Roofers in Woolton

Woolton sits on a ridge of Triassic sandstone that was quarried here for generations. Stone from Woolton went into the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, and the same warm sandstone appears throughout the village in cottages, boundary walls, St Peter’s Church and many chimney stacks. Most of the older buildings carry natural slate roofs.

The higher ground gives Woolton its views, but it also leaves roofs more open to the wind. On exposed slopes, mortar-bedded ridges, lead flashings and slates near the verges tend to be the first things to show damage after a storm. Current guidance in BS 5534 requires ridge and hip tiles to be mechanically fixed, so when we rebed a ridge we fix it properly rather than relying on mortar alone.

The village has been a conservation area since 1996. Work that alters how a building looks from outside may need planning permission, especially where an Article 4 direction applies, so check with Liverpool City Council before changing roof materials, replacing timber or cast-iron rainwater goods with something different, or adding rooflights or dormers.

For repairs, the aim is to match what is already there: slate of a similar size, colour and thickness, ridges in keeping with the originals, and leadwork dressed neatly to the stone. Where a full replacement is needed, our roof replacement service includes setting out the materials with you beforehand, and we can explain how Building Regulations apply when more than a quarter of a roof is renewed.

Sandstone weathers differently to brick. Over time the faces soften and the joints open, and a stack that looks sound from the street can be letting water into the roof space through eroded mortar or a failed flashing. Repointing soft stone with a hard cement mortar can trap moisture and speed up decay of the stone itself, so the mortar has to be chosen to suit the building.

Our chimney stack work covers flaunching, pots, cowls and rebuilding, and our pointing team handles stone and brick walls as well as stacks. Lead flashings on stone are tucked into cut joints and sealed, and we check them as part of any inspection.

Away from the stone core, Woolton has semi-detached and detached houses from the inter-war years onwards, many with tiled roofs, extensions and garages. Here the work is more often a leaking flat roof over a kitchen extension, a tired felt garage roof, dated fascias and gutters, or a dormer to make better use of the loft. We handle these in-house, including GRP and EPDM flat roofs and the steelwork that larger openings need.