Re-roofing in Blackpool

When a repair stops being the answer

Most roofs get repaired for years before they get replaced, and that is usually the right order. The point at which it stops making sense is when you are paying for the same visit repeatedly: slates failing across the whole slope rather than in one spot, nail sickness letting slates slide regardless of what you re-fix, battens that will not hold a nail, or an underlay that has perished so anything that gets past the covering goes straight into the roof space.

We will tell you honestly which side of that line you are on. If a repair will genuinely see you through several more years, we would rather do the repair and come back.

Choosing the covering — and why it is not a free choice here

Across Blackpool’s inner areas the original covering was Welsh slate. That is documented consistently in the council’s appraisals and characterisation studies for Foxhall, Bloomfield, South Beach, the town centre, North Promenade and the terraced streets of Layton, and it holds for Poulton-le-Fylde and Fleetwood too. Concrete tile is the material that has replaced it, and the councils are not neutral about that. Foxhall’s appraisal refers pointedly to properties re-roofed with heavier concrete tiles. Poulton’s flags modern slate substitutes that reflect more light than the originals and so break up the appearance of a terrace. Garstang’s names replacement with modern shiny slates or concrete tiles as a threat outright.

Two practical consequences follow:

• Weight. A covering change alters the load on a roof structure that was designed for something else. We check the structure before we specify, rather than assuming it will take whatever you have chosen.
• Appearance in a terrace. On a run of terraced or semi-detached property, one roof in a different material and sheen is visible from the far end of the street. If your neighbours are in natural slate, that is worth weighing.

None of which means slate everywhere. Blackpool’s roofscape is genuinely mixed once you leave the inner core. The Raikes area, built mostly between 1900 and 1932, has blue slate and red tiles in widespread use side by side. Inter-war Layton has hipped roofs in red terracotta tile. Fleetwood has red clay tile alongside its Welsh blue-grey slate, and mansards with ornamental iron cresting on the Burton-era buildings. We match what is right for your building and your street, not a house style.

Fixing specification on this coast

BS 5534 was revised in 2014 and changed how roofs are fixed nationally. Mortar bedding is no longer acceptable as a sole fixing and has to be accompanied by a mechanical fixing; the uplift calculations were revised so that single lap tiles are mechanically fixed with nails or clips as a minimum; and underlays are now tested for resistance to stretching under wind pressure, with the result determining which parts of the country they suit.

That standard is a national floor. Blackpool sits above it on exposure: mean wind at Blackpool Squires Gate runs around 10.7 knots against a UK average of about 9.3, the Met Office records five to ten gale days a year on the North West coast against fewer than five inland, and the prevailing south-westerly arrives with nothing between it and the Atlantic. The Met Office’s published gust figure for a Fylde town is 79 knots, about 91 mph, recorded at Fleetwood on 2 January 1976.

Structural warranty guidance for coastal sites treats the first 500 metres from the shoreline as needing specific evidence of durability and weathertightness, and the band out to 5 kilometres as needing demonstrated corrosion protection. It also lists wind-driven sand clogging drainage as a coastal hazard in its own right — which on this coast is not theoretical. So we specify fixings, clips and rainwater goods for where your building actually is, and we will explain the choice rather than hand you a spec sheet.

A note on what we will not tell you: nobody publishes a corrosion category or a wind-zone number for Blackpool, and no honest roofer can give you one. What we can do is show you what we are fixing with and why.

What a re-roof involves

Permissions you may need

Two things catch people out. First, building regulations: Blackpool and Wyre building control both say that replacing a roof covering needs approval unless it is exactly a like-for-like repair. A re-roof is not a like-for-like repair. Second, planning: in a conservation area, replacing a roof covering needs planning permission, and Blackpool has seven — the town centre, Stanley Park, Foxhall, Raikes Hall, Marton Moss, North Promenade and Layton. The council asks that you contact its Built Heritage and Conservation Team before starting.

The Raikes Hall Article 4 direction goes further than the rest. Since 1 June 2020 it has withdrawn permitted development rights there for any alteration to a roof, for installing rooflights, for changing roofing materials, and for installing or replacing a chimney or flue. If your property is in Raikes, assume you need permission and check.

Blackpool’s conservation guidance also asks for original materials — natural grey or green slate, or clay tile, plus decorative ridge cresting — to be retained and replaced like for like, for chimneys to be repaired and kept rather than removed, and for missing bargeboards, fascias and finials to be reinstated. Rooflights should be flush conservation-style, limited in number and preferably on the rear. We work to that where it applies and we will tell you when it does.

Your guarantee

Every roof we complete carries a 20 year full written company guarantee covering all workmanship and all materials, issued as a document when the job is signed off.