Right now the loft smells of damp felt, there is a bucket under the valley and you can see daylight where a slate has gone. After the work, the roof is a single fixed system: new underlay, calculated fixings, lead where mortar used to be, and a guarantee in writing in your hand.
Summary
- Full strip and re-roof on most Godalming houses takes two to five days, with tiles fixed for wind uplift to BS 5534.
- Victorian and Edwardian roofs on the south side need slate or clay plain tile; post-war estate roofs at Binscombe and Aarons Hill usually need the perished underlay dealt with.
- Approved Document L's insulation upgrade is priced into the quote from the start, not added later.
- Every job carries a 25-year written workmanship guarantee, handed over before the team leaves.
Scott has spent more than 36 years on Surrey roofs, still answers the phone himself and sends his own roofers, whether the job is a full replacement or pitched roofing services Godalming homeowners need on a smaller scale.
Call 07428 300474 at any hour for a free survey and a fixed price in writing.
Full Roof Replacement
A full roof replacement means stripping the covering back to the rafters, dealing with what is found underneath, and rebuilding the roof as a complete system rather than patching a surface. On most Godalming houses that is a two to five day job depending on pitch, area and access.
Strip, inspect, then decide
The sequence runs in order. Scaffold and edge protection go up first. The old tiles or slates come off and are sorted for reuse where the client wants them kept. Battens and felt are removed. Rafter feet, wall plates and valley boards are then inspected while they are open, because that is the only moment they can be seen properly. Any timber that has gone soft is cut back to sound wood and spliced or sistered. Only then does the new build-up start.
Fixing to BS 5534
Every tile and slate is fixed for wind uplift under BS 5534, which is the standard that ended the old habit of nailing every fourth tile and hoping. That means a calculated fixing pattern for the site exposure, mechanically fixed ridge and hip tiles rather than a mortar-only bed, and clipped or nailed perimeter courses. Godalming sits in a sheltered valley in places and exposed on the ridges above Frith Hill and Aarons Hill, so the fixing spec is not the same on every street.
Ventilation and condensation
BS 5250 governs the ventilation side. A replacement roof with a modern breathable underlay still needs a defined air path: eaves ventilation at 10mm continuous equivalent as a minimum on a cold roof, high level ventilation at ridge, and no insulation stuffed into the eaves gap. Getting this wrong is the usual reason a brand new roof produces damp patches on bedroom ceilings by the second winter.
Call Wey Valley Roofing on 07428 300474 to book a free survey for New Roof Replacement in Godalming, including a drone view of your ridge, valleys and chimney stacks before any price is quoted.
Quick Quote OnlineCall Now: 07428 300474Call Scott — 24/7 Emergency07428 300474
Re-Roofing and Refurbishment
Not every roof needs replacing. Where the tiles or natural slates are sound and only the fixings, underlay and details have failed, a re-roof reuses the covering and renews everything behind it.
When a reclaim re-roof works
Handmade clay peg tiles and Welsh slates on the older streets are often worth more than the replacements would be. They come off in sequence, get stacked and graded, and the broken proportion is topped up with matched reclaims. Expect a loss rate on stripping: concrete interlockers rarely survive, clay plain tiles usually do, slates depend on how much delamination has already started at the nail holes.
Refurbishment without a full strip
Sometimes the honest answer is smaller. Re-bedding and mechanically fixing a ridge line, renewing a slipped valley, replacing failed mortar fillets with lead, or renewing 3m of gutter will buy a sound roof another decade. If that is the case, we say so at survey rather than quoting a new roof. That is also why the survey is free and carries no obligation.
The 50% rule on a re-roof
Where more than half of a roof surface is being renewed, Approved Document L brings insulation upgrade into scope as a thermal element. That is handled at quote stage, with the insulation route priced in from the start, not raised as an extra once the scaffold is up.
New Roof Installation for Godalming Homes
Godalming has two broad roofing populations, and they behave differently. Knowing which one a house belongs to changes the specification before anyone climbs a ladder.
Victorian and Edwardian stock on the south side
The town's character assessment records that the south side, between the bypass and Holloway Hill, is largely Victorian and Edwardian detached and semi-detached housing. These roofs mean natural slate or clay plain tile, cut valleys, lead soakers to chimney stacks, and lightweight rafters at 400mm to 450mm centres that were never designed to carry heavy concrete tiles. Re-covering one of these in interlocking concrete without a structural check is how ridge lines start to sag.
Post-war estate roofs
Godalming expanded heavily between 1950 and 1980, with estates at Binscombe, South Hill, Farncombe Hill and Twycross, Bargate Wood and Aarons Hill. Those roofs are typically trussed, tiled with concrete interlockers on 1x2 sawn battens, and now at or past the end of the original bitumen felt underlay's life. The felt tears at the eaves first, then sags between rafters and holds water against the batten. That is the single most common reason we are called to an estate house here.
Work near the centre
The centre includes the green space around the River Wey, with parkland, allotments, a bandstand, cemetery and the Grade I listed parish church. Roof work in those streets is visible from public ground, so material match and ridge line matter as much as watertightness, and scaffold planning has to account for pavement and access.
Materials and Finishes for Godalming Homes
Material choice is a structural and drainage decision first and an appearance decision second. Local listings describe Godalming as a mix of Georgian, Victorian and more contemporary homes, which is why no single specification suits the whole town.
Coverings we specify
- Natural slate, typically 500 x 250mm or 600 x 300mm, head-nailed or hook-fixed, minimum pitch around 20 to 22.5 degrees depending on exposure.
- Clay plain tile, 265 x 165mm, double lapped, 35 degree minimum pitch, the correct answer on most period Godalming roofs.
- Concrete interlocking tile, single lapped, down to 15 to 17.5 degrees, appropriate on trussed post-war roofs designed for the load.
