The buildings here
Georgian and Victorian magnesian limestone properties around the market place and the Wharfe bridge, stone and brick cottages through Deighton, Collingham and Boston Spa, and modern estate housing on the edges of the town. Clay pantile, Welsh slate and stone slate all appear within the same mile.
A different kind of roof from the city
Wetherby is far enough east of Leeds that the geology changes. The old buildings here are magnesian limestone rather than gritstone, which gives the market place and the streets around the Wharfe their pale colour. Roof coverings vary more than they do in the city too. You find clay pantile, stone slate, Welsh slate and plain tile within the same short walk.
Pantiles are the one that catches people out. They are laid with a single lap and an interlocking roll, they are light compared to stone, and on an exposed roof they move. A pantile roof that has been sitting quietly for fifty years will start shedding tiles once the battens soften or once a few of the original fixings let go.
Exposure is the whole story out here
Take the road out past Ingmanthorpe or across the river towards Thorp Arch and there is nothing between the houses and the weather. Fields, the river meadow and open sky. When a westerly runs through, a roof here takes loading that a mid terrace in LS7 never sees.
The consequences show up in the same places every time. Ridge tiles lift because the mortar has gone. Verge tiles strip along a gable because the mortar bedding has blown. Individual pantiles slide because nothing is clipping them down. And in a proper storm a whole strip of verge can go in one gust.
Mechanical fixing is the answer to all of it. Dry ridge, dry verge and clipping a proportion of the field tiles brings an older roof up to the fixing standard that BS 5534 now expects, and out here it earns its money.
Guttering on wide frontages
A detached house or a converted barn can carry a gutter run of fifteen or twenty metres to a single outlet. That means a lot of joints, and a small error in the fall shows up as standing water and a silted low spot. We set falls with a level, add brackets at proper centres, and put in a second outlet where the run is long enough to justify it.
Open plots also mean less shelter for downpipes and more debris in gutters after a windy spell, so an annual clear is worth booking rather than waiting for the overflow.
Conservation and listed property
The town centre conservation area and the listed buildings around it need care. The material on a visible slope has to match, and rainwater goods in plastic look wrong on a limestone frontage. We price cast aluminium as the sensible alternative and we tell you where consent is required before any material is ordered.
What matters locally
Open plots and unbroken wind
Properties out here sit on wide plots with fields or river meadow beyond, so there is nothing to slow the wind. Ridge tiles, verges and loose pantiles come off first in a westerly.
Clay pantiles east of Leeds
Pantile roofs are common around Wetherby and the villages towards York, and they behave differently from slate. They need correct side laps, proper clips at the verge and the right ventilation.
Conservation area in the town centre
Wetherby town centre is a conservation area with limestone frontages, so covering and rainwater goods on visible elevations need to match. We check with Leeds City Council before quoting.
Long gutter runs on wide frontages
Detached houses and converted farm buildings out here carry gutter runs far longer than a terrace, which means more joints, more brackets and a real need for the fall to be set properly.
Jobs we do most often in Wetherby
- Refixing and replacing loose or slipped clay pantiles
- Dry ridge and dry verge conversions on exposed gables
- Storm damage repairs and make safe visits after high winds
- New guttering on long frontages and converted outbuildings
- Re-roofs on stone and limestone properties with matching material