A new roof you fit once and forget about.

When a roof is past patching

Every roof gets one phone call too many. The same valley leaks. The same three slates come down in every gale. You’ve had a man up there twice this year and you’re booking him again.

That’s not bad luck. That’s a roof telling you the parts you can’t see have given up.

Slate and tile can last decades. The felt underneath them doesn’t. Once the membrane perishes and the battens go soft, every slate is sitting on something that’s failing. You can keep replacing slates, but you’re decorating a roof that’s rotten underneath. Each repair buys a season, then the next leak appears somewhere new.

A re-roof stops the cycle. We take it back to the timber, deal with what we find, and rebuild the whole thing as one system that’s meant to work together. You spend more once instead of a little, again and again, forever.

We’re not the cheapest, and the homeowners who call us aren’t looking for the cheapest. They’re looking to never think about the roof again.

The drone survey comes first — before any quote

We don’t price a re-roof from the pavement.

Before we quote, we fly the roof. The drone gets close to the ridge, the valleys, the chimney flashings and the verges — the places you can’t see from the ground and a ladder can’t safely reach. You see the footage. We show you exactly what’s failing and why, so the quote isn’t a number you take on trust. It’s a number you understand.

That survey also means no surprises mid-job. We know what’s coming off before the scaffold goes up. The quote you sign is the job we do.

If the survey shows the roof doesn’t need replacing, we tell you. A repair that saves you thousands is a better day’s work for us than a re-roof you didn’t need.

What a full strip and re-roof includes

A proper re-roof is not new slates on old timber. Here is everything that goes in:

• Full strip back to the rafters. Old slate or tile off, old felt off, old battens off. We see the structure clean and fix any rotten or sagging timber before anything new goes on.
• Breathable membrane. A new high-performance underlay across the whole roof. It sheds any water that gets past the slate and lets the roof space breathe, so you don’t trap moisture and rot the timber from the inside.
• New treated battens. Gauged and fixed to the right spacing for your slate or tile. The battens carry the whole roof — old ones are a false economy and we never re-use them.
• New slate or tile. Natural slate, fibre-cement slate or concrete and clay tile, fitted to match the house and the street. We talk you through the options and the cost difference before you choose.
• Fresh leadwork. Chimneys, valleys, abutments and step flashings re-led properly. Our lead is dressed and lapped to code — not smeared in mortar to look the part.
• Dry ridge and dry verge. Mechanically fixed ridge and verge instead of mortar that cracks and drops in a few winters. It clamps down, it ventilates, and it doesn’t need re-pointing every few years.

That’s one system, fitted by one team, all of it new. Nothing left on that we wouldn’t fit ourselves.

How the job runs, day by day

You should know what’s happening on your house before it happens. Here’s the shape of a typical re-roof.

Survey and quote. Drone survey, footage reviewed with you, written quote with the timeline and the scaffold dates.

Scaffold up. A proper independent scaffold so the team works safely and the slate is loaded without leaning ladders on your gutters.

Strip. Old roof comes off in sections — only as much as we can re-cover the same day. The house is never left open overnight.

Repair and membrane. Any timber that needs replacing gets replaced. Membrane and new battens go straight on behind the strip.

Slate or tile. The new covering goes on, course by course, with the leadwork dressed in as we reach each chimney and valley.

Ridge and finish. Dry ridge and dry verge fitted, everything pointed and dressed off, gutters cleared.

Clear down. Scaffold comes down, the site is left clean, and you get the before and after photos.

Most semis and terraces run three to five working days. A big detached with dormers and multiple chimneys can be a week to ten days. Weather can move a day — when it does, we tell you, we don’t leave you guessing.

Before and after, on every job

We photograph the roof before we touch it and after we finish. Every job. No exceptions.

That’s not for our gallery. It’s so you can see the membrane going on, the new battens gauged out, the leadwork dressed in — the parts that disappear under the slate and that a cheaper outfit hopes you’ll never check. When the slate’s on, every roof looks finished. The photos are how you know what’s underneath.

Ask and we’ll send you finished re-roofs near you. David and Angela in Altrincham had a full pitched strip and re-roof — old covering off, new membrane, battens, slate, re-led chimney and a dry ridge. We can walk you through that one from the first survey frame to the last photo.

The 20-year guarantee

Everything we fit on a re-roof is backed for 20 years. Membrane, battens, slate or tile, leadwork and ridge.

If something we fitted fails in that time, we come back and put it right at no cost — and it’s our own team that comes back, because we don’t subcontract the work and we don’t subcontract the fix. We’re a third-generation Cheshire firm, in-house and fully insured. We’re still here, and we answer the phone.

We hold a five-star Google rating across 99 reviews. People don’t leave reviews like that for the cheapest quote. They leave them for the roof that was done right and never bothered them again.

Why we cost more — and why that’s the point

A cheaper re-roof quote usually means one of these:

• The old battens stay on.
• A thinner, cheaper felt instead of a breathable membrane.
• The ridge mortar-bedded instead of a dry system.
• Leadwork bodged with sealant instead of dressed lead.
• A subcontracted crew you’ll never see again.

None of it shows on the day the scaffold comes down. All of it shows in three or four winters, when you’re back to phoning a roofer.

We quote the roof that lasts, fitted by the people whose name is on it. That costs more on day one. It costs far less over the life of the roof — and you stop thinking about it.

Book your drone survey

If you’re planning a re-roof, the right first step is the survey — so you know exactly what your roof needs before anyone quotes you a number.

Call 01606 537305 or email middlewichroofing@gmail.com. We’ll book the drone survey, fly your roof, show you the footage, and give you a written quote with the timeline and the scaffold dates. No surprises after that — the price you sign is the job we do.

Covering Cheshire and South Manchester, including Altrincham, Knutsford and Northwich.