Roof repairs in Hemel Hempstead from a family roofing business

Roof repairs in Hemel Hempstead: a town built in waves

Hemel Hempstead was designated a new town in 1946, and most of what you see was built in a few big pushes. Adeyfield came first, followed by Bennetts End, Chaulden, Warners End and Highfield. Gadebridge and Grovehill arrived in the 1960s and Woodhall Farm in the 1970s. Around them sit the older places the new town swallowed: the Old Town, Boxmoor, Apsley, Leverstock Green and Piccotts End.

That history gives roof repairs in Hemel Hempstead a pattern you can read. The age of the street tells us what the roof is made of and what it is about to do.

The 1950s and 1960s new town houses: HP1, HP2 and HP3

The first generation of new town houses in Adeyfield, Bennetts End, Chaulden and Warners End is now seventy years old. The tiles are tired, the ridge mortar has gone and the felt under the tiles is brittle. Roofs this age leak first at the ridge, the verges and the hips, and then at the flat-roofed canopies over porches and back doors.

The later estates at Gadebridge, Grovehill and Woodhall Farm have shallower pitches, concrete tiles and plenty of flat-roofed garages and kitchen extensions. Those leak where the felt meets the wall and where the gutter drains onto a lower roof. For flat-roofed areas see our flat roofing page, and for the tile work see tiled roofing.

Victorian and older roofs in the Old Town, Boxmoor and Apsley

The Old Town around the High Street sits in a conservation area designated in 1968, and Piccotts End has its own. Boxmoor and Apsley have Victorian terraces built beside the canal and the railway. These are clay-tiled and slate roofs with lead valleys, brick chimneys and timber that has seen a century of weather.

A repair here has to match what is already on the roof. We replace broken plain tiles and slates with the same material, re-form lead valleys and aprons, and repoint chimney stacks. Details of the lead and stack work sit on our lead work and chimney repairs pages.

What we check on a Hemel Hempstead roof survey

Every survey for roof repairs in Hemel Hempstead follows the same route, whatever the age of the house, and you see the results with photographs.

We write up what we find in plain English: what is wrong, what it costs to fix and what can wait. Roof repairs in Hemel Hempstead are quoted for what the roof needs today, not for a whole new roof it does not need, and where a full re-roof is the honest answer we show you the evidence and price both options.

• Tiles and slates: slipped, cracked, missing or lifted
• Ridge and hip lines: solid mortar or secure dry fixings
• Verges and eaves: edge tiles, bedding and fascia connection
• Lead and flashings: chimneys, abutments, valleys and parapets
• Felt and battens: rot, tears and sagging under the visible tiles
• Flat-roofed areas: porches, bays, garages and extensions
• Gutters and downpipes: blockages, leaking joints and drainage onto lower roofs

Leaks, storms and the Chiltern edge

Hemel sits in the Gade valley with the Chiltern slopes rising behind it, and wind comes over the high ground onto the estates at Grovehill, Gadebridge and Leverstock Green. A gale lifts ridge and verge tiles first. Ring us and we make the roof safe, then repair it properly once the weather allows. The call-out details are on our emergency roof repairs page.

One TrustATrader customer wrote that a leaking porch roof was looked at the next day, and that the roofers showed the progress as the day went on. Another had a small but tricky repair done very well, and plans to use us for bigger works.

Timber fascias, soffits and gutters on new town houses

Many 1950s to 1970s Hemel houses still have their original timber fascias and soffits, and by now the boards are rotten at the corners and the gutters sag. Water that spills over the back of a sagging gutter runs behind the fascia and into the eaves, where it soaks the rafter feet and the top of the wall. That mimics a roof leak.

We replace the fascias, soffits and guttering on the same visit as the roof repair, in white or black uPVC. The work is covered on our fascias and soffits page, and it carries the same 20 year written guarantee as the repair.

Maylands, Apsley and commercial roofs

Hemel has a big industrial area at Maylands, and mills and offices at Apsley. Their roofs are flat, profiled or parapeted, and a leak into stock or machinery costs more by the day. We roof domestic and commercial properties, so shop owners, managing agents and landlords get the same itemised written quote and 20 year written guarantee as a homeowner. See commercial roofing.

Getting here from Dunstable, and getting started

Hemel Hempstead is about thirteen miles from our office at 59 Union Street, Dunstable, a drive of around twenty-five minutes. A survey fits into the working day, and the crew arrives when we say. Newer estates have cul-de-sacs and parking courts, while the older streets have terraces onto the pavement, so we plan the scaffold, skip and materials before we arrive.

You get a free, no obligation survey and a detailed written quote that separates materials and labour. We promise to beat any written quote you hold, and our roof repair cost guide shows what the UK cost sites publish for common jobs. Doyle Homes has over 25 years' experience, is fully insured and is rated 4.91 from 62 reviews on TrustATrader and 4.7 from 23 on Google. For the rest of what we do in town, see roofers in Hemel Hempstead, and for neighbouring towns see St Albans, Watford and Harpenden.