- Standing seam zinc and aluminium, plus box profile and metal tile sheet, for low pitches, dormers and outbuildings.
The reason the pitch figures matter is that a covering laid below its minimum pitch will pass a hose test and still let wind-driven rain past a lap in February.
Leadwork and flashings
Flashings are specified to Lead Sheet Association guidance: Code 4 for most soakers, aprons and back gutters, Code 5 where a gutter or valley takes running water, individual pieces limited in length to allow for thermal movement, and wedged into a raked joint rather than smeared over with mortar. Cement fillets to chimneys and abutments are replaced with lead as a matter of course.
Rainwater and eaves
Gutters and downpipes are sized to BS EN 12056 against the roof plan area and the rainfall intensity, not fitted at 112mm half round because that is what was there. Riverside and low-lying properties along the Wey towpath side of town, on the flat route linking Godalming with Farncombe and Guildford, are where undersized outlets show up first. Fascias, soffits and seamless aluminium guttering are fitted at the same time as the roof so the eaves detail is built once.
Service Area and Response Times
Wey Valley Roofing is family-run and covers Surrey and the Wey Valley, including Godalming, Farncombe, Binscombe, Busbridge, Catteshall, Ockford Ridge and Crownpits, along with Guildford, Cranleigh and Woking.
Who answers the phone
Scott, who started the business, has spent more than 36 years on Surrey roofs and still answers the phone himself, at whatever hour it rings. There is no call centre in between. The roofers on site are the firm's own, not subcontracted crews brought in for the week.
How the four steps run
- Call at any time, day, night or weekend, and a real person picks up.
- Free survey, inspected properly, including a drone view of the ridge, valleys and stacks where that helps.
- Honest fixed price in writing, with no obligation and no charge for the quote.
- Work completed, site left tidy, and the 25-year written workmanship guarantee handed over before the team leaves.
That guarantee covers all roof work and repairs, not only new roofs, and if something is not right inside 25 years we come back and put it right. The business is fully insured and holds Public Liability Insurance.
Emergency Roof Replacement
Storm damage does not wait for a survey slot. Emergency work goes to the front of the queue, 24 hours a day.
Making it safe first
The first visit is about stopping water and removing danger: loose tiles and slipped slates taken down, ridge or chimney debris made safe, and a temporary cover fixed properly rather than weighted with bricks. Only once the property is dry do we survey for the permanent repair or replacement.
Across the wider area
Homes in Godalming and Guildford alike call us for new roof replacement services Guildford as well as here, which means a crew is rarely far away when the wind gets up. Where a storm has taken a section off, we tell you plainly whether a repair or a full replacement is the honest answer.
Roof Types and Systems
New roofs and reroofs are the stated speciality, and the work covers every roof form the town has.
Pitched, flat and everything between
Whether you need a new roof replacement in Godalming or flat roofing in Godalming, we cover the whole area. Flat roofs are built in EPDM rubber, GRP fibreglass or felt and torch-on systems, designed to BS 6229 with a minimum finished fall of 1:80 and warm-roof upgrades where the deck is being renewed anyway. Pitched roofs, garage roofs and metal roofs are all part of the same trade.
Garage roofs and asbestos cement
Many post-war Godalming garages still carry corrugated asbestos cement sheet. We assess it, identify what it is, and advise the safe compliant route under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. We do not carry out licensed asbestos removal ourselves, and we will not tell you it is fine to break it up yourself.
Cleaning and maintenance, honestly
Moss is removed by hand and roofs are cleaned by low-pressure soft wash. We do not pressure wash roofs, because the water goes straight past the laps and strips the surface off concrete tiles. We do not hard sell roof coatings either. If a roof is at the end of its life, a coating hides that; a new roof replacement fixes it.
Call Wey Valley Roofing on 07428 300474 to book a free survey for New Roof Replacement in Godalming, including a drone view of your ridge, valleys and chimney stacks before any price is quoted.
Quick Quote OnlineCall Now: 07428 300474Call Scott — 24/7 Emergency07428 300474
Common Questions About New Roof Replacement in Godalming
What is the average price to have a roof replaced?
It depends on roof area, pitch, access, covering and what the strip reveals underneath, so any figure quoted before a survey is a guess. We inspect properly, including a drone view where it helps, then give an honest fixed price in writing with no obligation and no charge for the quote.
How long does a full roof replacement take in Godalming?
Most houses here run two to five days once scaffold is up, depending on area, pitch and access. A trussed post-war estate roof in Binscombe or South Hill is usually quicker than a cut-and-pitch Victorian roof with cut valleys and multiple chimney stacks.
Do I need planning permission for a roof replacement?
A like-for-like re-covering is normally repair rather than development, but Godalming's centre sits among prominent heritage surroundings including the Grade I listed parish church, and listed or conservation situations change the answer. Building regulations still apply, and GOV.UK guidance on building regulations approval sets out when approval is needed.
My Godalming house is Victorian. Can I re-roof it in concrete tiles?
Often not without a structural check. The south side between the bypass and Holloway Hill is largely Victorian and Edwardian housing with lighter rafters sized for slate or clay plain tile, and concrete interlockers weigh considerably more. We measure rafter sizes and centres at survey before specifying.
What happens if hidden timber damage is found once the tiles are off?
We show you the open roof and explain what is affected. Soft timber is cut back to sound wood and spliced or sistered, wall plates and rafter feet renewed where needed, and any change to the fixed price is agreed in writing before the work goes ahead.
Can you replace just part of the roof?
Yes. If re-bedding and mechanically fixing a ridge line, renewing a valley or replacing cement fillets with Code 4 lead will make the roof sound for another decade, we say so rather than selling a full replacement.