Roofs in a stone-quarrying village below the North Downs.
Merstham grew beside quarries of Upper Greensand stone that went to Westminster and Windsor. Where roofs meet stone walls and old stacks, we check the lead, the joints and the covering before we price.
The Victoria County History records local Upper Greensand firestone, quarried for centuries. Where a roof meets a stone wall, the lead has to sit in sound joints, so we check the wall before we judge the flashing.
Stone wall meeting a tiled roof
Historic England lists 16 and 18 School Hill and 20 and 22 School Hill at Grade II. Before a listed roof is touched, we photograph the covering and put the plan to the council.
Terraced cottages with tiled roofs
1 High Street has been listed at Grade II since March 1976. A listed house calls for pictures showing the roof today, and a written price you can show to the planning team. The listing dates are on the national record.
Older shop front under a pitched roof
Map of Merstham and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
A village on the Croydon road, 3.5 miles north-east of Reigate, its church and old centre on Upper Greensand at the foot of the chalk.
The Merstham roof run-down
Three short chapters on where roofs meet stone walls, what the listed buildings on School Hill and the High Street ask of a repair, and the offices behind a bigger job.
Stage 01 · Wall junctions
Merstham's quarries cut stone for Westminster and Windsor, and wherever a wall is stone, the join with the roof is the first place we look.
According to the 1911 Victoria County History, stone from the Merstham quarries in the Upper Greensand went into the king's palace at Westminster in 1259 and into Windsor Castle in 1359. The local stone was often called firestone, because it was wanted for furnace beds, especially in glass-houses. We cannot say how many roofs in the village meet a stone wall today, and we do not guess. What we can say is how we deal with a roof that does.
Flashing is the strip of sheet metal sealing the joint where a slope butts against a wall or chimney. On brick the joints are regular, but old stone has uneven courses and soft mortar, and the lead is usually tucked into a joint cut for it. If the joint crumbles, the lead lifts and rain runs behind it. So we test the pointing first, rake out what has failed and fix the lead into sound material, and only then trust the flashing to last. Our lead work page covers flashings, soakers and valleys in more detail. Where a stain has crept down a wall inside, we trace it back to the junction above before suggesting a repair, because the mark on the plaster is rarely where the water got in.
Where a roof meets a wall
Lead sheet comes in codes numbered 3 to 8, and each suits particular jobs. Royston Lead's brochure recommends Code 3 for soakers only. Code 4 serves soakers, flashings, pitched valleys and dormers, while Codes 5 and 6 are listed for flashings, valleys, dormers and parapet gutters. Thicker lead costs more and weighs more, so the right code is the one the position needs. We tell you which code the position needs and why.
Checkatrade's June 2026 table lists a lead flashing repair at £50 to £70 a metre, and £80 to £120 a metre for stepped flashing in Code 5, as typical UK rates. These are national figures and not our price; your own total is set after the survey, in writing. MyJobQuote puts full chimney leadwork at £350 to £460 without scaffold and £700 to £920 with it, which shows how much access alone can move the sum. Our chimney repairs page explains what we look at on a stack.
Stage 02 · Listed buildings
Grade II houses on School Hill and the High Street are on the national list, so older addresses get checked before pricing.
Historic England lists 1 High Street at Grade II, first listed on 17 March 1976 (entry 1294683), and two pairs of houses on School Hill: 16 and 18 (entry 1029068) and 20 and 22 (entry 1377999). The search tool on the Historic England site finds an address in a few seconds, and the result is worth having in hand before a roofer climbs onto an older house.
Works that affect a listed building's character need listed building consent, and Reigate and Banstead Borough Council judges where the line falls. Fitting a matching tile in place of a slipped one is a smaller step than changing the covering, yet the final say rests with the council, so ask before you commit. All three sit inside the Merstham Village conservation area on the national planning dataset, so an older house here may face two questions: is it listed, and is it inside the boundary? Our post on lead roof repairs on a listed building goes through the questions that come up.
