How much would it cost to reroof a garage?

A garage reroof can be a modest job or a substantial one, and the difference is usually hidden under the old covering rather than visible from the driveway.

Family-run, our own experienced roofers, 36 years on Surrey roofs behind every quote and a 25-year written workmanship guarantee on the job; whether you need garage roofing or garage roofing in Godalming, we cover the whole area across Surrey and the Wey Valley.

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How much would it cost to reroof a garage?

The cost to reroof a garage depends on the size of the roof, the covering you choose, whether the timber deck or joists underneath have gone soft, and whether the old covering is asbestos cement. A single garage in good structural order sits at the cheap end. Anything needing new deck, new firrings or safe handling of asbestos costs more.

What actually drives the figure on a garage roof

Most garage roofs are small, so the covering itself is rarely the biggest number on the quote. What moves the price is what is found once the old layers come off.

The main drivers are these. Roof area, which for a single garage is modest and for a double or a long block is not. The system specified, because EPDM rubber, GRP fibreglass and torch-on felt all behave differently and cost differently. The condition of the deck, since chipboard and old boarding that has been wet for years has to come out. Falls, because a flat roof that ponds needs new firring timbers cut in to shed water properly, and BS 6229 is clear that a flat roof has to actually drain. Edge details, upstands, trims and any abutment against the house, all of which is where garage roofs usually fail first. Access, since a garage tight against a boundary fence needs a different working method to one with a driveway beside it.

Then there is the covering type on a pitched garage. Concrete tiles are heavier and need battens and fixings sized correctly for wind uplift under BS 5534. Metal sheet, box profile or metal tile sheet, is lighter and can suit a garage whose structure was never built to carry heavy tile. That choice changes both the material cost and the amount of carpentry needed.

Guttering is worth pricing at the same time rather than later. If the outlet or the fall is wrong, water goes down the wall instead of into the drain, and you pay twice. Whether you need garage roofing or garage roofing services Guildford, we cover the whole area, and the survey looks at the whole run of water, not just the flat bit in the middle.

Where cheap garage reroofs cost more later

A garage roof is easy to make look finished and hard to make last. The temptation on a small budget is to lay a new covering straight over whatever is already there. Sometimes that is defensible. More often it traps damp boarding under a new waterproof layer, and the new work fails from below within a few winters.

The other place money leaks away is detailing. A garage roof that meets the house wall needs a proper flashing or a chase, done in lead to Lead Sheet Association guidance where lead is the right material. A mastic smear along the join is not a detail, it is a delay. Same with upstands at the verges: too low, and driving rain gets behind the trim.

Ventilation gets ignored on garages because people assume a garage does not matter. It does, if the garage is boarded out, used as a workshop, or has a warm roof build-up. BS 5250 exists because condensation rots timber just as reliably as a leak, only more quietly.

Whether you need garage roofing or garage roofing services Woking, we cover the whole area, and the honest answer on a survey is sometimes that a repair will see you right for years. If a smaller job will do, that is what gets quoted.

Asbestos cement and older garage structures

A large number of garages built from the 1950s to the early 1980s have corrugated asbestos cement sheets on the roof, sometimes with asbestos panels in the walls too. That changes the job. Those sheets must not be broken up, drilled or pressure washed, and the route to dealing with them is set out under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.

What we do is assess it, tell you plainly what you are looking at, and advise the safe and compliant route so the work is sequenced correctly. We do not carry out licensed asbestos removal ourselves. Knowing early matters for your budget, because it is a separate line, not a surprise on the final invoice.

The frame underneath deserves a look as well. Some prefabricated garages have slender purlins or thin walls that were only ever sized for a light sheet covering. Putting concrete tiles on that is not an upgrade, it is a load problem. Our garage roofing services start from what the structure can actually carry, and if a structural opinion is needed we will say so rather than guess.

Getting a garage reroof price you can rely on

A number over the phone is a guess. A number after someone has been up and looked is a price. That is why the survey is free, includes a drone view where it helps on an awkward or shared roof, and comes back as an honest fixed price in writing with no obligation.

Two things worth understanding before you compare quotes. First, if you are renewing most of a roof, Approved Document L's 25 per cent rule can bring insulation upgrades into scope, and that is handled as part of the reroof rather than sprung on you halfway through. Second, a written price should say what covering, what deck, what falls and what edge details are included, because that is where two quotes for the same garage diverge.

Scott has spent more than 36 years on Surrey roofs and still answers the phone himself, at whatever hour it rings. The work is done by our own roofers, and every job leaves with a 25-year written workmanship guarantee handed over before the team packs up. If something is not right inside those 25 years, we come back and put it right.

• Get the survey done before you set a budget, not after.
• Ask for the deck condition in writing, not just the covering.
• Price the guttering and the abutment flashing at the same time.
• Flag anything you suspect is asbestos cement before work starts.