Roofs on a chalk downland parish inside the London Borough of Croydon.
Coulsdon is a chalk parish divided by the dry valley of Smitham Bottom, with Farthing Down and Riddlesdown above. We check each roof for wind exposure, then price it in writing.
The old parish church is made of flint, chalk and firestone rubble, and by 1912 its walls were rough-cast. Wherever a roof meets masonry like that, we check the flashings, wall tops and abutments as closely as the tiles.
Tiled roof meeting a flint wall
A barn of black flints with firestone dressings stands near the Caterham Valley line. Outbuildings and farm buildings get the same survey as a house, with photos of the covering, timbers and fixings.
Old barn roof with weathered tiles
Coulsdon Methodist Church is listed Grade II. Because it is a place of worship in use, works follow the denomination's own approval route, so trustees should speak to the Methodist Church before any roof job is priced.
Pitched church roof with ridge
Map of Coulsdon and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
Coulsdon is a downland parish on the chalk, six miles south of Croydon, split by the dry valley of Smitham Bottom.
Notes from Coulsdon
Three short chapters on high ground and wind, how a listed church roof is approved, and what Croydon asks of a bigger job on your own house.
Stage 01 · Setting
Coulsdon runs from a dry chalk valley up to Farthing Down, so some roofs sit exposed and others sit sheltered.
The Victoria County History describes Coulsdon's subsoil as all chalk, with clay, brick-earth and gravel on the surface. The dry valley of Smitham Bottom carries the Brighton road and the railway, and once carried the horse railway from Croydon to Merstham. Farthing Down stands about 400 feet above sea level. For a roofer the lesson is plain: a parish with high ground and open valleys has roofs that meet the weather in different ways, so no two streets can safely be treated alike. That is why every Coulsdon quote of ours begins with a look at your roof and not with a standard price.
Coulsdon wind-side checks
The edges. The ridge is the crest where the two slopes join, and the verge closes off a gable end. Both face the wind head on, and both were traditionally held with mortar alone. BS 5534, the standard covering slating and tiling, was revised in 2014, and Marley reads that revision as saying bedded ridge and hip tiles need mechanical fixings, since mortar's strength cannot be relied on to hold them. Hips are the sloping corners of a hipped roof. Marley adds that following the standard is not required by law, but we fix to it whenever we rebed a ridge or refix a verge. We press the capping, look for hairline cracks in the bedding and check the ceilings below for stains that show water getting past. On a house in the open, we also look at the tiles nearest the verge, since these are the first to lift.
Either can serve you well. A bedded ridge with proper fixings is sound, and a dry system, where caps are clipped or screwed down with no wet bedding, is tested to BS 8612. If you are choosing, the deciding points are the age of your roof, your tile profile and whether you want the look to stay the same. Our dry ridge and dry verge page explains both systems and what each asks of you in upkeep.
On every slope we also photograph the gutter line and fascia, because a gutter that has dropped or filled with moss can push water behind the first row of tiles. The pictures come with the written price, so you can see what the roof is doing before you decide anything.
Stage 02 · Church roofs
Coulsdon Methodist Church is listed, and a church roof follows consent routes that a house roof never meets.
Coulsdon Methodist Church is on the National Heritage List at Grade II. Alongside it, the Victoria County History describes the old parish church, of flint, chalk and firestone rubble, and a medieval barn of black flints with firestone dressings. If you manage a church, hall or chapel in Coulsdon, the order of events differs from a home repair, so it helps to know the route before anyone climbs a ladder.
The ecclesiastical exemption lets certain denominations run their own consent system in place of listed building consent. For an Anglican church in use that system is called a faculty. A Methodist church in use goes through the Methodist Church's own approval process, as the 2010 Ecclesiastical Exemption Order sets out. Government guidance adds that the exemption still leaves planning permission to be sought for development that alters the exterior of a listed worship building, so the council is not bypassed entirely. So trustees should find out what their denomination asks for, then put the planning question to Croydon's planning team.
