Roofs in a Wey valley town of tile-hung, timber and brick houses.
In 1911 the Victoria County History found Godalming's old streets full of timber, tile-hung and brick-fronted houses. We survey roofs of every age here and put the price in writing.
In 1911 the White Hart Inn was recorded as a timber house with two overhanging storeys, and Church Street as having ancient timber houses with projecting upper floors. Roofs above frames like these call for a gentle, thorough approach.
Timber-framed building with tiled roof
The 1911 history noted tile-hung houses and brick fronts from the 18th and 19th centuries. A front wall can look newer than the roof behind it, so we survey the roof as a structure in its own right.
Brick house with a tiled roof
The parish church is listed Grade I, and two High Street entries, one covering four numbers, carry Grade II*. Work that affects the character of a listed building needs listed building consent, so we ask first.
Old church roof with tiles
Map of Godalming and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
Godalming is an old town on Lower Greensand, four miles from Guildford, with Holloway Hill to the south and Charterhouse to the north.
Stage notes: Godalming
Three short chapters: Godalming's mixed streets, the listed buildings and conservation area in its middle, and who must be asked once a job gets bigger.
Stage 01 · Town centre
A 1911 history found timber, tile-hung and brick houses side by side, and that mix shapes how we read a roof here.
When the Victoria County History described Godalming in 1911, it called the High Street and cross streets full of old houses, some of timber and plaster, some tile-hung and others with brick fronts from the 18th and 19th centuries. A town built up over that many generations has no single kind of roof, and we do not pretend otherwise. Two neighbours can differ in rafters, tile, fixings and last repair, so every house receives its own survey and its own set of photographs.
Because a front elevation is a poor witness to what sits above it. A brick front added in the 18th century can stand beneath a much older roof frame, and a tile-hung wall can hide timber that has seen better decades. Wherever we can, we begin in the loft with the rafters, the purlins and whatever the tiles sit on, then work outward to the slopes. What turns up decides the repair. A handful of cracked tiles means a handful of replacements. Rafter feet gone soft changes the whole conversation, and you will have seen the evidence before it does.
That junction is where water likes to get in. Where a slope runs up to a wall, a lead flashing is dressed over short lead sheets called soakers, one tucked under each course of tiles. Once either has lifted, cracked or been pointed over with mortar, rain tracks behind and appears as a ceiling stain some way from the entry point. A proper repair lifts the nearby tiles, renews the lead and relays them, which is why a smear of sealant seldom lasts. Our lead work page explains the lead codes and thicknesses we choose for flashings and soakers.
Trade words for a mixed street
Sometimes. A ridge or valley running across two homes cannot be mended on one side only, so we check the line right through before pricing. Should the neighbour's section be the weak one, you hear it plainly and receive photographs for them to look at, and your own half stays sound whatever they decide. Town-centre lanes are narrow, so we also work out where materials will be stored and how waste leaves the site, and your neighbours hear from us on the days the scaffold is erected and struck.
Stage 02 · Old buildings
Part of Godalming lies in the Town Centre conservation area, and listings from a Grade I church to High Street houses change the consent rules.
St Peter and St Paul's, the parish church, has been listed Grade I since 18 December 1947. It is Church of England, an exempt denomination, so works are agreed under a faculty through the diocese and not through listed building consent. The Historic England list also records 74, 74A, 76 and 76A High Street and 80 High Street at Grade II*. None of that makes every roof in the centre listed. It only shows the town has real heritage, and the consent question is worth asking before a repair grows.
National planning data places part of Godalming within the Godalming Town Centre conservation area, and the heritage list kept by Historic England records the listings. A house can be in one, both or neither, and the street name settles nothing. Waverley Borough Council's planning team can confirm both for your address, and the list and the map are both checked before we price. Where a house is listed, repairs that simply keep it as it is stand a better chance of being straightforward, while works that alter its character need listed building consent. Our answer on lead roof repairs on a listed building goes into one common case.
A listed roof gets its paperwork settled before a single tile moves.
On a listed or older roof
Anything that changes the look: a new covering, new roof windows, a changed chimney or a different ridge. For those, ask Waverley's planning team before you commit, and pass on their reply. Renewing a few slipped tiles on an unlisted roof seldom raises the question. Where a roof does need more than a repair, our roof replacement page describes the job from stripping to the final check, with the weight of any new covering looked at first.
We keep the old tiles that are sound, because they match the roof around them in a way new ones take years to do. Cracked and flaking ones are discarded, and replacements come from a reclaimed or new supplier chosen for size and colour. Ridge tiles that are still good get bedded again with mechanical fixings rather than mortar alone. Chimney stacks receive the same care, with flaunching and pointing examined for the cracks that let water into the brickwork. You see photographs of each of these before a price is agreed.
Stage 03 · Permissions
Waverley Borough Council handles planning and building control for Godalming, and Surrey County Council is the body to ask about a pavement scaffold.
In Godalming one council, Waverley, covers both planning and building control, and it runs the building control service itself. Its pages let you book next day inspections when the request reaches it by 4pm the day before. The county council is the highway authority. Holding that split in your head saves time whenever a job needs a form, an inspection or a licence.
Yes, if any part of it covers a road or pavement. Surrey County Council wants 10 working days between your application and the date you have in mind, charges £208 for each 28 day period, and expects proof of public liability cover of at least £10 million with a layout drawing. For town-centre houses sitting at the pavement edge, the licence becomes a real part of planning the job. Our side is to sit down with the scaffolding firm and sort the licence jointly before dates are promised. Whoever quotes you should say who applies, and scaffold kept to your own plot sits outside the highway rules.
Who decides what
Not for every job. The Planning Portal puts the line at 25 per cent of the building envelope and 50 per cent of the roof: below both, approval is normally not required. A heavier replacement covering, 15 per cent or more over the old weight, or one that behaves very differently in a fire, brings approval in whatever the area. Your building control body, here Waverley, can answer the question for your address, and the survey flags it wherever a job is big enough to raise it.
Bats and nesting birds both have legal protection, and GOV.UK's bat guidance names roof work as something that can disturb a roost, so we look for both before work starts. Old town roofs with gaps at the eaves and loose tiles at the verge are the kind of places they use. If the survey shows signs, the job pauses until the options have been talked through with you. To get going, take one decent photograph of the roof, wall junction or chimney that troubles you and pass it on with your postcode. The conservation and listing position for your address is checked as part of the survey, and any consent question is put to Waverley before a start date is promised.
Water finds the junction between a slope and a wall faster than any other part of the roof. Flashings and soakers lift, crack or get smeared over with mortar, and rain tracks behind them. Whether that is happening on your house is for the survey to show. We lift the nearby tiles, photograph the lead and tell you whether a patch or new lead is the sensible fix.
Waverley Borough Council can confirm both for your address, and Historic England's register holds every listing. Part of Godalming lies in the Godalming Town Centre conservation area, yet the boundary follows plots rather than whole streets. Check first if you plan to alter the covering, add a roof window or change a chimney, and tell us what the planning team says.
Sometimes, but water getting under a gap can wet battens and underlay quietly for months before a stain shows. A few slipped tiles are a small job when found early. Check from the garden with binoculars after wind, note where tiles have moved, and pass us the photos. We will say whether it can wait for a planned visit or deserves a make-safe first.
Plan on 10 working days between applying to Surrey County Council and the scaffold going up, and on £208 per 28 day period for the licence. We agree the date with the scaffolding firm after the licence is agreed. Scaffold that stays on your own plot is outside the highway licence altogether, and we look at that option at the survey.
Photograph the junction, slope or chimney you are concerned about, add your Godalming postcode, and we will offer a time to come and look.
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