Roofers in Manchester
From Macclesfield we mainly cover south Manchester: Didsbury, Withington, Chorlton, Fallowfield, Levenshulme, Burnage and the streets around them. These are mostly Victorian and Edwardian terraces, semis and villas with Welsh slate roofs, and many have been converted into flats or extended into the loft.
Edwardian semi-detached houses with gables and bay windows on Lyndhurst Road, West Didsbury. Photo: Stephen Armstrong, CC BY-SA 2.0.
South Manchester's houses and roofs
Manchester's suburbs were built at speed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the standard roof was Welsh slate on a red-brick house. Didsbury and Withington have large Victorian villas and semis, many now divided into flats; Levenshulme, Longsight and Rusholme have dense streets of terraces; Victoria Park has some of the city's earliest planned villas.
Those roofs are now well over a century old. Many have had a patchwork of repairs, dormers added for extra bedrooms, and rear extensions with flat roofs. Converted houses add another layer: several flats under one roof, and a roof that everyone owns and nobody looks after.
What goes wrong on south Manchester roofs
- Original slate roofs failing
- Nail sickness and rotten battens on roofs that have never been relaid.
- Converted houses and flats
- Shared roofs on houses split into flats, where repairs need agreement between owners or a managing agent.
- Dormer conversions
- Box dormers with flat roofs and long flashings, a common source of leaks.
- Parapets and valleys
- Valley gutters between roofs on terraces and parapets on larger houses that block and overflow.
Planning and roof work in Manchester
Planning and building control in Manchester are with Manchester City Council. The city has many conservation areas, including Victoria Park and parts of Didsbury and Chorlton, where roofs facing the street should keep their slate, chimneys and details. Rear dormers on houses outside conservation areas are often permitted development; flats do not have permitted development rights, so roof alterations on a converted house need planning permission.
Council: Manchester City Council. Postcodes: M postcodes. Getting to you: We come into south Manchester on the A34 through Handforth and Cheadle, or the A6 through Stockport.
Roofing services in Manchester
The jobs we are asked for most here come first.
- Slate roofingWelsh, reclaimed and natural slate repaired, refixed and relaid to match.
- Roof repairsLeaks traced to the cause, then slates, tiles, ridges, valleys and flashings put right.
- Flat roofingExtensions, dormers, garages and bays in GRP, EPDM rubber or torch-on felt.
- Gutter cleaningGutters, outlets and downpipes cleared, flushed and checked, with photos.
Also in Manchester: emergency roof repairs, new roofs, fibreglass roofing (GRP), rubber roofing (EPDM), chimney repairs, lead flashing and leadwork, guttering, fascias and soffits, velux and roof windows, roof surveys, garage roofs, roof cleaning and moss removal, heritage roofing, commercial roofing, conservatory roofs.
Roofing in Manchester: questions
Which parts of Manchester do you cover?
We mainly cover south Manchester: Didsbury, Withington, West Didsbury, Chorlton, Fallowfield, Burnage and Levenshulme, along with Heaton Chapel and the rest of Stockport, Cheadle and Sale.
Can you quote for the roof on a house split into flats?
Yes. We can provide a survey and quote for the freeholder, the managing agent or all the leaseholders together, with photos so everyone can see the condition.
Can you relay a Victorian slate roof in Didsbury using the original slates?
Usually yes. We strip, sort and relay the sound slates on new battens and membrane, topping up with matching reclaimed Welsh slate.
Roof problem in Manchester?
Call, or send a few details and a photo if you have one. We will come back to you, arrange a visit and give you a written quote before any work starts.