Bowthorpe is a planned residential district on the western edge of Norwich. The housing here is predominantly modern, alongside some social housing that was part of the original development. We cover Bowthorpe from our Poringland base as part of our wider Norwich work.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
Most of Bowthorpe's housing dates from the 1970s and 1980s, and the roofs reflect that. Concrete interlocking tiles were the dominant choice for the housebuilders of that period - they were cheap, fast to lay and easy to source. Forty or fifty years on, those same tiles are showing their age. Concrete is porous, and as tiles absorb water and dry out repeatedly over the decades, they become more fragile. A tile that was laid square in 1978 may now be slightly rocked out of position because the batten beneath it has softened, or because the fixing nail has corroded.
Concrete tiles on a 1970s Bowthorpe roof are also likely to have lost a good proportion of their original surface coating, which makes them more water-absorbent and more susceptible to frost damage. Frost works into the surface layer and flakes it off over successive winters. This does not mean every roof in Bowthorpe needs replacing right now, but it does mean a survey is worthwhile if the roof has not been looked at for several years.
On almost every concrete tile roof of this age, the mortar bedding under the ridge tiles will have cracked or opened up in places. Ridge mortar is exposed on all sides to rain, frost and sun, and it dries out and cracks faster than the pointing on a sheltered wall. Open ridge mortar lets in water that soaks the underlay, and once the underlay has been repeatedly wetted it becomes fragile and eventually splits. A roof with a sound deck and good tiles but a failed ridge is still a leaking roof.
Re-bedding and re-pointing the ridge is the most cost-effective first repair on most 1970s-1980s Bowthorpe properties. The tiles themselves can sometimes be re-used if they are in reasonable condition, which reduces materials cost. Hip tiles and verge mortar should be checked at the same time - the same failure mechanism applies to any mortar-bedded tile on the roof slope.
Some Bowthorpe properties have a flat-roofed garage or a rear extension. These flat roofs are almost universally felt-covered, and the majority are now well past the point where a like-for-like felt replacement is the most sensible option.
EPDM rubber membrane has become the standard replacement product for domestic flat roofs across this part of Norwich, and for good reason. Installed as a single sheet bonded to the deck, it removes the lapped joints that are the weakest point of any felt system. EPDM is also unaffected by the freeze-thaw cycles that are part of a normal Norfolk winter, and it stays flexible at low temperatures rather than becoming brittle. A flat roof replaced in EPDM by a competent installer will typically outlast a new felt roof by a significant margin.
When a flat roof is stripped back, the deck condition underneath matters. Repeated water ingress through an old felt roof will have softened sections of the OSB or plywood deck. Laying a new membrane over softened decking is a false economy - those sections need to be cut out and replaced first. Always ask what happens if the deck is found to be damaged, and how the cost of deck repairs will be communicated before the work proceeds.
Not every flat roof needs EPDM. For smaller areas or situations where budget is the primary constraint, a properly installed three-layer torch-on felt system is a reasonable and proven option. The key is in the detail: the felt must be taken fully up the upstand and dressed correctly against the wall or parapet, the drip edge at the fascia must be properly formed, and any outlets or pipes must be collared so the membrane is continuous around them. A flat roof that leaks at a joint or upstand within a few years has almost always been installed with shortcuts in those details.
The uPVC guttering on Bowthorpe's original housing is now old enough to be genuinely tired. UV exposure makes white uPVC yellow and eventually brittle, joints lose their seals, and gutter brackets can pull away from fascia boards that have been slowly softening behind them. When gutters overflow, water runs down rendered or brick walls and works into any gap it finds.
Replacing guttering is only part of the job if the fascia boards are soft. A new gutter screwed into a rotten fascia is not secure, and will pull away in the first strong wind. Replacing fascias and soffits at the same time as guttering is more cost-effective than doing each separately, and it means the finished job is sound rather than partly new and partly failing.
Whatever the repair or replacement work, there are a few things worth establishing with any roofer before the scaffolding goes up:
These are not trick questions - a straightforward roofer will answer all of them without hesitation.
After a period of strong winds, it is worth having the roof checked even if nothing looks obviously wrong from the ground. Concrete tiles can lift slightly and settle back without falling, but a tile that has moved out of position will not be shedding water correctly. On a flat roof, wind can lift membrane edges or pull sealant away from upstands. Neither of these is visible without getting above gutter height.
A proper roof survey means getting on the roof or the slope, not just looking from a ladder. If a roofer is telling you what work is needed from the ground or a first-floor window, they have not actually seen the roof surface. For a quick visual check after storm damage that is often acceptable, but for a survey you are relying on to plan and price significant work it is not.
We work across Bowthorpe and the surrounding parts of western Norwich, including nearby Costessey and Taverham, as well as covering Hellesdon, Drayton and back across the city to Thorpe St Andrew and Sprowston. From our Poringland base we also cover Wymondham, Attleborough and the villages across south Norfolk. If you are in Bowthorpe and need a roof survey, a flat roof replacement, ridge re-bedding or guttering work, call us and we will come out and give you a proper assessment of what the roof needs.
Bowthorpe is a planned residential district on the western edge of Norwich. The housing here is predominantly modern, alongside some social housing that was part of the original development. We cover Bowthorpe from our Poringland base as part of our wider Norwich work.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
