Re-roofing

All roofs have a finite life and sooner or later the cost of continually patching up an old roof will overtake that of complete re-roofing.  Moreover many older properties were constructed without proper underlay or insulation.  A new roof enables the installation of these energy saving items as well as installing roof space ventilation to meet modern standards.

Clay tiles have been made at Dreadnought works since 1805, and an extensive list of re-roofing projects for Hotels, Schools, Churches, Civic Buildings and many more projects is available.  Contact us for details.

Tile Matching

When re-roofing or extending an old roof, the key is to replace or match "like with like".  The traditional character of Dreadnought tiles make them an appropriate replacement for the many brands of manufacture that are no longer available.

The Motorcycle Museum pictured here was badly damaged in a fire in 2005 and half of it had to be re-roofed.  The original tiles were Rosemary, however "new" Rosemary tiles are not manufactured the same way and Dreadnought Tiles were selected as they provided a closer match to the original Rosemary tiles than the "new" Rosemary tiles. 

Single Camber

Single Camber is the original shape of Plain Clay Tiles.  Double Camber was introduced in the last 60 years, mainly on concrete tiles but also on some plain clay tiles. 

Dreadnought Tiles have been manufactured to the same single camber pattern for over 200 years.  Their unchanged weight and thickness makes them the natural choice for re-roofing situations where traditional plain clay tiles were used. This avoids the possibility of overloading the existing structure with a heavier modern product.   Here traditional single camber Country Brown Smoothfaced tiles were used on this re-roofing contract at Tolladine, Worcester.

Tile Matching Service

Contact us to make use of our roof tile matching service. Send us a sample of the plain clay tile you would like to match and we will provide you details and samples of a match.

On the St John the Evangelist Church in Dulwich pictured on the left, special hips were made by hand to match the originals. 

Quantity Estimation

As a rough guide - 60 Dreadnought clay roof tiles will cover one square meter.  Send us your drawing and we can give you an estimate of the quantities of tiles, eaves, gables, ridges, hips and valleys that you will need.

Building Regulations approved document A - Structure A 1/2 Clause 3 "Recovering of Roofs" provides guidance on reroofing. Click here to view the full document.