Roof repairs in Erith follow the weather, and the weather here comes off the water. A couple of tiles slip after one storm. A ridge tile drops into the gutter after the next. By the time a brown ring shows up on the bedroom ceiling, the gap that let the rain in may have been open for months. We're roofers based a short drive away in west Dartford, and we repair roofs all over Erith: older houses near the riverside, the Vickers homes on Northumberland Heath, 1930s semis on the ABC roads and the streets around Slade Green. You get a proper look at the roof, photos of the problem and a written price for fixing that problem. Not a sales pitch for a new roof.
A roofer rings you back to arrange a visit.
A repair is only worth paying for if it lasts. Here's how we try to make sure yours does.
01
Water travels. It can get in at a cracked flashing and drip from a ceiling two metres away. We trace it back from the loft and the roof surface together, so we fix the cause and not just the place it happened to show up. Sometimes that means fixing a flashing on a wall nobody had thought to check.
02
A tile re-fixed with one nail on a roof that faces the Thames will be loose again by spring. We clip, nail and mechanically fix ridges and verges wherever the position calls for it. It adds a few pounds in fixings and saves a second visit.
03
We'd rather patch a sound roof than sell you a new one. If your covering has years left in it, we'll repair it and tell you so. If it's finished, we'll show you why with photos. The decision stays with you either way.
04
A modern concrete tile dropped into an old clay roof looks wrong and can sit badly. We try to source a close match, and if one isn't available we'll suggest borrowing tiles from a hidden slope for the front and using new ones out of sight.
05
Every repair is quoted in writing. If we open up a section and find something worse, we stop, show you and agree the extra before carrying on. There's no surprise figure at the end. The final invoice matches the quote unless you've agreed otherwise in writing.
06
On a shared ridge or stack, part of the repair may sit over next door. We'll show you where the line falls and help you have that conversation before any scaffold goes up. If they want their side looked at while we're up there, we'll quote them separately.
1,000+
Roofs repaired, renewed and rebuilt
10 yrs
Written guarantee on every re-roof
5★
The only rating anyone has left us
£0
For the survey and the written quote
Most roofs in Erith don't fail all at once. They fail at the edges and the joins: the ridge, the verge, the valley, the flashing where a chimney meets the tiles. Those details take the force of wind coming across open water and marsh. The rainfall itself is modest, so a roof can look fine for years while the mortar behind a ridge tile slowly cracks and a big storm finishes the job.
House age adds to it. Northumberland Heath homes were built for Vickers workers during the First World War, and their roofs have been altered many times since. Town-centre buildings mostly date from the 1960s onwards, after the old centre was cleared. Down towards Slade Green and Oak Road, plenty of homes sit near the marshes and catch more open wind. Each one wears in its own way, which is why we survey before quoting anything.
If a survey shows the covering itself is worn out, we'll explain the options for re-roofing in Erith and leave the decision with you.
"In Erith, a good share of the leaks we trace start at a chimney or wall flashing rather than at the tiles people assume are to blame."
Ring us or fill in the form with your postcode and what you've seen. A photo from the garden helps, but please don't climb up to take one. We'll book a visit at a time that suits you. Tell us too if the roof has had work done before, and roughly when.
We check the ceiling where the stain is, go into the loft with a torch, then get onto the roof. Matching the evidence indoors to the damage outside is how we pin down the real fault. It takes longer than a glance from the ladder, and it's why the repair holds.
You get a written quote naming the fault, the repair and the cost. If there are two ways to fix it, a cheaper short-term one and a longer-lasting one, we'll price both and let you pick.
Small jobs can be done from a roof ladder. Chimney work, long ridge lines and anything on a three-storey house need scaffold, and we book that once you've agreed the price. If a tower will do, you won't be charged for full scaffold.
We take off the damaged material, sort what's underneath, be it torn felt, a rotten batten or a split flashing, and rebuild the area so it sheds water the way it should. Patching over a rotten batten just moves the leak along.
Where it's safe, we run water over a repaired flashing or valley and watch the loft. It isn't possible on every job. When it is, it settles the question before we pack up.
Broken tiles and old mortar go in our skip, not your bin. You get before and after photos, so you can see the repair for yourself without going anywhere near a ladder. Keep them with your house papers in case you ever sell.
10
Years' cover on a new roof
1,000+
Roofing jobs finished
Paperwork in your hand on the last day. Not posted out "in due course".
Re-roof a house in Erith with us and you get 10 years of cover on the workmanship. It's a written document. It has your address on it, lists what was done, and is dated the day the roof is signed off. If water gets in because something was fitted wrong - a batten, a fixing, a lap, a flashing - a roofer comes back and puts it right. You don't pay for that.
