Kestrel Roofing — Slate, Tile & Leadwork, Sheffield

A run of old tiled rooftops under a heavy sky, with a lone roofer standing on a distant parapet

Slate · Tile · Flat · Lead · Repairs

Good roofs
are quiet.

Slate, tile, lead and flat roofing for Sheffield — put on carefully, checked honestly, and then left alone to do fifty years of silent work. We operate from Kestrel Yard, a short climb from most of the roofs we look after.

Kestrel Yard, Sheffield 0114 496 0272 07700 900775

A position

On the quiet part of the house, and why it deserves better than a rushed quote.

The roof is the one part of a house built to be ignored. When it is right, it sheds a Pennine winter without comment; when it is wrong, it tells you at two in the morning, through the bedroom ceiling. Most of Sheffield still sits under coverings chosen a century ago — blue slate over the terraces of Crookes and Walkley, clay pantiles on the lower streets, stone flags on the farm buildings out towards the Peak. Those roofs were put on by hand, course by course, and that is still the only way to look after them.

Our work is to keep roofs doing their quiet job. That means repairing what can honestly be repaired, renewing what can’t, and never confusing the two — because the most profitable answer and the right answer are frequently different roofs. We survey from the ladder, not the pavement; we photograph what we find; and we put the reasoning in the quote, so you can see how we got from the stain on your ceiling to the number at the bottom of the page.

We are a small firm on purpose. The person who prices your roof is the person who stands on it.

A roofer in helmet and harness standing at a ridge line, an old chimney stack behind him — Fig. i — At the ridge. Survey first, scaffold second.

“A slate roof is a thousand small decisions — which slate, which hole, which nail — made one at a time, in the weather.”
A saying kept at the yard

The work

In five parts

Five trades in one, practised in the order the water meets them.

Each is quoted, photographed and stood behind in the same way. Numbered here as they are chalked on the board at the yard.

Slate.

Stripping and re-slating in Welsh blue and Westmorland green; re-hanging nail-fatigued roofs slate by slate; margin repairs where a margin repair is all that’s needed. We keep racks of reclaimed slate at the yard, sorted by length, thickness and camber, so a repaired terrace roof matches its neighbours in colour and weathering — not just in shape.

Where a roof is stripped, everything underneath is renewed properly: breathable membrane, treated batten set to a gauge that suits the slate, and copper or stainless fixings that will outlast the person driving them.

Also: fish-scale and patterned courses, turret work, and stone-flag repairs on older buildings.

Two roofers fixing courses of fish-scale slates high on a steep roof against a clear sky — Fig. ii — Patterned slating, mid-fix. Course by course.

Tile.

Plain clay tiles and pantiles, handmade or machine-made to match what is there; interlocking concrete where the house calls for it and the planners allow. Ridges and hips re-bedded in proper mortar where mortar belongs, and dry-fixed where the exposure argues for it — we will tell you which yours is, and why.

Verges, valleys and abutments are where tiled roofs actually fail, so that is where we spend the time: cut work done tight, undercloaks renewed, and no dabs of mastic pretending to be a repair.

Also: re-roofs kept weather-tight overnight, every night — Sheffield does not pause for scaffolding.

A roofer working across clay pantiles behind scaffold netting in low evening light — Fig. iii — Pantiles at the close of the day.

Flat roofs.

Garages, back offshots, dormer tops and bay roofs — the hard-working little roofs that get the least attention and the most weather. We strip back to the deck, re-lay falls that actually fall, and cover in the material that suits the roof rather than the one on special that month.

A flat roof done properly is a boring thing for twenty-five years. That is the whole point of it.

CoveringsThree-layer built-up felt · single-ply membrane · fibreglass (GRP)
FallsRe-cut firrings, so water leaves instead of pooling
EdgesWelted drips, proper upstands, lead cover flashings
DecksRotten boards replaced, never covered over

Leadwork.

Flashings, soakers, valleys, bay tops and chimney aprons in milled lead, bossed by hand and welded only where welding belongs. Lead is the oldest material on a Sheffield roof and still the best at what it does — provided it is fixed so it can move with the seasons instead of fighting them.

