Roofers in Four Oaks

The Four Oaks Estate was laid out on the grounds of Four Oaks Hall from the 1880s, and what went up on it was large, individually designed, and expensive — which is exactly what makes the roofs difficult now. These are not simple gable-and-hip roofs. They have multiple pitches meeting at odd angles, deep swept valleys, ornate ridges, dormers, turrets on a few of them, and long runs of leadwork joining it all together. A Four Oaks roof can have more linear metres of valley and flashing than an entire Walmley estate.

Almost all of it is Welsh slate, and that matters for two reasons. First, the slate is usually still good — genuine Welsh slate from that period will outlast the people arguing about it — so a "failed" roof here is very often a nailing and battening failure with perfectly sound slate sitting on top. Second, much of the estate is a conservation area, which means what you put back is not entirely your choice.

That is the part people get caught by. In a conservation area you can generally repair like for like without consent, but changing the roof covering — slate to concrete tile, say, or natural slate to a fibre-cement substitute — can need permission, and doing it without can end in an enforcement notice and a bill to put it back. We deal with Birmingham City Council on this regularly. We will tell you at survey which category your job falls into, and if it needs an application we will put the material specification together for it.

The mature trees across the estate are the other quiet problem. Big roofs under big trees hold moss, and moss on a slate roof holds water against the nail heads. The single most valuable thing most Four Oaks owners can do is have the roof cleared and the valleys and gutters cleaned out on a proper cycle. It costs very little next to a slate roof and it is the difference between nails that last another thirty years and nails that do not.