Roofers in Clapham,From the Old Town to Clapham Park.
Queen Anne and Georgian houses in the Old Town, grids of Victorian terraces off Abbeville Road, and the estates of Clapham Park. Three centuries of roofs within a mile of the Common, and each one fails in its own way.
Roofing and Guttering in Clapham, on the London Line.
Clapham has the widest spread of house ages of any town we cover. The Old Town beside the Common still has its Queen Anne, Regency and Georgian houses. The Abbeville area is a grid of Victorian streets. Clapham Park has estates from the 1930s and 1960s. Clapham North, along Clapham Road, mixes all of it.
For the roof that means everything from Georgian parapets and lead-lined valley gutters to slate terraces with back additions and post-war flat roofs. Lambeth has conservation areas covering much of it: Clapham, Clapham Park and Northbourne Road, Clapham High Street, Clapham Road, Rectory Grove, Abbeville Road, The Chase and Sibella Road among them.
We cover SW4 and the neighbouring parts of SW8, SW9, SW11 and SW12 that people call Clapham, on the London line 0208 087 4324. One note on names: Clapham Junction is in Battersea, and we cover that too.
The Roofs of Clapham, Century by Century.
The Old Town and the Common
Georgian and Regency houses with parapets, hidden gutters and a great deal of lead. The roof you cannot see from the road is the one that leaks, and it takes a proper look from above to find where.
The Abbeville Grids
Victorian terraces with slate roofs, clay ridges, party-wall stacks and back additions. The Abbeville Road conservation area covers much of it.
Clapham Park
Estates from the 1930s and 1960s, with flat roofs, concrete tile and long gutter runs on the blocks. The Clapham Park and Northbourne Road conservation area sits alongside.
Clapham North
Either side of Clapham Road, Victorian and later, with the Sibella Road conservation area in Larkhall. Mixed ages, mixed materials.
What We Get Called to in Clapham.
Leadwork and Flashing
Parapet gutters, valleys and stack flashings on the older houses, cut in and dressed by hand so they last.
Leadwork & Flashing explained02Roof Repairs
Slipped slates, storm damage and the leak that shows up two rooms away from where the water is getting in.
Roof Repairs explained03Gutter Replacement
New runs hung to a proper fall on the terraces and the blocks, with the downpipes and outlets sorted at the same time.
Gutter Replacement explained04Chimney Repairs
Repointing, flaunching and pots on the party-wall stacks, and the lead at the base renewed while we are up there.
Chimney Repairs explainedConservation Areas and the Way Clapham Is Built.
Lambeth has designated a good deal of Clapham as conservation area: Clapham itself, Clapham Park and Northbourne Road, Clapham High Street, Clapham Road, Rectory Grove, Abbeville Road, The Chase and Sibella Road, with Hyde Farm just across the Balham boundary. A repair in the same material is not normally a planning matter. A change of covering or an alteration to a chimney can be, and on a Georgian house it almost certainly is. We check before we price.
The Old Town houses are the ones that need care. Parapet roofs put the gutter behind a brick wall where nobody sees it, and when the lead lining fails the water runs into the house rather than off it. We clear and inspect these as a matter of course and tell you what the lead is really like.
On the terraces the practical issue is reaching the back roof, and on the Clapham Park blocks it is the length of the gutter runs. Neither is difficult, but both affect the price, and we say so on the first visit.
The fault we are called to most in Clapham, lit on the house.
Where We Work in and Around Clapham.
SW4 and the neighbouring streets that count as Clapham, all on the London line.
Clapham Old Town
SW4The oldest houses in the area, beside the Common, within the Clapham conservation area.
Clapham Common North Side and South Side
SW4, SW11The large houses facing the Common, shared between Lambeth and Wandsworth.
Abbeville Village
SW4The Victorian grids around Abbeville Road, a conservation area.
Clapham High Street and Clapham Town
SW4The High Street, Clapham Manor Street and the residential streets behind them.
Clapham North and Larkhall
SW4, SW9Either side of Clapham Road, with the Sibella Road conservation area.
Clapham Park
SW4, SW12The 1930s and 1960s estates and the streets around them.
Clapham South
SW4, SW12Around the tube station, where Clapham meets Balham.
Clapham Junction and Battersea
SW11The Wandsworth side, which is Battersea by name but Clapham to most people.
Why Two Jobs in Clapham Cost Different Things.
We give a written price for the work we have looked at. In Clapham these are the things that move it.
How Much Lead the Roof Has
A Georgian house in the Old Town has parapet gutters, valleys and flashings all in lead, and lead is priced by the metre and by how hard it is to reach. A slate terrace off Abbeville Road has far less of it.
Matching the Slate
Most of Clapham is conservation area, so a repair matches the existing slate and a re-roof stays in slate. We quote for that from the start.
The Length of the Gutter Run
On the Clapham Park blocks a gutter run is long and needs enough outlets and the right fall. The cost follows the length and the number of downpipes, not the size of the house.
The Questions We Get Asked in Clapham.
Yes. Clapham Junction is in Battersea rather than Clapham proper, but it is a few minutes away and we treat it as part of the same patch on the London line.
Yes, and it will need a careful look rather than a quick one. Parapet gutters, lead linings and old timbers all need checking together. Most of the Old Town is in a conservation area, so anything beyond a like-for-like repair goes past Lambeth first.
Water runs along timbers and behind plaster before it shows. On a Clapham terrace the common causes are a valley gutter between back additions, a stack flashing or a blocked parapet gutter, all out of sight from the street.
Yes. Long runs need the right fall and enough outlets, and we look at the downpipes and the ground drainage at the same time so the water actually leaves the building.
No. We come out, go up where it is safe to and give you a written price. No charge, no obligation.
Yes. The 1930s and 1960s estates have flat roofs, concrete tile and long gutter runs, and we work with managing agents and residents' groups as well as individual owners.
The London line, 0208 087 4324, in the day. The mobile, 07377 633898, is answered around the clock if water is coming in.
The Other Towns on the London Line.
From the Old Town to Clapham Park, we look after roofs of every age in SW4. The visit and the written price are free, and the mobile answers around the clock.
Tell Us About the Roof in Clapham, and We'll Come and Look.
Your name, a number, the street and what you have noticed. That is all we need.