5 miles from New Pitsligo
Roofers in New Aberdour
New Aberdour sits above the bay with the ground falling away to the shore, and there is very little between the village and the Moray Firth.
Exposure without shelter
The village runs along its main street on high ground above Aberdour Bay. The houses facing north get weather straight off the water, lifted by the rise of the ground before it reaches them, which is why the north-facing slopes and the seaward gables here wear out first while the back of the same house still looks sound. It is common for us to quote for one plane of a roof rather than the whole of it.
Wind-driven rain is the mechanism to understand. It does not fall on a roof, it is pushed at it horizontally, so it gets under laps that would shed ordinary rain without difficulty. That is why the side lap and the headlap on an exposed site here need to be greater than the minimum the slate manufacturer quotes, and why a roof laid to the standard gauge somewhere sheltered will leak when the same specification is used in New Aberdour.
Older cottages and later houses
The original village property is single-storey and one-and-a-half-storey cottage, thick-walled, with slate on sarking and stacks at the gables. Around and behind it there are later bungalows and newer builds on concrete tile. The cottages need traditional work — lime pointing on the stacks, reclaimed slate to match, lead where somebody has previously used mortar. The newer houses generally need the verge and ridge dealt with, because that is what the wind here finds first.
Small village, sensible travel
New Aberdour is five miles from us, and the practical effect is that we can add a small job here onto a day without charging for the journey. Where several properties in the village want work at the same time — which happens after a bad winter — it is worth co-ordinating, because we can bring plant and materials once rather than three times and that comes off the price.
- Storm damage on seaward-facing slopes, made safe and repaired
- Re-slating single planes rather than whole roofs where only one side has gone
- Stepped lead flashings replacing cracked mortar fillets
- Gutters and downpipes clearing and refixing after winter
Roof taking the weather off the bay?
Often it is one slope that has gone rather than the whole roof, and that is a much smaller bill. Let us come and look before you assume the worst.