Church roof approvals
We look for slid coverings, failed lead at parapets and valleys, blocked outlets and the state of the roof timbers where we can reach them safely. Churches have long gutters and tall walls, so we work out the means of reaching them before we give the price, and we say plainly if a tower, crane or specialist platform is needed. Near a school or a busy road we also plan how passers-by are kept clear of the work. Our lead work page describes flashings, gutters and valleys, and our commercial roofing page covers larger and flat roofs on halls and units.
For a church roof, the consent route is settled before the quote, not after it.
The written price names what we expect to repair and what we leave alone, with photographs of each area. Trustees can then put it in front of a committee, a denomination or the council without translating it first. If we find something outside the agreed work, we stop, show you the photos and ask before going on. The same method works for a village hall, a chapel schoolroom or a small commercial block, so you are not paying for a different process on a smaller building. Send the building's address and a note of the view from the pavement, and we will plan the first visit around the access you have.
Stage 03 · Permissions
Coulsdon answers to the London Borough of Croydon for planning, building control and scaffold licences, and the details differ from Surrey.
Coulsdon is in Greater London, so the borough council in front of you is Croydon, and the Greater London Authority sits over the borough. A like-for-like tile swap in Coulsdon seldom needs a form. The rules bite when a patch swells into a complete new roof, the covering is altered or scaffold has to stand beside the road. Knowing which of those applies to you before the quote saves a delay on the day.
On the road or pavement, scaffold needs a licence from the borough in its role as highway authority. Croydon publishes £488 per four weeks per elevation, and £610 per four weeks for an elevation over 10 metres long. The minimum period is one month, Croydon wants a refundable bond of £50 per square metre of enclosed highway on top, and Croydon issues the licence only after a site visit. A renewal must reach the council at least seven days before expiry. No lead time for a first application is published, so we raise it early. We settle the licence with the scaffolder and ask who applies whenever a quote mentions one. If the scaffold can stand on your drive or in your garden, you need no licence or consent from the council for it.
Croydon checks for larger work
Croydon's own conservation map is the one to check for your street, since a boundary can take in one road and miss the next. Listed buildings are a separate matter: a Grade II house or church needs the right consent whatever lies around it. If your home is a flat, planning law treats a building containing flats differently from a single house, so ask Croydon's planning team before changing how a block's roof looks.
The Planning Portal's guide for a roof says a job normally needs no building control application where under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof is affected. A covering heavy enough to add 15 per cent or more to the load brings approval back in. Croydon runs its own building control, so on a larger job we ask them first and the written price carries what they said. Our planning permission for roof work post covers dormers and roof windows.
Send us a picture of the problem area and your postcode, and tell us whether it is a house, a flat or a church.
The edges first: ridge caps, hips and verges, because they face the wind and were often held by mortar alone. Then flashings at walls and chimneys, the gutter line and the battens and underlay below. We photograph each part, so you see the fault before you pay for a fix and can judge for yourself whether a repair will hold.
Only if your house is listed, you plan a visible change, or Croydon confirms your road lies inside a conservation area. Listed buildings such as Coulsdon Methodist Church are covered by their own rules. If your address is listed, or you want to change how the roof looks, ask the London Borough of Croydon's planning team before you instruct anyone, so a decision is on record first.
Yes, if it stands on the highway rather than on your own land. Croydon charges £488 per four weeks per elevation, requires a minimum of one month and issues the licence only after a site visit. A drive or garden needs no licence or consent. Ask the scaffolder who applies, and expect us to plan the start around the council's process.
The Methodist Church has its own approval process in place of listed building consent, because it is an exempt denomination. Trustees begin there, then ask Croydon's planning team about anything that affects the outside of the building. Once the route is clear, we provide one written price with photographs of what the survey found on the roof.
Email a photo of the ridge, hip or flashing worrying you, with your Coulsdon postcode, and say if it is a flat or a church.
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