Roofs on the old Brighton road below Reigate Hill.
Kingswood grew up around the old Brighton road, a church of flint and stone, and a railway station from 1899. We date each roof by looking, then price in writing.
Kingswood station on the Tattenham Corner branch opened in 1899. Streets near a station that old can hold roofs from several different decades, so we date each roof by what we see, never by the street name.
Tiled roofs along a residential street
St Andrew's was built from 1848 to 1852 of flint and stone, with a central tower and a tall octagonal stone spire. Wherever a tiled roof meets stone, lead flashing carries the water over the joint.
Lead flashing against a stone wall
Kingswood is a downland residential area on the old Brighton road towards Reigate Hill. On sloping ground we check how water leaves each roof and where the gutters then send it.
Pitched roof on sloping ground
Map of Kingswood and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
Kingswood is a downland residential area south of Banstead, on the old Brighton road as it climbs towards Reigate Hill.
Kingswood jobs, start to finish
Three short chapters on dating a roof, the lead where tile meets stone, and the Reigate and Banstead rules behind a bigger job.
Stage 01 · Roof age
Kingswood's history gives dates for the district and the station, but only the roof can tell us how old it is.
The Victoria County History gives Kingswood a short formal past. Kingswood Liberty was a completely detached part of Ewell parish, crossed by the old Brighton road that climbed Reigate Hill and went on to Sutton. An ecclesiastical district was carved out of Kingswood and part of Banstead in 1838, and the station on the Tattenham Corner branch opened in 1899. Those dates frame the place. They tell us nothing certain about the roof over your kitchen, because streets change as houses are re-roofed, extended and rebuilt.
Our survey starts outside and ends in the loft. First the tile profile and the wear on its nibs, then the nails, the underlay, the battens and the method used to hold the ridge. Mortar alone on a ridge may point to work done before the 2014 revision of BS 5534, which asked for mechanical fixings as well, whereas clipped dry caps hint at something newer. Every clue goes into photographs of your roof, so you see what stood in front of us instead of relying on our word.
How we age a roof in Kingswood
No. Age is a range, never a verdict. Marley quotes around 60 years for concrete tile while stressing the figure is not a promise. For clay, a 60 year minimum comes from the Building Research Establishment. Natural slate that is well kept can pass 100. The dressing around the tile usually tires first: ridge mortar, nails, the underlay where it meets the eaves. Those are repair jobs, and repair is the sounder purchase while battens and covering both hold. Our pitched roofing page sets out the work we do on tiles, battens and underlay.
When battens are soft along a whole slope, when tiles are crumbling across the middle of the field instead of at the edges, or when failures are too widespread to patch. At that point a new roof costs less over the years than a string of call-outs. The survey photographs sit beside the written price, so the reasoning is visible and you can take your time over it. The survey commits you to nothing. We would rather lose a small job than sell a roof that does not need replacing, and the photographs show you the reasoning.
On a downland road like Kingswood's, slopes rise and fall between neighbours, so we also look at how a neighbouring roof's water lands on yours. A shared valley or a wall that carries runoff needs agreeing with the other owner first, and we explain what we found before anyone is asked to do anything.
Stage 02 · Joints
St Andrew's flint-and-stone walls show why the joint between a tiled roof and a wall is where leaks start.
The Victoria County History describes St Andrew's church, built from 1848 to 1852 in the style of the 14th century, as flint and stone with a central tower and a tall octagonal stone spire. We take it as a reminder, not a claim about your house: masonry of flint, stone or old brick moves and weathers differently from the tiles above it, and the line where the two meet carries the strain.
The lead is a strip tucked into a cut in the mortar joint and dressed down over the tiles, and at a stepped wall it is cut in steps to follow the slope. That lets wall and roof shift apart slightly without opening a gap. Royston Lead's brochure lists Codes 4, 5 and 6 for flashings, and our guide to lead sheet codes explains which one suits which joint. For repairs or renewal along a whole run, see our lead work page.
