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Alex Shepherd Roofing
Roofers in Skipton

Roofers in Skipton

We are a Nelson-based firm working across Craven, and Skipton is about thirteen miles up the road from our yard. Close enough that a leak reported in the morning gets looked at the same day.

Distance
13 miles
Services here
9 of the eleven
Ring or text
07840 031508

The roofs in Skipton

Skipton's roofs are mostly not like Nelson's, and that is the useful thing to understand before anyone quotes on one.

Yorkshire stone slate.
The gritstone terraces around the Middletown and off Broughton Road are largely under stone slate, laid in diminishing courses, biggest at the eaves and smallest at the ridge. That is a different job from the Welsh blue slate we see across Pendle. Stone slate is heavy. The battens and laths beneath it are frequently the original timber, and a roof that has been patched with the wrong fixings for thirty years will keep letting water in until somebody strips a section and does it properly.
The conservation area.
Around the High Street, the castle and Holy Trinity you are in the conservation area, where what goes back on a roof is not entirely a matter of preference. Materials are specified. We have done enough of this work to know what Craven will generally accept and what has to come off again, and it is worth establishing that before you take a quote from anyone.
Exposure.
Skipton sits at the mouth of the Dales and gets Dales weather. Wind-driven rain from the west is the usual cause of leaks that appear in a storm and not otherwise.
Newer housing too.
Out at Horse Close, Greatwood and the more recent estates you have conventional concrete tile, with the ordinary ridge bedding and porous tile problems rather than anything specialist.

It is also the covering most often ruined by well-meant repair. Cement instead of lead at the abutments, modern nails that corrode faster than the stone wears, and slates re-laid without regard for the coursing so the laps no longer work.

Common questions

Questions we get from Skipton

No. Skipton is thirteen miles from our yard, which is closer than plenty of places in Lancashire. Crossing the county line doesn't change the price.

Mainly the materials. Replacing stone slate with a modern substitute is generally not acceptable on a visible elevation, and roof windows on a front elevation are often refused. It is worth a call to Craven's planning team before you commit to anything, and we can tell you what is usually accepted.

Yes, and it's a large part of what we do around Craven. Stone slate is laid in diminishing courses and salvaged stone has to be sorted and graded by size before it goes back on. That sorting is the step that gets skipped, and it's why patched stone slate roofs so often look wrong.

Usually through salvage, and reclaimed stone slate is available though not cheap. We will sort and grade it by size so the coursing works as it should, which is the part that gets skipped and the reason patched stone slate roofs so often look wrong.

Reviews

What our customers say

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Where we work

Two counties, most weeks

We're in Nelson, so Pendle is our own doorstep. We're out across two counties most weeks.

If you're not sure whether you're in range, ring and ask. We'd rather tell you honestly than have you wait in for a quote that was never coming.

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