Roofers in Chichester · PO19
Chichester is as far west as we go, and it is worth the run. A Georgian city centre with parapets and hidden gutters, a cathedral quarter of period stock, and a flat coastal plain around it that gets the weather off the Solent without much in the way.
Central Chichester is a Georgian city, and Georgian buildings hide their roofs. Parapet walls at the front, gutters running behind them, slopes falling back into the building rather than out over the street. It looks elegant and it works well, right up until a lining fails or an outlet blocks — at which point the water has nowhere to go but into the structure.
Around the centre, the older stock runs to clay tiling and natural slate, with the usual period accompaniment of tall chimney stacks, valleys and abutments. Beyond that the city spreads out onto the coastal plain, which is flat, open and takes the weather off the Solent and Chichester Harbour with very little in the way of shelter.
It is forty minutes from our Worthing base, which we would rather be honest about than pretend otherwise. It means Chichester is somewhere we plan work into rather than somewhere we can promise a fifteen-minute emergency response — and it is a genuinely good reason to have us look at a whole roof rather than call us out for a single tile.
What a Georgian centre and an exposed coastal plain generate between them.
The defining Chichester roof problem. Old linings fail at the joints and at the outlets, and because the whole arrangement is invisible from the street, the first sign is damp at the top of an internal wall.
Complex Georgian roof geometry means water travels a long way in a channel before it leaves the building. Clearing and inspecting them is cheap and almost nobody does it.
Tall period stacks with soft mortar. Repoint plus new lead flashings is the standard combination.
Nail fatigue rather than material failure. Strip, sort and re-lay reusing sound material is usually the sympathetic and sensible answer.
As everywhere, the rear extension is where the flat roof is. GRP, single-ply and liquid systems all have a place depending on the deck and the detailing.
Away from the city the plain is flat and open to the Solent. Mechanical fixing rather than bedding, same as on our own coast.
What is worth a forty-minute run, and what we are best at when we get there.
Flat roofing in Worthing. Flat roofs don’t fail in the middle.
Read moreGRP fibreglass roofing in Worthing. The joints are the weak point. So we remove them.
Read moreRoof repairs & re-roofing in Worthing. Roofs rarely fail in the middle.
Read moreLead work & flashings in Worthing. The cheap alternatives are cheap for a reason.
Read moreFascias, soffits & guttering in Worthing. A blocked gutter has cost more houses than a broken tile ever has.
Read moreEmergency roofing · 24/7 in Worthing. Stop the water first. Fix it properly second.
Read moreFast storm response and temporary make-safes across Sussex. Same-day appointments wherever possible.
9.84/ 10
73 verified reviews · rolling 12 months
Independently collected and published by Checkatrade. 12 vetting checks passed.
Read all 73 reviews on Checkatrade(opens in a new tab)It is the western edge of our patch and it is about forty minutes, so we will be straight with you: for planned work — a re-roof, a flat roof, lead work, a full survey — it is no problem at all. For a single slipped tile it is probably not the best use of anybody’s money, and a local roofer will serve you better on that. We would rather say so than take the job and resent the drive.
On a lot of Georgian buildings the roof slopes back into the building behind a low wall at the front, and the water collects in a lined gutter behind that wall before draining through an outlet. It works well and it is invisible from the street — which is why nobody clears it, nobody inspects it, and when the lining or the outlet fails the water goes straight into the structure rather than off the front of the building.
Like-for-like repair generally does not require consent; anything that changes the appearance of the roof does. We will tell you which side of that line your job sits on and point you at getting it confirmed with the conservation officer before anything starts.
Slower than in Worthing, and we will not pretend otherwise. We run the call-out 24/7 and we will give you a realistic time on the phone. If water is coming in and you need somebody in the next thirty minutes, a Chichester-based roofer is the right call and we will say so.
Free inspections and free written quotations across PO19, particularly on parapets, hidden gutters and flat roofs. Send a photo and your postcode and Dean will come back to you personally.
Tell us about the problem and Dean will come back to you personally, usually the same day.
9.84/10 · 73 reviews · Fully insured · Free written quotations
