Bennetts Water Gardens
Eight-acre garden in Chickerell holding national collections of water lilies, with a Monet-style Japanese bridge built in 1999.
Learn more about Bennetts Water Gardens on Google MapsRoof Repairs In Chickerell
Found a verge cap on the drive after a windy night?
Repairs to tiles, ridges, verges and valleys on Chickerell's newer estates and older village houses
Roof repairs in Chickerell tend to fall into two piles. The bigger one comes from houses built since the late 1990s, at Putton Lane and elsewhere, where the trouble is usually at the edges: dry verge caps blown off, ridge units lifting, a valley where the tiles were cut short. The smaller pile comes from the old village and Charlestown, where roofs have had decades of patching and some of those patches now need patching themselves. Either way we start by working out why water is getting in, not just where it shows on the ceiling. Then we repair it with proper fixings so the next south-westerly doesn't undo the work.
Roof Repairs Quote In Chickerell
Tell us a little about the roof and we will call you back.
Why repairs in Chickerell need more than a dab of sealant
A tube of mastic won't hold a verge on through a winter gale. These are the reasons we repair roofs here the slower, more thorough way.
01
We look at the fixing, not only the tile
When a tile slips on a newer roof, the real question is why it moved. Often a nail or clip is missing, and if one was missed, others probably were as well. We check the neighbouring tiles before we pack up.
02
Dry-fix parts that actually fit
Ridge and verge kits differ between manufacturers and between years. We identify what's on your roof and source matching or compatible parts, rather than bodging together two systems that were never designed to meet.
03
Valleys and abutments checked
Where an extension roof meets the house wall, or two slopes meet in a valley, newer builds sometimes depend on a narrow flashing or a dry valley trough. We look at both every time we're up there.
04
Older village roofs handled gently
In the Chickerell Conservation Area we match what's already there and keep changes to a minimum. A careful repair on an old roof usually costs far less than the replacement a careless one ends up causing.
05
Repairs built for wind
Rain here is lighter than the UK average, around 770mm a year at Wyke Regis, but along this stretch of coast it tends to arrive sideways. So we repair with wind in mind first: fixings, headlaps and sealed edges.
06
Photos of everything
You can't easily see your own ridge from the garden. We photograph the fault before we start and the repair once it's done, so you know exactly what you've paid for and why it was needed.
1,000+
Roofing projects completed
5★
Every review we have is five stars
10 yrs
Guarantee on roof replacements
Free
Roof surveys and written quotes
Chickerell
Repair work across Chickerell, old and new
Chickerell's growth since 1991 is obvious the moment you drive in. The population rose by about a third, and the background paper behind the neighbourhood plan counts roughly 546 homes completed between 1997 and 2017, with a major development at Putton Lane. Roofs of that age shouldn't need much. When they do, it's normally down to how they were finished rather than how they've weathered, which means small, clearly defined repairs, provided they're caught early.
The older end of town is a different job. The village core has been a conservation area since 1990, and Chickerell red brick, made from Oxford Clay at Crook Hill and Putton Lane until the 1960s, turns up in later Victorian buildings in the area. Roofs on houses like these have often been mended by several different people over the years. We repair them in matching materials and tell you plainly about anything that looks close to the end of its life.
If patching no longer makes sense, have a look at our page on roof replacement in Chickerell and what a full strip and rebuild involves.
"When a house on one of Chickerell's newer estates loses a verge cap, we usually find two or three more on the same gable with clips missing or never fitted at all."
Step by step
Our roof repair process in Chickerell
- 1
Hear what happened
We ask what you've noticed and when. A clip on the lawn after a gale, a drip that only appears in driving rain, or a stain that grows slowly each point towards a different cause.
- 2
Survey and diagnose
We get up safely and trace the water back to where it enters, which on newer houses can be some way from where it shows indoors. We photograph everything we find.
- 3
Written repair price
You get an itemised quote covering the repair and any access it needs. If we spot something that can safely wait, we list it separately rather than quietly adding it on.
- 4
Make it safe to work
Most Chickerell repairs need only a ladder, a roof ladder or a small tower. Scaffold goes up when the height or the job calls for it, and we keep the pavement passable if it has to stand there.
- 5
Carry out the repair
We replace broken tiles, re-fix verges and ridges mechanically, renew flashings or reline a valley. Materials are like-for-like, matched as closely as we can manage on older roofs.
- 6
Test and check
Where possible we run water over the repaired area, or come back after the next proper downpour. We also look over the rest of the roof for anything else that's starting to go.
- 7
Leave it clean
Old tiles, broken clips and offcuts go in our van, not your wheelie bin. You get the photos and a short written note of what we did.
Our guarantee
Ten years on a new roof, written down and signed
When we replace a roof in Chickerell, the paperwork you're handed at the end will, on all but a handful of unusual jobs, include a 10 year guarantee on the work. If yours is one of the exceptions, you'll know at quote stage, not after. It names your address, says what was done and is dated the day we sign the roof off. It covers the installation itself, meaning the battens, membrane, fixings, the slates or tiles and the junctions where the roof meets walls and chimneys. If any of that lets water in through a fault in how it went on, we come back and fix it without charging you.
