Roofing & RepointingSpecialists inSettle

Wind speeds and rainfall around Settle are noticeably higher than in the Lancashire towns closer to our base. Ridge and verge mortar that would last a couple of decades on a sheltered street can be opening up within a handful of winters on a fell-side property here.

Once a joint opens, wind gets under the slates on the next gust and lifts a run of them at once, which is why we treat repointing on exposed Settle roofs as something to get right the first time, with proper bedding depth rather than a thin skim.

A lot of Settle's older roofs are still on their original stone slate, and the slate itself is frequently sound. What fails is the peg or nail holding it, or the timber underneath it, both of which have had well over a century of damp Dales weather to work on.

That is why we always look inside the roof space as well as at the covering. Re-fixing slate onto rotten battens or a sagging purlin only buys a short amount of time.

Settle and the villages above it hold snow longer than towns further down the valley. Heavy, wet snow adds substantial load to a roof already carrying stone slate, and thaw-freeze cycles work into any joint that is even slightly open.

Chimney flaunching, valley junctions and verge pointing are usually first to show damage after a hard winter, and it is worth having these checked every year or two rather than waiting for a leak to appear.

Farmhouses and converted barns around Langcliffe, Stainforth and Rathmell often stand alone on the valley side with no trees, walls or neighbouring buildings to break the wind. Every part of the roof, not just the exposed side, takes weather most town roofs never see.

These properties need a roof assessed as a whole rather than patched slope by slope, because a weakness on one side is usually a sign of the same age and exposure catching up with the rest.