Roofers in Westgate-on-Sea

Roofers in Westgate-on-Sea for large Victorian slate roofs, flat roofs and repairs. Local Thanet firm, 20+ years' experience. Free survey and estimate.

Looking for roofing services in Westgate-on-Sea?

Westgate-on-Sea was built more or less from scratch as a Victorian seaside resort, and it still looks it. That gives the town a very particular roofing profile — large, handsome, ambitious Victorian villas with an awful lot of slate on them, plus the converted schools and former hotels that came with a purpose-built resort.

Big roofs are a different proposition to small ones. There's more of everything: more slate, more valleys, more lead, and more that can go wrong quietly at height where nobody sees it until it reaches a ceiling.

We're a few minutes along the coast in Broadstairs and we work in Westgate regularly.

Westgate roofs: big, old and exposed

The Victorian villas around Sea Road, St Mildred's Bay and the streets behind them are the defining building type here. Steep slate roofs, elaborate rooflines with turrets, gables and dormers, deep valleys between them, and a lot of lead detailing. When these were built they were built well — but the slate is now well over a century old, the nails holding it are older still, and nail fatigue is the thing that eventually finishes a slate roof. The slates themselves can be perfectly sound while the fixings quietly rust away behind them, which is why they start slipping in ones and twos before anything dramatic happens.

A good many of these houses have been converted into flats. That brings its own complication: a leak at roof level affects the top-floor flat, but the roof belongs to everyone, and getting a decision made can take longer than the repair. We're used to dealing with freeholders and management companies as well as individual owners.

Westgate is also properly exposed. It sits on the north-facing Thanet coast between Margate and Birchington with the bays open to the estuary, so the wind and salt do the same work here as they do in Margate — corroded fixings, lifted ridge tiles and driving rain at the verges.

Behind the seafront there's the usual Thanet mix of inter-war and post-war housing, with the flat-roofed garages and extensions that come with it.


Westgate roofs: big, old and exposed

The Victorian villas around Sea Road, St Mildred's Bay and the streets behind them are the defining building type here. Steep slate roofs, elaborate rooflines with turrets, gables and dormers, deep valleys between them, and a lot of lead detailing. When these were built they were built well — but the slate is now well over a century old, the nails holding it are older still, and nail fatigue is the thing that eventually finishes a slate roof. The slates themselves can be perfectly sound while the fixings quietly rust away behind them, which is why they start slipping in ones and twos before anything dramatic happens.

A good many of these houses have been converted into flats. That brings its own complication: a leak at roof level affects the top-floor flat, but the roof belongs to everyone, and getting a decision made can take longer than the repair. We're used to dealing with freeholders and management companies as well as individual owners.

Westgate is also properly exposed. It sits on the north-facing Thanet coast between Margate and Birchington with the bays open to the estuary, so the wind and salt do the same work here as they do in Margate — corroded fixings, lifted ridge tiles and driving rain at the verges.

Behind the seafront there's the usual Thanet mix of inter-war and post-war housing, with the flat-roofed garages and extensions that come with it.


What we do in Westgate-on-Sea


Nearby towns to Westgate-on-Sea

Featured project

Slate work next door in Margate

The closest published example of the kind of slate work Westgate properties need is the re-roof we completed on the Margate Mosque, a couple of miles along the coast.

We fitted Spanish slate throughout — a hard-wearing natural slate that stands up well to this coastline. On a large roof like that the setting out is everything: get the gauge or the nailing wrong and it shows in every course for the life of the roof. It's the same discipline a big Westgate villa needs.

If your roof is closer to the end than the middle, getting it properly inspected is usually the cheapest way to find out where you actually stand.

TESTIMONIALS

What our customers think

We're rated 5.0 out of 5 from over 100 Google reviews and were a Nextdoor Neighbourhood Faves winner in 2023 — by customers right across Thanet.

On a big slate roof the temptation is always to patch and hope. We'll tell you honestly whether that's the right call or whether you're throwing money at it.

GET IN TOUCH

Get a free roof survey in Westgate-on-Sea

Slipping slates, a leak in a converted flat, or a roof you suspect is on its last decade — we'll come and assess it properly and put an honest written estimate together.

Frampton Roofing Ltd
Call Colin on 07771 269291
Email info@framptonroofing.uk
Broadstairs, Kent

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions we get asked in Westgate-on-Sea

Here are a few frequently asked questions we get from customers in Westgate-on-Sea. If you have another question in mind, please do get in touch and let us know, we'll do our best to answer!

My slates look fine but they keep slipping. Why?

Because it's almost certainly the nails, not the slates. Natural slate can outlast its fixings by decades — the slate is still sound while the nails behind it quietly corrode. That's nail fatigue, and it's why slates start going in ones and twos across the whole roof rather than all in one spot. Once it starts, repairs become a running cost rather than a fix.

Our house is flats and the roof leaks. Who deals with it?

Usually the freeholder or management company, since the roof is normally communal rather than belonging to the top-floor flat. Check your lease. We quote for freeholders and management companies regularly and can provide written reports and photographs, which tends to be what's needed before a decision gets made.

Is it worth putting slate back, or is there a cheaper option?

Both are legitimate. Natural slate looks right on these villas and lasts the longest. Artificial slate costs less and is a sensible choice where budget matters or where the roof structure can't take the weight of natural slate. We'll price both and tell you honestly what the trade-off is rather than just quoting the dearer one.

How do I find out what condition a roof this tall is actually in?

Get it properly inspected first. On a three-storey Victorian villa, scaffolding just to have a look is a serious cost before you know whether there's even a problem. We'll get you photographs of every slope, valley and stack, and you keep the pictures.

Still have a question?

Roofing services in kent

Our Areas of Service

Along with Westgate-on-Sea, we work across many different areas of Kent. If your area isn't listed here, please drop us a line.

Broadstairs

Margate

Ramsgate

Thanet

Canterbury