Terms at a roof and wall joint
A cost guide dated 22 September 2026 puts the life of lead flashing above 80 years, which makes it the long-lived part of the joint. Less durable is the pointing that holds it, along with the fixings and any lap that movement has squeezed or torn. A repair therefore often means reforming the edge and repointing in a mortar that suits the wall, while the sheet stays where it is. We tell you which of those we found and show you the strip before we touch it. Re-dressing and repointing a flashing costs far less than stripping a stack, and where the cheaper repair will hold, that is what we recommend. If a section of lead has been stolen or torn out, the repair becomes a replacement, and we check the roof timbers beneath for water damage before new sheet goes down.
Water finds a joint long before it finds a sound field of tiles.
A chimney is a wall standing in the middle of the roof, so it has the same joints on all four sides, plus the flaunching that holds the pot in place. Checkatrade's October 2026 guide puts average repointing at around £750 as a typical UK figure, with a mid-terrace stack that needs scaffold reaching £1,000. Our chimney repairs page shows how we assess a stack, and the price follows once we have been up to look.
Stage 03 · Permissions
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council handles planning, Surrey County Council handles the highway, and a larger roof job can touch both.
Swapping slipped tiles or rebedding a ridge leaves the roof exactly as it was, so there is nothing to apply for. Questions arrive when the job grows: a slope taken back to the rafters, a switch of material, or scaffold standing out on the road. Planning in Kingswood rests with Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, while Surrey County Council looks after the highway.
The borough council names Southern Building Control Partnership as its building control team. The Planning Portal's national test lets most re-roofs go ahead without an application provided under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof is touched, which is why a few repaired patches never count. Approval comes back in if the new covering weighs 15 per cent or more above the old. At the survey we measure the slopes against those figures, and the quote will flag a job that is likely to cross either one.
Groundwork for a bigger job
Surrey's rules turn on where the poles stand. Poles standing in the road or on a footway require a county licence; poles on private ground do not. For the highway case the county wants 10 working days' notice or more, says it processes applications within 10 days, charges £208 per 28 day period with the same fee to renew, and keeps the application fee even if the plan changes. An unsafe structure can go through as an emergency by phone. We agree the application route with the scaffolder before any date is booked.
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council has designated a Kingswood Conservation Area close to the village centre, so check whether your house lies inside it before planning more than an ordinary tile swap. Swapping to another tile, adding a rooflight or raising a ridge belongs with the borough's planning team, who should hear about it before anything is ordered.
Area, covering, access and the survey's findings move a price, so ask every firm you approach whether its figure covers VAT and scaffolding. Our written total states exactly what the job includes, scaffold among it. Whichever job you have, our first request is a photograph of the joint or the slope that bothers you, taken from the garden if you can.
Look for tiles crumbling across the middle of a slope, a sagging line along the battens, daylight through the boards in the loft, or damp patches that come back after a repair. Lifespan figures are only ranges, and a sound roof of any age can outlast a neglected younger one. Our survey and its photographs show which kind you have, and what each fix would involve.
None that we know of for an ordinary house in the village. Matching tiles on a straightforward repair are usually fine, though Kingswood has a conservation area of its own, and the borough's planners will say if your road is in it. Choosing another covering, adding a window or changing the roofline is another matter, and the borough's planning officers can tell you what applies before you spend anything.
Often it does, because the joints lie open while the old covering is off and the new tiles will sit against lead that may be tired at its edges. If the lead is sound we keep it and repoint the edge, which costs less than new sheet. You get photographs of every joint, so the decision rests on evidence, not on a sales pitch.
Start with a wide view of every slope from the garden or pavement, add a closer shot of any joint, chimney or ridge that worries you, and include a picture of any stain indoors, together with your postcode. The survey that follows leads to one total price on paper, because the roof itself decides what the work involves.
Tell us which joint, ridge or slope concerns you, add your Kingswood postcode, and a survey visit gets fixed.
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