Roofs on a hamlet that grew up beside the 1848 railway.
Faygate is a hamlet on the Horsham to Crawley railway, near a timber-framed farmhouse and some large ridge-top houses. We climb your roof, share the pictures and quote a single total in writing.
Between 1875 and 1896, wealthy residents built large houses on the ridge north of Faygate. A big house means more hips, valleys and chimneys to inspect, so we walk every junction before we price.
Hipped tile roof on a large house
Caryll's Lea Farm, once Faygate Farm, is one of the parish's surviving timber-framed houses. Old frames are rarely square, so we fit the covering to the roof you have rather than force a standard pattern onto it.
Old tile roof on a timber frame
A very large housing scheme at Faygate was rejected in 1971 to keep a green belt between Crawley and Horsham. With no single estate to read, every Faygate roof gets its own survey and its own written price.
Tiled house roof in open country
Map of Faygate and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
Faygate sits on the north-west edge of the old Lower Beeding parish, on the Horsham to Crawley line that opened in 1848.
Faygate from the scaffold
Three short chapters on the ridge-top houses, the older timber-framed buildings and what Horsham requires when a patch job becomes a full replacement.
Stage 01 · Background
The 1848 railway brought a station to Faygate, and by 1896 large houses stood on the ridge above it. Their roofs are where we begin.
Faygate's story is tied to the railway. The Horsham to Crawley line opened in 1848 with a station here, and between 1875 and 1896 wealthy residents built large houses on the ridge to the north, drawn by its height, its southern aspect and that station. Long before, in the late 18th century, a road ran east from Faygate, south of Holmbush and past Bewbush manor house, to reach Crawley. Then in 1971 plans for a very large housing development were rejected so that a green belt would stay between Crawley and Horsham.
Survey day in Faygate
It means the street name tells us nothing about the roof, so we do not guess. We survey the one in front of us and send you photos of what we find. On a large house, the first checks are the places where roof planes meet. A hip is the sloping ridge at an outside corner, and a valley is the inside angle that carries water down into the gutter. A Victorian house on the Faygate ridge with several gables and a chimney or two has plenty of both, and a leak can start at any of those joins long before a tile slips. We also walk the verge, the sloping edge of the roof beside a gable wall, and the flashings, which are folded lead or metal sealing the joint where roof meets wall. Along a long ridge we look for shifted caps, since one loose cap lets rain into the bedding.
A date on the deeds settles nothing. Clay tile is credited with a 60-year minimum life by the Building Research Establishment, yet for old peg tiles that figure is called clearly not a reliable guide, because old tiles vary so much. Slate, if well maintained, can last 100+ years, and lead flashing can last for over 80 years. A roof can stay sound for a long time when the fixings, the lead and the gutters are kept up. What can tire sooner is the detail around the covering: nails that have corroded, battens (the slim sawn laths each course of tiles is hung on) that have softened where water sits, and mortar that has cracked along the ridge. Those are repair jobs, and on a Faygate roof whose covering is otherwise sound we price the repair, not a new roof. If the survey finds the battens failing across a whole slope, we tell you plainly and show you the evidence. The pitched roofing page lays out what a tile, batten and underlay repair involves, step by step.
Stage 02 · Older buildings
Caryll's Lea Farm shows that Faygate has houses far older than its railway, and an old frame needs a patient hand on the roof.
Not everything in Faygate arrived with the railway. Caryll's Lea Farm, formerly Faygate Farm, is one of the parish's surviving 16th or 17th century timber-framed houses. A frame that old was built by eye, so the rafters are seldom evenly spaced and the roof plane is seldom flat. A modern tile dropped onto it without thought will sit wrongly, and the gaps show up as leaks.
Old roof words
Slowly, and one slope at a time. We start in the loft where we can get in, looking at the rafters, the wall plates they sit on and the joints between them, because tiles laid on weak timber will not stay put. Then we work upwards. Where the covering is clay, we keep sound tiles, re-lay them, and top up with matching ones rather than strip a whole slope for the sake of it. BS 5534 covers slating and tiling, and it admits that some old roofs, above all those laid in traditional or reclaimed material, may not suit its advice. That is a good reason to talk through the fixing method with you before we start, rather than apply one pattern to every job. The same goes for the battens: on an old roof we test them one by one with a knife point, and renew only the ones that have gone soft.
