Roofers Kippax

Kippax roofing, the short version

A former pit village on a limestone ridge east of Leeds, old cottages at the top and estate housing spilling down towards the Aire valley. Kippax sits towards the far edge of the round, but the van is in Leeds every week and the quote is for the work, not the mileage. The same short list of faults keeps coming back on Kippax roofs, and the useful part of a survey is knowing which of them is a morning's work and which means the covering has finally had its day.

What we take on for Kippax roofs

Roofers in Kippax: roofing and roof repairs across LS26

Kippax stands on a limestone ridge with the ground dropping away towards the Aire valley, and that position explains most of its roofing character. The old core round the High Street and St Mary's has magnesian limestone cottages, some still under stone slate and pantile, with long rows of ex-pit terraces behind in gritstone and brick. Round the outside there is a lot of later housing, 1960s and 70s estates and more recent developments, all on concrete interlocking tile. Very little of the village is sheltered, and the older it is, the heavier the covering tends to be.

On the stone slate roofs the trouble is almost never the stone. Oak pegs and old nails perish, slates slip out of course, and the roof timbers underneath have been carrying a very heavy covering for a long time, so sagging ridges and spread rafters are common. Pantiles on the cottages crack at the tail and lose their bedding at the verge. On the terraces, stacks pointed in hard cement are blowing the softer stone around the joints. The estate roofs have the ordinary modern faults: slipped tiles, cracked mortar hips, dry verge caps working loose and the odd valley that was never lined properly.

Exposure is the constant. Wind runs unbroken across the open fields from the Garforth and Allerton Bywater sides and hits the west and south-west gables hardest, and it is nearly always that gable that loses its verge or its edge tiles first. Sitting high also means the roofs here dry quicker than those in the valley bottom, so moss is less of a problem than lifting is. After a bad blow it is worth looking at the ridge line from the ground with binoculars, because a rocking ridge tile on an exposed run is the one that comes down on somebody's car.

From Bradford it is the M606 onto the M62 and east, off at the Garforth side and in through the village, so we are over regularly. On a heavy stone or slate roof we will get up and look properly rather than guessing from the pavement, and where the timbers are carrying more weight than they should we will tell you what that means before you decide anything. Free survey, written quote with photographs, stone slate and tiling matched to what is already on the street, £5m public liability insurance, ten-year written workmanship guarantee, emergency callouts seven days a week. Ring 0113 460 1042.

Kippax houses and the roofs they carry

Through terraces and back-to-backs

Through terraces and back-to-backs in Kippax are simple shapes with awkward details: back gutters tucked behind the stacks, parapet and valley runs sitting full of water, and slates hanging on nails that gave up a long time ago. We fix whatever is letting the water in rather than chase the stain across the ceiling.

Post-war and council-built housing

The 1950s and 1960s houses in Kippax have plain gabled or hipped roofs, which keeps a re-cover sensible on price. Fascia, soffit and gutter replacement on these streets is a steady part of most weeks.

Bungalows

On the dormer bungalows around Kippax it is the cheeks and the flat tops that want attention before anything else. They get re-covered in fibreglass or EPDM, with fresh lead where the dormer meets the tiles.

Recent developments

Newer houses in Kippax get roof problems too, just different ones: dry-verge caps lifting, ridges that were never bedded properly, and snagging the builder walked away from. We put the details right and pick it up from where the warranty ran out.

In Kippax that mostly means High Street, the lanes round St Mary's and the estates off Leeds Road, and the streets running off them.

What we are called out to most in LS26

• Felt turned brittle and split along the eaves
• Dormer cheeks and flat tops well past their life
• Long shallow gutter runs with almost no fall in them
• Stacks shared across the party wall
• Back and parapet gutters standing full of water
• Concrete tiles gone porous and holding damp

Most of that list starts cheap and turns expensive. Ring 0113 460 1042 or book the survey while it is still the cheap version.

Why Kippax property owners use Bradford Roofing

• Bradford firm, Kippax on the round — The yard is in Bradford, not a call centre in another county. Whoever climbs up to survey the roof in Kippax is one of the people who comes back to do the work.
• Insured, and guaranteed in writing — £5m public liability, £10m employer’s liability, and a ten-year written guarantee on the workmanship for all major work.
• Materials matched to Kippax roofs — Reclaimed Yorkshire stone slate, Welsh slate, clay and concrete tile matched to whatever came off, and lead used where lead belongs instead of tape and mastic.
• Storm work, seven days a week — When the wind strips a run of slates in Kippax it is the same number to ring. We make it safe first, photograph it for the insurer, then come back and repair it properly.
• Finance on the larger jobs — Re-roofs and chimney rebuilds can be spread on qualifying work. Ask when the written quote lands and we will set out what is available.

Around Kippax

Nearest to Kippax on our list are roofers in Garforth, Allerton Bywater (WF10), Swillington, Micklefield, Woodlesford and Methley (LS26). The rest of the patch sits on the area finder, all of Leeds and the Bradford district included.