On a tiled roof, soakers are small pieces of lead bent to run under the tiles and up the wall, one for each course. They are easy to damage when tiles are lifted, and an old house may have lead soakers that are decades old. We lift tiles carefully, look at each soaker and tell you which can stay and which have cracked.
We photograph the whole covering, the ridge and hips, each wall junction, the stacks and the loft timbers, and we write down the tile or slate size and colour. Those pictures serve two purposes. They let you and the council see what we saw, and they let a replacement be chosen to match. The pictures are taken before we lift a single tile, and you approve the plan first. That protects a roof that cannot be put back once it is gone.
Two of the listed entries are pairs of houses, 16 and 18 and 20 and 22 School Hill. Adjoining houses share a ridge line and a party wall, which means work on your half may touch your neighbour's. If you own half of a pair, we explain what we found on the neighbour's side too, and suggest you speak to them before the scaffold goes up. A shared roof is easier to mend once, in one visit, than twice in two.
Words on the heritage list
A good record of the old roof is the best defence of the new one.
Stage 03 · Permissions
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council covers planning, while Surrey County Council issues the scaffold licence, so two offices stand behind a bigger job.
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council is Merstham's planning authority. For building control, it points to the Southern Building Control Partnership, which describes itself as a single team serving Mole Valley, Reigate and Banstead, and Tandridge. A like-for-like repair rarely reaches either. A re-roof might.
For re-roofing, the Planning Portal sets its test at under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof, below which approval is not the norm. Two other cases need it: extra roof weight of 15 per cent or more from a new covering, or a covering whose fire performance differs significantly. If a survey points to either, we raise it with building control before any date is set, and the answer goes into the written price. Our roof replacement page explains how a whole-roof job is planned.
Offices behind a bigger job
Surrey County Council licenses any scaffold that sits over the road or pavement. The council states £208 for each 28-day period, wants applications at least 10 working days before the scaffold is due and says it processes them within 10 days. Where an unsafe structure means scaffold is needed sooner, the council asks you to phone. The council leaves open who applies, and we agree it with the scaffolder at booking. Scaffold that never leaves your own plot needs no licence. A layout drawing goes in with the application, so the position of the poles, the boards and the walkway is worked out on paper well before the day, and neighbours can be told what to expect in good time.
For planning questions on a listed house, the borough council's planning team is the first call. If your roof is leaking while these questions are being settled, we make it safe first so that the house stays dry and the paperwork can follow at a sensible pace.
The standard VAT rate is 20%. When you compare roofers, check whether each quote has VAT in it and whether scaffolding is covered; either can shift the total by a large amount. A quote that names both is easier to read than one that stays silent about them, and you can ask the same question of every roofer you speak to. Whatever the answer, we put it in writing before any work is booked. Ours is one written price after the survey, and we say what it covers. If something is not covered, the quote says so, and you are not left to find out on the day.
Where a roof meets a stone wall, the lead is normally set into a joint, and old stone joints can be soft or uneven. We test the pointing before trusting the flashing, rake out what has failed and fix the lead into firm material. Brick, render and stone each need different handling, so the survey records the wall material too.
Historic England lists 1 High Street, 16 and 18 School Hill, and 20 and 22 School Hill at Grade II. Other addresses may be listed too, and the national list can be searched by address. Reigate and Banstead Borough Council can confirm it for you. Mention it if your house is listed, so the written price allows for the extra care.
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council uses the Southern Building Control Partnership, which it describes as its Local Authority Building Control team. The partnership also serves Mole Valley and Tandridge. For a repair in the same covering you are unlikely to need it. For a larger job we check with them and note the answer in your written price.
For lead flashing repairs Checkatrade's June 2026 guide shows £50 to £70 a metre nationally; stepped flashing in Code 5 is £80 to £120 a metre. Those are typical UK ranges and not our price. After the survey we give one total in writing, based on your roof, its access and the lead code the position needs.
Tell us which wall, stack or valley worries you, add your Merstham postcode, and we will offer you a date for the survey.
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