Roofs on the high chalk downs south of Sutton.
Banstead stands on chalk downs that rise to nearly 600 ft. We survey its tiles, slates, ridges, lead and gutters, share photos of your own roof, then give one written price.
Banstead Place was first listed in 1983. Work that changes the character of a listed building needs consent, so on an older roof we survey, photograph the defects and say what to ask the council first.
Old tiled roof with a chimney stack
In 1911 the county history said the Wool Pack inn may well date from the 17th century. On a building of that age the timbers, battens and tiles get a slower, closer look than a newer roof would.
Aged clay tiles on a pitched roof
The whole of Banstead lies on the chalk downs. Open, high ground puts verges, ridges and eaves in the weather, so we check how each one is held down, not only how it looks from the road.
Ridge and verge on a tiled roof
Map of Banstead and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
Banstead is a downland town 3.5 miles south of Sutton, east of the road to Reigate, with Banstead Downs lying to its north.
Roofing in Banstead: the diary
Three short chapters on listed buildings, old village roofs and their lifespans, and the borough and county rules that bite once a repair becomes a full re-roof.
Stage 01 · Heritage
Banstead has Grade II* listings and a Grade II war memorial, so on an older roof the first question can be what consent it needs.
Banstead has listed buildings that a roofer cannot ignore. The National Heritage List records Banstead Place as Grade II*, first listed on 29 September 1983, and the Church of All Saints carries the same grade. Banstead War Memorial is listed Grade II. None of that tells you what your own roof needs, but it does mean the town has older fabric where the first job is to ask, not to price.
Under section 7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, nobody may alter a listed building so as to touch its special architectural or historic character unless the works are authorised. Putting back exactly what was there is a different act from swapping the covering, adding a rooflight or rebuilding a chimney, and where a particular job lands is for Reigate and Banstead Borough Council's planning team to decide. At the survey we note the existing tiles, the pitch and the way the ridge and verge are finished, send you the photos, and suggest you put the question to the council before any start date is set. Our planning permission post explains how permitted development and listed building consent sit side by side.
We start at the eaves and work up. Slipped and cracked tiles, battens that have gone soft, the underlay (the sheet under the tiles that catches whatever gets through), the flashings and the chimney stack each get their own photograph. Lead flashings are weak points on many old roofs, and our lead work page explains the sheet codes and how we dress the metal into the joints. Where the tiles are old, matching them matters more than speed, so we record profile, colour and thickness and tell you plainly if a repair would leave a visible patch. The pitched roofing page covers the repairs we make on tiled and slated slopes.
Words on a listed roof
The fascia board and gutter at the eaves are checked in the same pass. A gutter that has clogged can drive rain back beneath the lowest course of tiles, which looks like a failed tile when the tile itself is perfectly good. Knowing that saves you paying for a re-tile when a clearance and a re-hung gutter would stop the stain on your ceiling.
On a listed roof the written price names the covering we propose to put back, so you and the council can read the same page and see whether the work matches what is there now.
Stage 02 · Older fabric
A wool-trade village with a 17th-century inn has older buildings, and age changes how we read tiles, timbers and the lifespans quoted against them.
In 1454 a Commons petition asked that a sack of Banstead Down wool should not be sold for under 100 shillings, and the village inn, the Wool Pack, took its name from that trade. By 1911 the Victoria County History described the inn as a building that may well date from the 17th century. We mention it because buildings of that kind are the reason a Banstead survey is never rushed. Age is not the same as decay, but it does change what we look for.
Published lifespans are typical ranges, never promises. The Building Research Establishment sets a floor of 60 years on the life of clay tiles, yet one building conservation article calls that figure clearly not a reliable guide for old peg tiles. Marley's page on concrete tile life gives around 60 years, with a note that this is no guarantee or warranty. Slate kept in good order can pass 100 years, the Confederation of Roofing Contractors reckons. So a tile's age alone does not tell you whether the roof needs replacing. Its condition does, and the survey photos show you that condition slope by slope.
