What this site is
Kensington Roof Notes is a small set of articles about the roofs of west London — how they were built, how they age, and what the common repairs and renewals actually involve. It grew out of years of looking closely at these buildings and wanting somewhere to set down what we'd learned.
The roofs in this part of London reward attention. The same terrace can hide three different roof types, and the wrong assumption costs money.
What it covers
The guides stay close to the local building stock. A few examples:
- Mansards, parapets and lead on a Chelsea period terrace
- The hidden roofs behind Notting Hill's stucco fronts
- Victorian valley gutters, explained through Fulham's terraces
- Flat roofing on Hammersmith mansion blocks, and how EPDM, GRP and felt compare
- Re-roofing period properties in slate, and the order the work runs in
- Leadwork and flashing, and the first moves when a roof starts to leak
How it's written
Answer first, then the qualification. We try to be specific about materials and methods rather than gesturing at them, and we'd rather say less accurately than more loosely. Where a job depends on what's underneath, we say so instead of pretending there's one tidy answer.
Who it's for
About Kensington
You can read more about Kensington and the surrounding area on Wikipedia.