Roofing in Great Yarmouth

Yarmouth roofs take a beating that inland Norfolk does not. Wind straight off the North Sea and salt in the air shortens the life of everything on the outside of a building, and it is why nail sickness and corroded fixings turn up here earlier than they do twenty miles west.

The seafront and the rows behind it are mostly older terraces with slate and pantile, and they need clipping and fixing specified for exposure rather than for a sheltered street. We work across NR30 and NR31 and we spec accordingly.

Two towns in one

Yarmouth's roofs come from two quite different periods. The old town grew up inside its medieval walls, packed into the Rows, around 145 narrow lanes running between the main streets. Many were damaged by bombing in the Second World War and cleared afterwards, so today the older buildings near the Market Place, North Quay and South Quay sit among post-war housing and flats. About two thirds of the town wall still stands, and houses built against or close to it often have awkward abutments where the roof meets old masonry.

The other Yarmouth is the resort. Yarmouth had been a resort since the 18th century, and the railway arrived in 1844. The seafront is lined with Victorian and later terraces, guest houses and hotels, and on the taller ones the gutters and flashings are high up and hard to see from the pavement.

What the salt does

Steel nails and clips rust faster near the sea, and once they go the slate or tile slides. Lead lasts well but its fixings and the mortar either side of it do not. We specify the clipping and fixing for that exposure, and we look closely at parapet gutters, which on tall seafront buildings can hold water against the wall for years before a stain shows inside.

Conservation areas in the borough

Great Yarmouth Borough Council looks after a number of conservation areas in the town, including Market Place, Rows and North Quay, Hall Quay and South Quay, King Street, St Georges and the Seafront, with more in Gorleston. Where a house falls inside one, changing the covering or the look of the front can need consent. We check at survey and tell you before anything is ordered.

Where to go next in Great Yarmouth

For whole roofs see new roofs in Great Yarmouth. For leaks and wind damage, roof repairs in Great Yarmouth, and for extensions and dormers, flat roofing in Great Yarmouth. If a lender has refused a mortgage because of foam in the loft, see spray foam removal in Great Yarmouth. After a storm, our note on what to photograph helps with the insurer.