On an old roof, matching the tile matters as much as fixing it.
On an older roof we check
If the battens are sound and the damage is a handful of slipped or cracked tiles, a repair beats a re-roof on value, and we will tell you that straight. If the battens have softened or the underlay has failed across a whole slope, patching only moves the leak a few feet along. We would rather tell you which of the two you have than sell you the bigger job. Where water is already coming in, the leak gets made safe before anything else, and the longer fix is discussed once the roof is dry. Our general roof repairs page shows what a repair visit involves.
A tile that looks fine from the road can be cracked underneath, where the next tile overlaps it, so we look from the roof or with a close-up camera, not only from the pavement. Moss, lifted tile edges and rust-stained nails are all clues, and none of them settles the question alone.
When old tiles are sound but a few are broken, we lift the good ones carefully, keep them for the slope people see from the road, and fill gaps on the back with the closest match we can source. You see the sorted pile in the photos before we price it.
Stage 03 · Permissions
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council handles planning, a shared building control team handles approvals, and Surrey County Council issues scaffold licences.
Replacing a tile with the same tile calls for no paperwork at all. Rules start to bite in three cases: a repair swells into a full re-roof, the covering is swapped for something different, or scaffolding has to stand on the road. Government planning data shows a Banstead conservation area near the village centre, so a change to how a roof looks there deserves a question to the borough council first, and a listed building is a separate matter again.
The Planning Portal says approval is normally not needed where work touches under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof. A new covering that adds at least 15 per cent to the weight the roof carries, or that would burn differently from the old one, can bring approval into play, and the Planning Portal suggests getting a structural engineer or surveyor to look first. In Banstead building control is run by the Southern Building Control Partnership, the shared team for Reigate and Banstead, Mole Valley and Tandridge councils. Where a survey suggests stripping a full slope, we speak to that team before pencilling in dates, and the written price notes it. The partnership's own pages are the place to ask whether a particular job needs an application, and we are happy to help you word the question. Our roof replacement page walks through a complete re-roof, from first photos to final tile.
Words on a re-roof quote
Surrey County Council says anything erected on a road, a pavement or the highway needs one. It wants the application in at least 10 working days ahead of the date the scaffold goes up, and its fee is £208 per 28 day period. Scaffold that stays inside your own boundary needs no highway licence. We sort out the licence alongside the scaffolder where one is needed, and we look at which option is possible when we survey.
One more check belongs here. GOV.UK names mending or renewing a roof among the work able to disturb bats, and every bat species, along with its roost, is protected by law. If the survey turns up signs of them, work halts while we go over the options with you. For a first look, text or email a picture of the part of the roof giving you trouble, along with your Banstead postcode.
The ground does not change the repair, but open high ground puts roof edges in the weather. Banstead lies wholly on the chalk downs, rising to nearly 600 ft, so we check how ridge and verge tiles are held, whether mortar has cracked and whether the eaves are clear before suggesting a fix. The survey photos show each of those points on your own roof.
Building control for Reigate and Banstead sits with the Southern Building Control Partnership, which also serves Mole Valley and Tandridge. We ask them before fixing a start date when a survey points to stripping a large part of the roof or fitting a heavier covering. Planning questions go to Reigate and Banstead Borough Council's planning team.
Age alone will not tell you. The 60-year clay figure is a minimum from the Building Research Establishment, and one conservation article calls it clearly not a reliable guide for old peg tiles. We look for flaking faces, cracked nibs, soft battens behind and daylight at the overlaps, then photograph each so you can judge for yourself.
Only where it would stand on a road or pavement. Surrey County Council wants applications at least 10 working days ahead and charges £208 per 28 day period. Scaffold inside your own boundary needs no highway licence. Where one is needed we deal with it alongside the scaffolder, and your neighbours hear from us when the scaffold goes up.
Tell us which part of the roof is troubling you, add your Banstead postcode, and a survey slot follows.
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