Nationwide Roofing Southern delivers professional roofing services across Steyning. With over 50 years of experience, we provide high-quality roofing solutions backed by free surveys and quotes.
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Steyning is an old town with a great deal of protected building stock at its centre and later housing spreading around it, and the two ask for very different roofing work. In the old core you are usually dealing with clay tile, natural slate and lead detailing on buildings where the covering has to be matched and where consent may govern what goes back on. On the newer housing around the edges it is concrete interlocking tile, with flat roofs over extensions and garages. We work on both, and across the surrounding villages, so the first job on any Steyning roof is establishing which of the two you have before anyone specifies anything.
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We prioritise timely project completion with minimal disruption to your home or business, ensuring you receive dependable roofing solutions when you need them.
Our fully accredited and qualified team adheres to the highest industry standards, ensuring safe, professional roofing installations and repairs.
We use premium materials to create long-lasting, weather-resistant roofs that protect your property for years.
We keep every system in house rather than fitting the one we happen to specialise in, so the advice is about your roof and not about our kit:
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A new roof starts underneath the covering. We strip back, check the battens, underlay and rafters, and put right whatever the old roof was hiding before anything new goes on. On historic Steyning property the timbers are the part that matters most, because they have carried a covering for a very long time and have usually been altered. Everything is laid to the manufacturer’s specification, or to whatever specification has been approved, so the warranty stands behind it.
Roofs get replaced when the covering has aged out rather than after one failure. On a historic building that decision is rarely purely technical, because the appearance is controlled and consent is the owner’s responsibility, so the sequence matters: establish what is permitted, then specify, then price. We will tell you honestly when a roof still has years left in it, which on old property is more often than people assume.
We trace a leak to where the water is getting in rather than to where it shows on the ceiling, which on an old and irregular roof can be a long way apart. On timber framed property the usual culprits are rigid details that have cracked as the frame moved, and junctions between an original roof and a later addition. Small repairs done properly and early cost far less than what follows if they are left.
Flat roofs around Steyning are almost entirely on later additions: rear extensions, garages, porches and dormers. We install and repair felt, single ply, EPDM and GRP fibreglass systems, set the falls so water reaches the outlets rather than standing, and detail the upstands properly. The hardest point is where a modern flat roof meets old fabric, because the two behave differently and the detail has to allow for that.
Handmade clay tile on the oldest property, slate and machine made tile on the Victorian and later housing. Where the existing material is sound we salvage and re-lay it, which on a historic roof is usually the point rather than a saving, because reclaimed material carries the appearance that any consent is protecting. Where new is needed we match size, profile and colour as closely as we can source, and weathered material never matches new exactly.
A green roof needs a deck that will carry the loading, the right falls, and a waterproofing layer designed to sit beneath a growing medium. Around Steyning the practical candidates are outbuildings, garages and modern extensions rather than historic fabric, and in a conservation area the visible appearance may still be a consideration. We survey before specifying anything and consent comes first.
Hot melt is a monolithic waterproofing system, laid hot so that it bonds completely to the deck with no seams or laps to fail. It earns its place where a leak would be expensive and disruptive to trace, and where the waterproofing sits beneath something else: a podium deck, a roof terrace, a car park or the build up of a green roof. Because the membrane bonds fully to the substrate, water cannot track between layers, so a defect stays where it happened rather than surfacing somewhere else entirely.
Around Steyning it is most relevant on larger flat areas and on any roof carrying a terrace or green roof above the waterproofing, rather than on historic fabric. It is one of our own core systems rather than something we subcontract.
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A great deal of Steyning is timber framed, some of it medieval, and timber framed buildings are not static. The frame takes up moisture and gives it back with the seasons, so the structure moves very slightly all the time. A roof detail that is rigid will crack; one that can accommodate a little movement will not. That single fact explains most of what goes wrong on the oldest property here, and it is why mortar bedded work that was fine on a Victorian house fails repeatedly on a building three hundred years older.
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Nationwide Roofing Southern has been roofing across the South East for over 50 years. We are members of the National Federation of Roofing Contractors and we are CHAS accredited, with full public liability and employer’s liability insurance in place on every job and a certificate available on request. Our system warranties cover labour, materials and damage. Surveys and quotes are free, come in writing, and carry no obligation.
