Roofs along the old Brighton road, from barns to Victorian schoolrooms.
Burgh Heath lies in the old parish of Banstead, crossed by the old Sutton to Reigate road. We survey house and outbuilding roofs together and give one written total.
The old road from Sutton to Reigate, the Brighton road, crosses Burgh Heath. For a house on a through road, scaffold space is the first thing we measure, before we price the roof itself.
Terraced homes beside a main road
A Church school was endowed here in 1837 and a Wesleyan school built in 1880. If your building dates from that period, we read the lead, chimneys and gutters before we look at the tiles.
Lead flashing beside a chimney stack
A medieval church at Burgh had become a barn by 1736. Outbuildings keep their own roofs, from timber and tile to flat felt, and we survey them with the house.
Flat garage roof with felt covering
Map of Burgh Heath and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
Burgh Heath lies in the old parish of Banstead, astride the old Sutton to Reigate road, once known as the Brighton road.
Roof work in Burgh Heath, staged
Three short chapters on outbuilding roofs, the lead and chimneys of older buildings, and the Reigate and Banstead and Surrey doors a bigger job goes through.
Stage 01 · Outbuildings
A church that became a barn is a reminder that a property here may have more than one roof worth surveying.
The Victoria County History records a medieval church at Burgh, with rectors in the 14th and 15th centuries. By 1736 it had become a barn, and its foundations went on holding up a barn until about 1880. It is an unusual history: a building changed its job completely and kept its footings. It makes a fair point for roofing: buildings here have been reused, extended and re-covered, and the roof over any one part may be a different age from the roof over the next.
It can mean salvaged materials. BS 5534, the British Standard for slating and tiling, says of itself that its recommendations might not suit every old roof, especially one built from traditional or reclaimed material. That is a good reason to look at each case rather than apply a rule. On a mixed roof we record the tile type and fixing method in each section and mark them on the survey notes, then repair like with like where a patch will do, and tell you plainly where it will not.
A barn, a garage and a house roof can all need different answers on one visit.
On an outbuilding survey
That depends on the covering and what it is protecting. Less, in a guide updated in March 2026, gives felt on a flat roof 10 to 20 years and GRP 25 to 40 years, while GreenSpec gives EPDM 20 to 30 years. Those are typical figures, never promises, and they tell us roughly how much life a given patch can buy. If a felt roof over a garage has split along a seam, a repair may buy several seasons. If it is blistered across the whole surface and ponding water, replacing the covering usually makes more sense. Our flat roofing page explains the options and what decides between them.
As one written total, after we have been up every roof involved. You see photographs of each one, and the figure covers the whole scope you agree rather than a series of separate prices. If you decide to do the house now and the garage later, we can write the first job so that the second can follow without repeating the survey work. Access is part of that picture too: a garage roof behind a house may need a ladder rather than a tower, and we note which before the figure is fixed.
Stage 02 · 1800s buildings
A Church school from 1837 and a Wesleyan school from 1880 point to a period when lead, chimneys and valleys mattered a great deal.
Lady Arden of Nork endowed a Church school at Burgh Heath in 1837, according to the Victoria County History, and a Wesleyan school was built there in 1880. Which buildings from those dates still stand is a matter for the survey. What matters is the method: a building from the 1800s, whatever its use now, can come with chimneys, valleys and abutments, and these are the places where lead does its work.
Because wherever a roof meets a wall or a chimney, a waterproof strip is needed that can bend to the shape. Lead does that and lasts: one cost guide says lead flashing can last over 80 years. When it fails, it is at the edges, where the lead may have lifted, split at a fold or been dragged by an old fixing. A careful repair, with new lead fixed properly, can restore the junction without touching the tiles around it. Our lead work page describes the repairs we carry out.
Lead sheet comes in codes numbered 3 to 8. The Royston Lead brochure lists Code 3 for soakers only, Codes 4 to 6 for flashings, Codes 4 to 8 for pitched valley gutters, and Codes 5 to 8 for parapet and box gutters. Thicker lead is heavier and costs more, so the right code depends on the job. As a typical UK range, MyJobQuote's guide, last updated 22 September 2026, puts replacing leadwork on a chimney at £350 to £460 without scaffold and £700 to £920 with it. Those are national figures from one guide. Our own written price follows the survey and covers the whole job.
A valley carries the water of two slopes, so a pinhole in its lead does more harm than one in a flashing. We look for lead cracked along its folds, for tiles that no longer lap it cleanly, and for debris piled along the channel. On the chimney we check the pointing, the flaunching, which is the mortar cap around the pot, and the lead skirting the base of the stack. Cracked flaunching lets water into the stack, and a damp patch on the chimney breast indoors is a cue to look at all three. Each finding goes into the survey with a photograph, so you can see the length of lead involved before any price is given.
Lead words, decoded
Stage 03 · Permissions
The borough council handles planning, a shared partnership handles building control, and any scaffold standing in the road needs Surrey's licence.
Burgh Heath sits in Reigate and Banstead borough, which means three bodies can be involved in a bigger job, each for a different reason. A small patch seldom needs any of them, but the survey tells us early if a job is heading that way, and the written price notes it.
Planning comes from Reigate and Banstead Borough Council. Building control comes from the Southern Building Control Partnership, which describes itself as the Local Authority Building Control team for the borough. It was set up in 2017 and brings Mole Valley, Reigate and Banstead and Tandridge together as a single team. In plain terms, the Planning Portal says an application is normally not needed while less than 25 per cent of the total building envelope is affected and less than 50 per cent of the roof is affected, but approval is needed if the new covering raises the roof's weight by 15 per cent or more. Reigate and Banstead Borough Council answers for conservation area status at your address. Our post on planning permission for roof work covers the planning side.
Burgh Heath paperwork at a glance
Surrey County Council, as highway authority, licenses any scaffold standing on a road or footway here. Surrey wants the application in 10 working days ahead of the start, at £208 per 28-day period, and a renewal costs the same. Its page also says the application fee is not refundable. We work out the licence with the scaffolder, and room on your own drive avoids it. For a through road, we walk the frontage on survey day and note where a skip and a walkway can go.
Surrey says that if you need an emergency licence sooner than 10 days because of an unsafe structure or a significant safety risk, you should call the council. Where a roof is letting water in, we make it safe first, and the emergency and general roof repairs page explains how. Roofs can also shelter bats, which are protected, so a sign during the survey pauses work until you have heard the options. Birds' nests in use have legal protection too, and a pair building under the eaves can push back the start date. Send us your road and a short description of what you can see from the ground.
It depends on the damage. Less gives felt on a flat roof 10 to 20 years, GRP 25 to 40 and EPDM, per GreenSpec, 20 to 30, all as typical figures. A split seam can be worth repairing. A surface that is blistered and ponding all over usually points to a new covering. We photograph the whole roof before saying which.
Possibly, and part of the answer is whether the borough places your house in a conservation area. A listed building is a separate matter, and the council can confirm either point for your address. If you want to change how a roof looks, raise it with Reigate and Banstead Borough Council's planning team before agreeing a price, because one phone call settles it for good.
It can. The Southern Building Control Partnership, which describes itself as the Local Authority Building Control team for Reigate and Banstead Borough Council. If a survey points to renewing a large share of the roof, the written price says so, and you know to put the question to that team early, well before any start date is set with the scaffolder.
Surrey County Council charges £208 per 28-day period, wants applications at least 10 working days ahead, and does not refund the application fee. We sort the licence out with the scaffolder. Scaffold on your own drive needs no highway licence, so at the survey we measure up on the ground and tell you which case applies.
Send your road, a short description of what you see from the ground, and any outbuildings you want looked at as well.
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