in the diary. Our roof replacement page explains how a full re-roof runs from strip to sign-off.
The simplest first step is a few photos of the slope, flashing or chimney that bothers you, your Albury postcode, and a note on whether the house is listed.
Not necessarily. Old tiles often fail at the fixings, the flashings and the chimney before the whole covering is spent. We lift a few tiles, photograph the battens and underlay, and tell you whether patching the weak spots will hold or whether the slope needs stripping. The written price then covers whichever the survey supports, and nothing beyond it.
Possibly, but ask first. The village sits within the Surrey Hills National Landscape and part of it lies in the Albury conservation area, so a roof window, a dormer or a different covering deserves a conversation with Guildford Borough Council's planning team before anything is ordered, so the answer is in writing first.
Guildford Borough Council runs its own building control service, and it is also the planning authority for the village. Surrey County Council looks after the roads. We ask the right team when a job grows beyond a repair, and the written price states plainly whether any approval stands between you and the start date, so the diary is realistic.
A few clear photos of the slope, ridge, chimney or gutter that concerns you, taken from the garden or the road, plus your postcode and whether the house is listed. We then book a survey, take our own photographs from the roof, and send one total price in writing afterwards, with the findings explained in plain words.
Send photos of the worrying slope, flashing or chimney with your Albury postcode and the listing status, and we will book the survey.
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