Repair or replace: how to decide

This decision is where homeowners are most often mis sold, in both directions. A firm that only ever recommends a re roof is not being thorough, and a firm that patches a roof it knows is finished is just booking a return visit at your expense.

The short answer

Repair when the failures are localised and the underlay and battens are sound. Replace when nail fatigue is general, the underlay has perished, or you have paid for three separate repairs in as many years on the same slope.

Test one: is the failure localised or general?

One slipped tile is an event. A dozen slipped tiles scattered across a slope is a pattern, and the pattern is nail fatigue. Rusted nails let tiles creep everywhere at roughly the same time, and there is no useful way to patch that.

Test two: what is the underlay doing?

Go into the loft with a torch on a bright day. Sound felt looks intact and taut. Perished felt is brittle, torn at the eaves and sagging between rafters, and you may see daylight. Once the secondary barrier is gone, every future slipped tile is an internal leak.

Test three: are the battens sound?

Soft, split or beetle affected battens will not hold a new fixing. If a roofer cannot re nail a tile securely, the repair fails within a season regardless of the tile.

Test four: what have you already spent?

Add up the last three years of call outs. If that total is running toward a meaningful share of a re roof, and the pattern is spreading rather than settling, repairs have stopped being the cheap option.

Test five: how long are you staying?

This is a legitimate factor and we treat it as one. Staying twenty years, do it properly once. Selling in eighteen months, a sound, guaranteed repair that a surveyor can see has been done properly may serve you better, and we will say so.

The middle option people forget

Re roofing one slope. Front and rear slopes weather differently and fail at different times. There is no requirement to do both at once, and doing the failing slope now buys years for the other one.

What we do on a survey

We look at the covering from outside, get into the loft to check underlay, battens and rafter ends, and photograph what we find. Then we price both routes where both are viable, and tell you which one we would choose on our own house.

FAQs

How old is too old for a roof?

Age alone is a poor guide. We have seen sound eighty year old slate and failed twenty five year old concrete. Condition of the underlay, battens and fixings tells you far more than the date.

Will my insurance cover a worn out roof?

No. Policies cover sudden damage such as storm or impact, not gradual wear. A storm claim can still be valid on an older roof where the damage is genuinely storm caused.

Can you just do the worst slope?

Yes, and we quote it that way when it is the sensible answer rather than pushing a whole roof you do not need yet.

Do you put your recommendation in writing?

Always, along with photographs of what we found, so you can take a view and get another opinion if you want one.

Get a fast quote with a costed breakdown

Family-run and Hampton-based. Tell us what you're seeing on the roof and we'll come and look properly before quoting.

Get a fast quote 07748 750711