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If a Steyning roof is leaking, or is old enough that nobody is quite sure what has been done to it over the years, the survey costs nothing. On historic property that means establishing what is actually there before anyone talks about specification, because on a listed building the specification may not be ours to choose. We put what we find in writing, with a price against it.
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Steyning sits at the foot of the South Downs, where roofs face more wind than weather. Westerly and south-westerly gales sweep down off the chalk uplands with little to break them, testing ridge tiles, slate clips and chimney pointing on hilltop properties. The village’s elevated edge also means harder frost than the coast, which lifts cracked pointing and flashing over winter. Salt-related corrosion is not a major factor this far inland, but tile-hung Sussex cottage walls trap moisture in shaded spots and need regular checking.
Yes. Steyning has a designated conservation area covering much of the historic town centre and surrounding lanes, with listed buildings throughout the older village. Conservation area rules and listed building consent are the homeowner’s responsibility and can restrict roof shape, slope, tile material and rooflight placement. We recommend checking with Horsham District Council’s planning team before any roof work begins, and we will work to whatever specification the council approves.
Steyning’s housing stock is a real mix. Older village properties along the town centre are timber-framed and tile-hung cottages with clay-tile or natural-slate pitched roofs. Victorian and Edwardian additions on the edges of the village usually run clay tile or slate too. Newer estates around Steyning use concrete interlocking tiles, with hot melt or EPDM on flat extensions and garages. Each comes with a different maintenance pattern.
After a strong westerly or south-westerly blow off the Downs, look for slipped, cracked or missing slates and tiles, dislodged ridge or hip tiles, debris in valley gutters, and damp patches on top-floor ceilings or chimney breasts. Loose lead flashing around chimneys and abutments is a common storm casualty on older Steyning properties. If you spot anything, get it covered or assessed before the next weather front arrives.
It is a real distinction and it changes the job. In a conservation area the controls are about what can be seen, so the covering material, the profile and anything visible such as rooflights matter, while ordinary repair in matching material is usually straightforward. Listing goes further and can cover the structure and the interior as well, which is why a listed roof often becomes a consent question before it is a roofing question. Either way the application is the owner’s responsibility rather than ours, and Horsham District Council’s planning team is the place to confirm what applies to your address before anyone specifies a job.
As a rule, the character has to survive. That usually means the covering material, the profile, the pitch, the ridge and verge details and anything visible such as rooflights are all controlled, while what sits beneath the covering is far more open. Repairs in matching material are generally straightforward; changing the appearance is not. Listed building consent is the owner’s responsibility rather than the roofer’s, and it is worth establishing what is permitted before getting quotes, because the specification shapes the price.
Yes, and yes, though not in a way you would ever see. Timber takes up moisture and releases it with the seasons, so an old frame is very slightly in motion all the time. The consequence for a roof is that rigid details crack. Mortar bedded work that performs perfectly well on a Victorian house will fail repeatedly on a building three hundred years older, not because it was done badly but because it cannot accommodate the movement. Details that flex are what last on these buildings.
It is more common than people expect and it tends to surface when the property is sold or when someone applies to do further work. It is not something we can resolve, since it sits between the owner and the council’s conservation team, but it does affect what we can sensibly quote for, because putting a roof back to an approved specification is a different job from repairing what is there. The useful first step is finding out what is actually on the building, which is what a survey establishes.
The existing roof decides most of it, and any consent decides the rest. Where the material on the building is sound we salvage and re-lay it, because reclaimed tile carries the weathering and irregularity that any approval is protecting and no new material reproduces. Where new is needed we look for the closest match on size, profile and colour, and we are straight about the fact that new never matches weathered exactly. What goes underneath is a separate question and can be entirely modern.
Find out what you are allowed to do before you find out what it costs, because on a listed or conservation area property the specification drives the price rather than the other way round. Speak to the conservation team at the council early. Get the roof surveyed so you know what is actually there and what condition the timbers are in. Then get quotes against a specification everyone agrees on. Done in that order it is straightforward. Done backwards it usually means pricing the job twice.
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At Nationwide Roofing Southern, we are members of the National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC) and we are CHAS accredited. Our accreditations reflect our commitment to high-quality service, strict safety standards, and lasting results. Whether it’s repairs, installations, or maintenance, you can trust our skilled team to deliver reliable roofing solutions that meet industry expectations.
