Real Oxford roofs, done properly

A Cowley retail unit had been battling a leaking flat roof for years. When we lifted it, the reason was obvious: a previous “repair” was little more than felt weighed down with bricks and sealed with domestic-grade sealant.

The real problem was underneath. The roof had insufficient fall, so rainwater simply pooled and, eventually, found its way in. No surface patch was ever going to fix that.

We stripped everything back, built proper drainage falls using lightweight screed, and installed a professional GRP fibreglass system with generously sized drainage — sized to cope even if a gutter blocks.

Eight years on, the owner still books us twice a year for gutter cleaning, but the roof itself has never leaked again. No claims, no disruption, no drama.

This handsome North Oxford Victorian on Stratfield Road had reached the point every period brick house eventually does: the mortar holding it together had broken down. Defective joints had been raked out by time and weather, and damp was starting to find its way into the brickwork.

The heart of the job was a full re-point — the entire house, including the front elevation and the gable end. We raked out the failed mortar to the correct depth and re-pointed in breathable lime mortar matched to the original Victorian brick. That last part matters: modern cement mortar traps moisture and slowly damages soft Victorian brick, whereas lime lets the wall breathe and dry, exactly the way these houses were designed to work.

While the scaffold was up, we put the roofline right too — re-pointing the ridge tiles, removing and replacing the failed lower fascia section, clearing the gutters and de-mossing one side of the extension roof.

The chimney got the same care: re-pointing, fascia sanding and re-pointing, and the old flaunching removed and renewed so it sheds water cleanly. The whole job came in at £12,630 — itemised and fixed in advance, so there were no surprises along the way.