Roofers in Brixham

The old town is fishermen's cottages and small terraces, rendered and painted, climbing the slopes around the inner harbour in tight rows with slate roofs, small chimneys and party walls that have moved a little in two hundred years. Roofs here are steep, short and close together, and a slipped slate on one can be sitting in the gutter of the next. Furzeham and St Mary's have larger Victorian and Edwardian houses; Higher Brixham and the land towards Berry Head are twentieth-century, with post-war council housing, 1960s bungalows and later private estates roofed in concrete tile.

Brixham sits at the southern end of the bay with Berry Head behind it, and it gets weather from two directions: the south-westerlies over the headland and the easterlies straight in off the sea. Salt reaches everything. Slate nails rust, lead work at chimneys lifts in the gusts, and ridge tiles bedded in mortar do not stay bedded for long. On the hillside terraces the wind funnels between the rows and the verges take the worst of it. If a Brixham roof has a weak point, the first storm of the autumn finds it.

Scaffolding in the old town takes planning. The streets around the harbour are narrow, parking is tight, and many roofs are only reached from a neighbour's yard or from a lane behind. We look before we quote, agree the access with you and, where needed, with the neighbour, and price the scaffold into the job.

Brixham Town is one of four conservation areas in Brixham, within Torbay's 24. Repairs in matching materials are normally fine; changing slate for tile on a harbour-facing roof is the kind of thing that needs a conversation with the council first, and we will say so.

Brixham, Furzeham, St Mary's, Higher Brixham, Berry Head, St Mary's Bay, Churston Ferrers, Galmpton and Kingswear. The rest of the bay is on the Paignton and Torquay pages.