On an old frame, the tiles are fitted to the roof, not the roof to the tiles.
Only if it is listed, or if the work changes how the roof looks. Ask Horsham District Council's planners whether a particular Faygate house is on the list. Section 7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 protects a listed building's character: alterations that touch it need authority first. A like-for-like repair to an unlisted house is a different matter, because section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 puts a repair that does not alter how the exterior looks outside the definition of development. If you are unsure which applies, ask the council before you book anyone, including us. We would rather wait a few days for an answer than start work that has to be put right.
Old houses have old chimneys and lead beside them, and one lead flashing can outlast several coverings if it is sound. Our lead work page shows how we judge whether a flashing can stay or must be renewed.
Stage 03 · Permissions
Faygate comes under Horsham District Council for planning and building control, and each has a say as soon as a repair grows into a replacement.
Small repairs seldom need paperwork. Replacing a few slipped tiles, bedding a ridge again or relining a valley keeps the house as it was. Forms enter the picture when a job becomes a full replacement, when one covering is exchanged for another, or when the scaffolder needs space on the road.
Faygate paperwork at a glance
Horsham District Council runs building control under the Sussex Building Control name. The Planning Portal's guide says a re-roof normally stays clear of approval when under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof is affected. By envelope the Portal means the whole outer skin of the house: walls, floor and roof, plus its windows, doors and rooflights. Approval also applies when a new covering brings 15 per cent or more extra weight, or when its fire performance would be significantly different. For a heavier covering, the Planning Portal points you to a structural engineer or surveyor. Moving from clay to slate or concrete alters the weight and the minimum pitch, so keeping the original covering is often the simpler route. Where our findings suggest a slope must come off entirely, Sussex Building Control hears from us before a date is set, and your quote reflects its answer. Our roof replacement page covers a complete new roof stage by stage. On the conservation area map at planning.data.gov.uk, Faygate has no entry.
Under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980, scaffold on the public highway, pavement included, must be licensed by the highway authority. Around Faygate that means West Sussex County Council, which asks for at least 10 working days' notice and charges £266 for one month. Poles that stay on your own drive or lawn fall outside it. Where a licence is needed, our scaffolder and we arrange it between us and fix the start date around the notice. Our answer on the West Sussex scaffold licence goes through the steps in order.
GOV.UK guidance protects bats and their roosts fully, and it counts roofing work among the activities that may affect them. Signs in the loft or beneath the ridge mean we stop, tell you, and agree the next step before a single tile is lifted. Wild birds' nests have legal protection during building and use, so the eaves and gable ends get a look before the strip begins. To begin, send your postcode with a picture of the slope or junction that concerns you.
Usually, provided the timber and most of the tiles are sound. Caryll's Lea Farm shows Faygate has timber-framed houses from the 16th or 17th century, and on a frame like that we check the rafters before the covering. Sound tiles are lifted, kept and re-laid with matching ones, and the survey photos show which slopes really need work.
They take longer rather than being harder in principle. Large houses built in the years from 1875 to 1896 can have many hips, valleys and chimneys, and each junction needs its flashing or lead work checked. We photograph every junction during the survey, so the single written price you receive reflects what is actually up there on your roof.
A like-for-like repair leaves the house looking the same, which is the test in section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Changing the covering, or working on a listed building, is different, so check with Horsham District Council's planning team first. Nothing is mapped as a conservation area at Faygate on the national dataset.
Horsham District Council, which trades its building control as Sussex Building Control. If the survey shows more than a patch repair is needed, we confirm with them before the start date is fixed. The Planning Portal's guide for a smaller re-roof is that under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof is touched.
Send a picture of the hip, valley or ridge that worries you, with your Faygate postcode, and a survey date follows.
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