Roofers in Tooting
Slate over the Edwardian terraces, plain tile on the Totterdown Fields cottages, concrete tile on the interwar semis: SW17 roofs repeat, and so do their faults.
- Postcodes
- SW17
- Borough
- Wandsworth
- From our yard
- 4.1 mi
Roofs in SW17
One roof, many streets.
Tooting filled in fast once the trams arrived: long terraces of about 1900 to 1914, two storeys with a back addition, front slope in Welsh slate on a clay ridge. Between Trinity Road and the common, the Heaver Estate houses are late Victorian and larger, red brick with gabled fronts. Off Church Lane, the Totterdown Fields cottages are plain clay tile with hipped ends. Towards Furzedown and Mitcham Lane the stock turns to interwar semis in clay or concrete tile. Under most of the Edwardian slate there is nothing but batten.
One slipped slate is a symptom, not an event. The slate outlasts the nails. Iron fixings rust through, the slate lets go, and its neighbours are the same age and the same iron. Two or three tingles on a slope is a repair. A dozen, with rust staining on the back of every slate you lift, means the slope has run out of nail life. With open battens above the ceiling, the next south-westerly puts water through.
Access sets the shape of the job on the grid between Garratt Lane and Mitcham Road. Those terraces have no side passage to the rear, so scaffold either comes through the hallway or goes over a neighbour's fence, and anything standing at the front needs a footway licence from Wandsworth with a suspended bay. In the Heaver Estate and Totterdown Fields conservation areas, like-for-like repair is straightforward; a new covering or a front dormer is not.
Reviews from SW17
What people here actually said.
Pitched Roofing Repair9.33/10
“Excellent tradesman - great team, very knowledgeable and great communication. Also have resources for more than only roofing so very helpful!”
SW17 · 2025-02-18 Pitched Roofing Repair9.5/10
“Harrington property Services was a delight to work with their quality of workmanship was very high and their pricing was competitive. I will be using them again for another job in the near future and highly recommend them to anyone considering appointing them”
SW17 · 2024-11-07
What we do in Tooting
The five these roofs ask for.
Questions
What people ask
in Tooting
01Slates keep sliding off my Edwardian terrace in Tooting. Does that mean a whole new roof?
Not always, but count them. Two or three over several years is a repair, held with lead tingles. Several every winter, on a slope that has never been stripped, is nail sickness, and patching only walks the problem along the roof. Lift a few slates and look at the nail heads and the battens. Sound Welsh slate is worth re-laying, so a strip often puts most of the original covering back.
02Our house is in the Heaver Estate conservation area. Can we use a cheaper covering on the front slope?
On the front slope, not in practice. The conservation area protects what is seen from the street, so a re-cover is expected to match the original natural slate and clay ridge. The rear roof is usually less sensitive, but Wandsworth still has a view on what goes back. Like-for-like repair to an unlisted house needs no consent.
03The tiles on our 1930s semi in Furzedown look sound, so why does it leak in high wind?
The tiles outlive the roof underneath them. Concrete tiles on the interwar semis around Furzedown and Mitcham Lane are often still sound while the battens have gone soft and whatever felt was laid has torn into strips. Wind lifts a tile, rain gets past, and nothing below carries it back out. The fix is a strip and re-lay on new battens and membrane, usually with the same tiles going back on.
04There is no side access to our Tooting terrace. How does scaffold reach the back roof?
Two ways. It is carried through the house and built in the garden, which means dust sheets and a clear route for a morning, or it goes over the boundary with your neighbour's agreement. Anything standing on the pavement at the front needs a footway licence from Wandsworth and, on most SW17 streets, a suspended parking bay. Both are booked ahead, so the paperwork sets the start date.
05Do you cover Tooting?
Yes. Tooting is about 4.1 miles from our yard in Camberwell, and SW17 is inside the area we quote in.
06How quickly can you get to Tooting?
For an active leak we aim for the same day — the call-out line runs 24 hours. For a survey we are usually with you within a few days.
07Do you charge to come and look?
No. The survey and the written quote are free, and there is no call-out fee for pricing a job anywhere in Tooting.
08Can I see work you have done in Tooting?
Yes — the Checkatrade reviews on this page were left by customers in SW17, and every review on the platform carries the postcode district of the job.
Free quote
Get a price for your roof.
We will come out, photograph what we find and give you a fixed price in writing. No call-out fee and no obligation.