Why are we happy to promise ten years? Because of how the roof goes on. Every tile or slate is mechanically fixed to BS 5534, the current British Standard. Ridges and hips are fixed too, not just sat in mortar. A breathable membrane goes down first. Where a roof meets a wall, a chimney or the house next door, it gets proper lead or a tested dry system. Shortcuts there are what make a guarantee expensive, so we don't take them.
Tiles, slates and membranes also carry the maker's own warranty. Those vary by product, and your paperwork tells you which ones apply. If a job is too unusual to guarantee in the normal way, you'll hear that at quote stage.
Not every roof needs replacing, and not every roof should be patched. The table sets out how we weigh it up. On older Erith houses, the state of the battens and felt usually decides it.
| Comparison point | Targeted repair | Patch-and-seal | Partial re-roof | Full re-roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | £180 - £1,600 depending on the fault | Low, often under £200 | Several thousand, priced by area | £8,000 - £24,000+ by house size |
| How long it lasts | As long as the roof around it, if done right | Months, sometimes a year or two | Decades on the renewed slope | Typically 50+ years, depending on covering |
| Disruption | A few hours from a ladder or tower | An hour or two | Scaffold on one side for several days | Full scaffold, roughly one to two weeks |
| When it makes sense | Sound roof with one clear fault | Stopgap until a proper repair | One slope failed, the other still sound | Battens, felt and fixings failing everywhere |
| Paperwork you get | Written quote, photos and a note of the work | Usually nothing worth keeping | Written quote, building control if over the limits | Written quote and our 10 year guarantee |
| Building regulations | Not needed | Not needed | Needed past 50% of the roof or 25% of the envelope | Building control approval normally required |
Small repairs in Erith cost much the same as anywhere nearby. Bigger ones depend on these four things.
A two-storey semi can often be reached with ladders. Taller houses near the river, or buildings with awkward rear access, need scaffold, and that can cost more than the repair itself. Tile refixes generally run £180 to £450 before any access costs.
Re-bedding or dry-fixing a ridge line usually lands between £450 and £1,200. On riverside roofs and the more exposed spots around Slade Green, we often recommend mechanical fixing over fresh mortar. It can cost a little more but it tends to stay put.
A chimney shared with next door means the work may need agreeing between two households. Flashing renewal is priced by the length involved and by whether the stack needs repointing at the same time. You'll get a separate figure for each part.
On a Northumberland Heath roof that has been there since the First World War, lifting a few tiles can expose old felt or soft battens. If we find that, we stop and price it before carrying on, so the bill only grows with your say-so.
Most don't. Repairing a roof with matching materials is treated as maintenance, and the London Borough of Bexley, which handles planning for Erith, wouldn't expect an application for it. Take more care if your home is in the Erith Riverside, Lesney Park Road, Brook Street or Oak Road conservation areas, or if it's listed. There, swapping to a different tile or adding a rooflight can need consent, so check with Bexley before work starts. Repairs to the roof over a flat may also need the freeholder's agreement.
It can. Wind picks up across open water and marsh with little to slow it, so riverside roofs take harder gusts than ones sheltered further up the hill. Rain on its own isn't the issue, because this stretch of the estuary is one of the drier corners of England. It's wind pushing that rain sideways under tiles and behind flashings, which is why fixings and detailing matter more here.
We're about eight minutes away by road, so routine surveys can usually be fitted in within days. Urgent leaks get priority. If a storm has hit the whole area, we work through call-outs by how serious they are, putting open roofs and water near electrics first. A photo of the damage taken from the ground lets us bring the right materials on the first visit.
Often, yes. Reclaimed tiles turn up for many older roofs, and some modern ranges are close to the original sizes. Where we can't get a good match, we'll move sound tiles from a rear slope to the front and use new ones out of sight. You'll see samples before anything goes up.
Yes, and we'll show you why. The signs include slipped or flaking tiles across the whole roof, brittle felt that tears when touched and battens that have gone soft. If only one area has failed, a repair is usually the sensible call, and we'll say so even though a new roof would be a bigger job for us.
At around 360 metres, Erith's concrete pier is the longest in London. It was built in 1957 as a deep-water wharf and reopened for walkers and anglers in 1999 when the supermarket beside it was built.
Learn more about Erith Pier on Google Maps
Community theatre on the High Street, founded in 1949. The auditorium is part of the old Oxford Cinema of 1913, and the street frontage was rebuilt in 1973.
Learn more about Erith Playhouse on Google Maps
Grassland and woodland on the slope between Erith and Belvedere, with a fenced playground in the open part of the park. The Green Chain Walk passes through on its way down to the Thames.
Learn more about Frank's Park on Google MapsEvery review left for us so far has been five stars. We're adding them here as they come in.
Reviews only tell you so much anyway. When a roofer comes out to Erith, ask to see photos of a recent job on a house like yours. A good roofer will have plenty and won't mind you asking.
Send us a few details and we'll arrange a visit. You'll get photos of the fault and a written price, and you can take your time deciding. There's no charge for the survey.