New work gets patination oil before we leave, so the first rain runs clean instead of streaking the brickwork below.

Codes4 and 5 milled lead, to suit the detail
ChimneysAprons, back gutters, stepped flashings, re-flaunching
JointsWelted and lapped for movement; welded where wanted
FixingsCopper clips and wedges — nothing that rusts

Repairs.

Slipped slates, storm losses, cracked flaunching, failed flashings, and the mystery drip that only appears when the wind is in the east. We find the fault before we price the fix — a leak rarely lives where the stain does — and we photograph everything, before and after, so you can see what you paid for without borrowing a ladder.

Honest triage, always: if a morning’s work will buy the roof another decade, that is what we will quote. If it won’t, we will show you exactly why not.

Storm damage looked at promptly, and made safe first, argued about second.

A craftsman kneeling among the weathered tile courses of an old roof, making repairs by hand — Fig. iv — Old covering, careful hands.

The yard

Where the trade lives

Kestrel Yard is a store, a bench, and a memory.

The yard is where the work is actually kept. Reclaimed slate racked by size and thickness, so a 1905 terrace gets a 1905 slate. Lead in rolls, batten in the dry, ridge tiles waiting for the right chimney. It is not a showroom and it never will be — but if you want to talk about your roof with the material in your hands, you are welcome to come by.

The bench carries the same tools the trade has used for a hundred years, because a century of roofs has not found better ones. Most of what we do is done with them, slowly, at height, in whatever Sheffield’s sky is doing that day.

Mornings are the best time to catch us at the yard. If the gate is shut, we are on a roof — leave a message and we will ring back at dinnertime.

A tradesman's worn boots and work trousers on a ladder in a warm, lamp-lit store — Fig. v — Up the racks, first thing.

An open canvas tool bag, dark and well used, its straps and clips catching the light — Fig. vi — The bag.

Tools of the trade

A short inventory

Slate ripper No. 1: Slides under a failed slate and draws its nails without disturbing the neighbours. The kindest tool on the bench.
Zax No. 2: The slater’s axe. Trims a slate to size and holes it for its nails — three strikes, when the hand knows how.
Bossing stick No. 3: Boxwood, mallet-driven. Persuades sheet lead around corners it had not planned to meet, without thinning it.
Lead dresser No. 4: Flattens and sets lead to the roof’s shape. Patient work; the lead remembers every hurried blow.
Chase wedge No. 5: Drives a flashing home into its mortar chase before pointing — the difference between fitted and wedged-in.
Tingle No. 6: The honest copper clip that holds a re-fixed slate. Visible if you know where to look; trustworthy either way.

Notes

Why people ring us

Four things we hold to.

No badges, no boasting — just the way the firm is run. Judge us on the roof.

One person, start to finish

The roofer who surveys your roof writes your quote and stands on your scaffold. Nothing is lost between a salesman’s promise and a stranger’s Tuesday.
Repair before replace

If a morning’s leadwork will fix it, we will not price you a new roof. Most of what we are shown does not need half of what it has been quoted elsewhere.
Photographs of everything

Before, during and after — from the roof, not the road. You should not need to borrow a ladder to know what you paid for.
Quotes in writing, in plain words

What we found, what we propose, what it costs, and how long it should last. If anything changes once we are up there, you hear about it the same day.

Where we work

From Kestrel Yard, Sheffield

Crookes
Walkley
Hillsborough
Broomhill
Nether Edge
Ecclesall
Woodseats
Heeley
Dore & Totley
Chapeltown
Stocksbridge
Dronfield
Oughtibridge
Hathersage
Hope Valley
Rotherham edges

Roughly: anywhere within half an hour of the yard, and a little further for a full re-roof. If you are outside the list, ring anyway — the answer is usually yes, and if it is no we will say so on the phone rather than waste your afternoon.

Contact

If the roof is on your mind, ring the yard.

Describe what you have seen — a stain, a slipped slate, a rattle when the wind gets up. We will tell you honestly whether it needs us, and how soon it needs anyone.

The yard — weekdays, half seven to five 0114 496 0272

Mobile — evenings, and when the weather turns 07700 900775

In person Kestrel Yard, Sheffield