A guarantee that long only makes sense if the roof is built properly underneath, so it shapes the job from day one. Every slate or tile is mechanically fixed to the current British Standard rather than relying on its own weight, which matters on a stretch of coast where the wind arrives with nothing in its way. Breathable membrane goes on before the battens. Valleys, abutments and chimneys get proper lead or a tested dry-fix system, never a smear of mortar that cracks in its third winter.
Materials carry their own manufacturer cover on top, and that differs from product to product. Your paperwork says which one applies to your roof.
10
Year guarantee on roof replacements
1,000+
Roofing projects completed
Signed paperwork at handover, with photos of the roof taken before, during and after.
Ways to fix a Chickerell roof leak, side by side
On a newer Chickerell house a proper repair is almost always the right answer, and a full replacement rarely is. Here's how the three options stack up.
| Comparison point | Proper repair | Sealant or quick patch | Full roof replacement |
|---|---|---|---|
| How long it lasts | Years, often until the roof is due for replacement anyway | Weeks to a couple of seasons | Forty years or more, depending on material |
| Time on site | Half a day to two days | An hour or two | One to three weeks for a typical house |
| Typical cost | £150 to £1,500 for most jobs | Low, but often paid more than once | £7,000 upwards for a terrace or semi |
| Scaffolding | Often not needed | Rarely needed | Always needed |
| Effect on the rest of the roof | Surrounding area checked and left sound | Can trap water and hide rot beneath | Everything renewed down to the rafters |
| When it's the right call | Isolated faults on a roof with life left in it | Emergency holding measure only | Widespread slipping, failed felt, or repeat leaks |
What a roof repair in Chickerell costs
Our repairs run from about £150 for a small job to around £1,500 for bigger work. Where yours lands depends mainly on these four things.
Access around the house
Where a house at Putton Lane or on another of Chickerell's newer estates has a clear drive or open frontage, a roof ladder or small tower is often enough. Tight plots in the old village can need scaffold, sometimes standing out on the road or pavement.
Which system is on the roof
Swapping a few dry verge caps is quick work. Re-fixing a whole run of ridge units, or converting a perished early dry ridge to a current mechanically fixed system, takes longer and costs more in parts.
Damage you can't see yet
If a fault has been letting water in for a few winters, the battens and underlay beneath may have rotted. We price what we can see and tell you straight away if lifting the tiles reveals more.
Older materials in the conservation area
Matching reclaimed slate or older clay tiles in the Chickerell Conservation Area can take time to track down. It costs more than fitting a stock concrete tile on a newer house, but it keeps the roof looking as it should.
Roof Repairs in Chickerell: your questions
Does the wind off the Fleet and Chesil Beach affect roofs in Chickerell?
It can. The ground between the town and the Fleet is largely open, so south-westerly gales hit gables and verges hard. That's a big reason loose verge caps and lifting ridges are such common repairs here. Mechanical fixings, rather than mortar or sealant alone, are the proper answer.
Can you repair a roof on a newer Chickerell estate without replacing it?
Almost always. The faults we find on houses built since the late 1990s are usually local - a verge, a run of ridge, a valley or a handful of cracked tiles. Putting those right properly costs a small fraction of a new roof.
Do roof repairs in Chickerell need permission?
Like-for-like repairs normally don't. Dorset Council is the planning authority. If your home is in the Chickerell Conservation Area, which takes in the old village core, changing the materials or look of the roof may need consent, and listed buildings need listed building consent for work affecting their character. We aren't aware of any Article 4 direction on Chickerell houses.
Why do my dry verge caps keep coming off?
Usually a clip was left out, the cap was never pushed fully home, or the plastic has turned brittle after years of strong sun. We replace the ones that have failed and check every other cap on that run.
How can I tell if a leak is from the roof or the gutter?
Damp at the top of an outside wall or along the eaves often comes from an overflowing or badly aligned gutter rather than from the tiles. We check both on the survey, so you don't end up paying for the wrong fix.
What to do in Chickerell
The Fleet Lagoon & Chesil Beach
The Fleet is a shallow brackish lagoon behind 18-mile Chesil Beach, protected as an SSSI and part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.
Learn more about The Fleet Lagoon & Chesil Beach on Google Maps
Fleet Old Church
Only the chancel of East Fleet's old church survived the Great Storm of 1824; it holds Mohun family memorials linked to the novel Moonfleet.
Learn more about Fleet Old Church on Google MapsFind us working in Chickerell
Reviews
What customers around Chickerell say
More than a thousand roofing jobs finished, and every review customers have left us is five stars.
Those reviews are on their way onto this page. Until they land, ask us for photos of recent jobs near you in Chickerell when we come out to quote - seeing a finished roof on a house like yours tells you more than any star rating.
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Need a roof repair in Chickerell?
Send us a photo or describe what's happened and we'll arrange a free look. We're about ten minutes away in Weymouth, and the price is in writing before we lift a single tile.