Roofers in March

March roofs, and the Fen wind that finds them

March is a Fenland market town strung along the old course of the River Nene, and it is one of the closest towns on our patch. We are based in Wisbech, a short run up the road, so a March job is genuinely local for us rather than a trip out. The housing here is mostly Victorian and Edwardian brick, much of it built when March was a railway town and the marshalling yards needed streets of houses beside them. Clay pantile is common on those roofs, and pantile behaves differently to plain tile once the weather starts working at it.

Terraces, shared valleys and tall stacks

Rows of brick terraces bring their own roofing problems. Valleys and party walls are shared, so water getting in above one house can show up as a stain on a ceiling next door and send everyone looking in the wrong place. The stacks on these older properties are tall, weathered, and very often the actual source of a leak that has been blamed on the roof for years. Pantiles slip out of course and rattle loose. None of it is difficult work, but it wants someone who has been on that kind of roof before and knows where to look first.

Nothing to break the wind

The other constant in March is exposure. The land around the town is flat and open for miles, so wind crosses the fields and reaches the roofs with nothing to slow it. It finds loose pantiles, worn flashing, lifted ridges and blocked gutters, and it keeps at them. Our roof repairs deal with the results: missing and slipped tiles, failed flashing, and the leaks that show up after a gale. When a covering has genuinely finished, our new roofs and re-roofs go on with a breathable membrane and mechanically fixed ridges and verges, because a mortar-only ridge on an open Fen roof is asking for trouble.

We also take on chimney repairs, repointing and leadwork on the tall stacks along the older streets, re-cover extensions, outriggers and garages with flat roofing in fibreglass and EPDM rubber, fit uPVC fascias, soffits and guttering sized properly for the roof above them, and clear the moss that damp Fen air encourages with roof cleaning.

We are a family firm, three generations of roofers, and being ten miles down the road in Wisbech means we are in and around March often. You get a proper look at the roof and into the loft, a plain explanation of what we found, and a free written quote that stands for thirty days. If a repair will do the job, the repair is what we will price. You can read more about how we work, or get in touch for a free quote.