Roofers in Brighton & Hove · BN1–BN3
Brighton and Hove have some of the most distinctive — and most misunderstood — roofs in the county. Butterfly valleys hidden behind parapets, Welsh slate, stucco fronts and four storeys of scaffolding to reach any of it. We work here, and we know what these roofs actually need.
A great deal of central Brighton and Hove is Regency and Victorian terracing with an M-shaped or "butterfly" roof — two shallow slopes falling inwards to a valley gutter running front to back, with a parapet wall hiding the whole arrangement from the street. From the pavement the building appears to have no roof at all, which is exactly the problem: nobody looks at it, nobody clears it, and the first anyone knows is a stain across a top-floor ceiling.
Those valley gutters are the single most important detail on the building. They carry all the water from both slopes, they are usually lead or in older cases zinc, and they fail at the joints, at the outlets and where the lining meets the parapet. When they do, water goes straight into the structure rather than off the front of the building where you would see it.
Add to that Welsh slate that is now well past a century old, chimney stacks in exposed positions, stucco that shows every drip, and buildings four and five storeys high on streets with no parking, and you have roofs that reward being taken seriously and punish being guessed at.
Our Checkatrade photo library includes a completed re-roof in Brighton, alongside regular work across the BN41 and BN42 postcodes immediately west of the city.
What we find on these buildings, and what it takes to put right.
Silted, split at the joints or blocked at the outlet. Clearing and inspecting one is cheap; relining it properly in lead is a real job, and one worth doing once rather than patching annually.
Saturated brickwork above roof level with failed or missing coping details. Water gets in at the top and comes out somewhere quite a long way down.
Original Welsh slate is frequently still perfectly good; the nails holding it are not. A strip-and-re-lay reusing the sound slate is often the right and far more sympathetic answer.
Exposed, tall and taking the full weather. Repointing plus new lead is a very common combination on these buildings.
Almost every terrace here has a rear addition with a flat roof on it. Liquid applied systems suit them well because they go seamlessly around all the awkward detailing without a strip-out.
Scaffolding on a Brighton street means licences and logistics, and conservation areas and listed buildings bring their own consents. We will tell you honestly which of those apply to your building before you commit to anything.
The three things a period Brighton or Hove building most often needs.
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)If you live in a Regency or Victorian terrace in central Brighton or Hove, quite possibly. It is an M-shaped roof: two shallow slopes falling inwards to a valley gutter that runs front to back, hidden behind a parapet wall so that from the street the building looks flat-topped. The valley is doing all the work and it is the first thing we look at.
If the building is listed, yes, and if it is in a conservation area then changing the appearance of the roof — the material, the colour, adding rooflights — is likely to need consent. Like-for-like repair generally does not. We will tell you which category we think you are in and where you need to get it confirmed rather than guessing on your behalf.
Very often. Welsh slate outlives the nails holding it by decades, so a roof full of slipping slates is frequently a nail problem rather than a slate problem. Stripping, sorting and re-laying the sound slate with new fixings and new battens keeps the look of the building and costs less than a full replacement.
Yes. Brighton and Hove are about twenty-five minutes along the coast and we work across the whole BN1 to BN3 range, as well as constantly in Portslade and Southwick just west of the city. For emergencies we will be honest about how quickly we can get to you rather than promising a Worthing response time.
Free inspections and free written quotations across BN1 to BN3, including butterfly valleys, parapets and slate. 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
