Roofs in a market town between chalk downs and sand hills.
Dorking is an old market town with a conservation area, timber-framed inns and Grade II* listings. We survey every roof, share our photos and give one written price.
The Victoria County History describes the White Horse Inn as a low building largely of timber and plaster with three gables, perhaps 400 years old in 1911. Roofs over old frames move, so we check the rafters and wall plate too.
Timber-framed gables under tiles
The same history calls the Old King's Head a fine brick Jacobean building. Where a roof sits on old brick, the chimney stacks and the junctions with the walls need as much attention as the tiles do.
Brick chimney stack on a pitched roof
Historic England lists 20 and 22 High Street, the Church of St Martin and Pippbrook House at Grade II*. Before anything changes on a listed roof, we photograph what is there and ask the council.
Old tiled roof on a listed building
Map of Dorking and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
A market town in the valley between the chalk downs and the wooded sand hills, with Box Hill and the Mole gap to the east.
Dorking job notes
Three short chapters on timber-framed and brick buildings, what listing means for a repair, and the Mole Valley and Surrey rules that follow once a job grows.
Stage 01 · First look
Dorking's inns and houses run from timber and plaster to brick, and the age of the frame decides what we check under the roof.
The Victoria County History of 1911 records Dorking's market as claimed in 1278 to be of immemorial antiquity, and it describes the White Horse Inn, off the High Street, as a low building largely of timber and plaster with three gables and a large courtyard. It reckoned the inn to be perhaps 400 years old. The Old King's Head it calls a fine brick Jacobean building. A town with buildings like these has roofs of many ages, so a survey here begins with the frame, not the tiles.
Old roofs rest on timber that has been drying, flexing and settling for generations. The rafters may no longer be dead straight, and the wall plate, the horizontal timber along the top of the wall that the rafters bear on, may have moved. A covering laid over a wavy roof still keeps rain out if the laps are right, and straightening everything would be costly and often unnecessary. We look for movement that is still happening, rot where water has got in, and old repairs that were fixed to the wrong timber, then tell you which matter.
On an old Dorking roof
A brick stack is where many leaks begin, since the lead flashing, the mortar joints and the cap all have to hold together. From the roof itself we inspect the joints, the lead and the flaunching (the mortar fillet that bedded the pots in place). A stack that leans or sheds brick dust needs a different conversation from one that only has a tired joint. Water that appears on a bedroom ceiling is often traced to a failed joint high up the stack, so we start there and not at the stain. Our chimney repairs page covers each repair in turn.
Weight matters on a frame that old. A heavier covering is a Building Regulations question: the Planning Portal sets the line at an increase of 15 per cent or more in roof weight, and recommends asking an engineer or a surveyor to look first. So when a survey suggests renewing a covering, we work out what is up there now and what would replace it before talking about the price. Our pitched roofing page explains the tile and slate repairs that keep an older roof sound without a full strip.
Stage 02 · Listing
Three Grade II* buildings stand in Dorking's records, so on an older address we ask whether it is listed before we ask anything else.
Historic England's list shows 20 and 22 High Street as Grade II*, first listed on 28 November 1951. The Church of St Martin and Pippbrook House are also Grade II*. Part of Dorking lies in a conservation area as well, according to the national planning dataset, so a roof in the middle of town can be both listed and protected by area. Not every address in the centre is listed, and plenty on the outskirts are not, which is why we ask early and do not guess.
Yes. Listing is about protecting what makes a building special, and it does not freeze a roof as it stands. You need listed building consent for anything that would touch a listed building's special character, and the council decides what counts. Mole Valley District Council's conservation team can tell you where a given repair falls. Putting back a tile or slate of the same kind is a different request from changing the covering, and we word the written price so that you can show it to the council. If the council asks for a method statement or a photographic record, we supply what we found, and we do not start until you have the answer you need. Our post on re-roofing a listed building goes through the steps.
Listing in plain words
On a listed roof, the photographs come first and the price comes second.
The covering as it lies, the ridge and hips, the verges, the flashings and the loft timbers. We take the photographs before anything is touched, so there is a record of how the roof looked when we arrived, and a replacement can be matched against it. Nothing is lifted until you have agreed what to do and, where it is needed, the council has agreed too. Working this way also hands the conservation officer the evidence they will want to see.
A church in use for worship can follow a different approval route from a house, and which route applies depends on the denomination. If you look after a church roof, the first call is to whoever grants approval for your church. We can survey and price once you know what the approval needs, and we write the findings in a form you can pass on to your architect or inspector.
Stage 03 · Permissions
Mole Valley is the planning authority and Surrey County Council licenses scaffolding, so two offices matter once a small repair becomes a re-roof.
Mole Valley District Council handles planning for Dorking. For building control, the council uses the Southern Building Control Partnership, a shared service with Reigate and Banstead and Tandridge that works as a single team. Repairs in the same covering seldom reach either office, but a re-roof can.
Under the Planning Portal's guidance, approval is usually unnecessary when under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof is affected. Anything past that, or a covering that changes how the roof behaves in a fire, usually needs it. Before a start date is fixed, we confirm the position with the building control team and note it in the written price. A full strip is covered on our roof replacement page.
Offices behind a bigger job
If any part of it stands on the road or pavement, yes: Surrey County Council requires a licence, and applications should go in at least 10 working days before the scaffold is due to rise. It states a fee of £208 for each 28-day period, and says it processes applications within 10 days. The council has an emergency route for an unsafe structure, which you reach by phone. Its page is silent on who should apply, so the scaffolder and we settle that between us before the work is booked. A scaffold that stands wholly on your own land needs none.
It matters most when the look of the roof would change. Taking off worn tiles and laying matching ones is a repair that keeps the street as it was. Swapping tile for slate, or changing the colour, is the kind of change a conservation area is there to control, and Mole Valley's planning team should hear about it first. We describe the existing covering in the survey, so you can show the council exactly what is up there today. The Planning Portal also asks whether a new covering behaves differently in a fire, which is a second reason not to change materials casually.
Bats matter too. Every bat species is fully protected, together with the places it breeds and rests, and government guidance lists roof repair as one way bats can be affected. Signs of bats at the survey, whether droppings or an animal itself, mean work pauses while we talk through the options with you. An active bird's nest is treated with the same care, and the job waits.
They need a closer survey rather than a different kind of repair. The frame under the roof may have moved over the centuries, and the wall plate and rafters are checked for rot and movement before any covering is touched. A roof can be slightly wavy and still be sound. The photographs show which timbers have a problem and which are only old.
Part of Dorking lies in a conservation area, but the boundary runs street by street and only the council can confirm your address. Mole Valley District Council's planning team can tell you. Ask before you change a covering, and tell us if your house is listed, because that changes how we word the price and what we photograph. A short email from the planning team is worth having on file.
The county council's guidance leaves open who applies, so the scaffolder and we decide before booking. The council wants at least 10 working days' notice and states £208 per 28-day period. Scaffold kept to your drive or garden avoids the highway licence, and that is the quickest route when the house allows it. We confirm the arrangement in writing.
Yes. From the roof we look at the joints, the lead and the mortar cap, and photograph each. Water on a ceiling often comes from a joint high on the stack. If the brickwork itself has failed, the survey says so and the written price covers the rebuild. If only the flashing has gone, we say that too.
Tell us which stack, ridge or slope worries you, add your Dorking postcode, and we will suggest a day for the survey.
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