Roof Restoration – St Mary’s Church

THE PROJECT

We completed a range of restoration works to various elevations of the churches roof which included timber works and tile repairs. We replaced a Lead gulley and reinstated the tiling.

THE WORKS UNDERTAKEN

Secure scaffolding was erected to prevent unauthorised access to the roof as requested by the insurance company. It was imperative to deter and prevent access to the scaffold from anyone outside of working hours when there was no one on site for both safety and security reasons.

We produced and installed new bespoke lead bays. These were formed with code 6 Lead. Code 6 Lead was used as specified by the Church Architect, because of the sizes of the bays that needed to be formed. Our Lead Specialists Reeve and Josh carried out this work which was particularly warranted on that elevation of the roof as it is subject to a high volume of rainwater.

Replacement clay tiles were sourced to match existing ones; these were reclaimed to ensure that they were the best possible match to the original. These are favoured for restoration work on listed and heritage properties especially in highly sensitive planning locations where the roof needs to blend in with the buildings surrounding it. Reclaimed clay tiles have high durability, and tiles that are sourced still in a good condition after 50 years will likely survive for a further 50 years and beyond! They tend to be a more cost-effective option too, coming in lower in price than brand new tiles. They are also a popular choice due to reclamation supporting companies and individuals to reduce their environmental impact. By reusing tiles, you reduce the need for factories to produce more new ones.

The roof above the vestry had some damaged timbers which we were able to replace without causing any disruption to the existing structure. The timbers had deteriorated over time. This commonly occurs due to water ingress and condensation issues, unfortunately Churches are usually found to be damp and poorly ventilated. We added some lead covering in order to protect it in the future. We then carried out timber and tile repairs to the lychgate roof. In the future this will need replacing completely but we undertook enough repairs to make the roof good until then. (A lychgate is a covered gateway, these are found at the entrances to traditional English churches). All works were carried out within conservation guidelines.

THE RESULTS

It was a pleasure to work on this historical building and help the church to maintain it properly for the future. They were as thrilled with the results as we were. We hope to continue to support them with their restoration projects in the future alongside other local ecclesiastical buildings. They provided us with the kind testimonial below on completion of the works.