Porthcawl takes its weather without an intermediary. The town sits on a point of the South Wales coast with open water in front of it, and when a storm comes up the Bristol Channel there is nothing between the sea and the seafront to slow it down. The photographs of waves breaking over the breakwater turn up in the national press most winters for a reason.
T & T Roofing South Wales repairs storm damage across Porthcawl, Nottage, Newton and Rest Bay. Two things shape the work here: the exposure, and a housing stock with an unusually high proportion of bungalows and single-storey property, which behave differently in wind from a two-storey house.
Below is what we are most often called to in Porthcawl, roughly in the order it comes up. If what has happened to your roof is not on the list, call anyway — it is not an exhaustive list, it is the common ground.
A bungalow has a large roof relative to the size of the building, and it is usually hipped — sloping on all four sides rather than gabled on two. That is often assumed to be inherently better in wind, and in one respect it is: there is no large flat gable wall for wind to push against.
The trade-off is that a hipped roof has four exposed edges instead of two, four hip lines running from ridge to eaves, and an eaves line running the whole way round the building. Wind gets under roofing material at edges, so a hipped roof presents more edge, not less.
Deep overhanging eaves, common on bungalows of the mid-century period, add to this. An overhang gives wind something to push up against from underneath, and uplift under a wide eaves overhang in a strong onshore wind is a genuine load on the roof structure and not only on the covering.
On a hipped roof the hip tiles running down each corner are bedded the same way as the ridge, and on older roofs that means mortar. They are just as exposed as the ridge and there are considerably more of them.
Mortar loses its bond to thermal movement over decades, and in a marine atmosphere it weathers faster still. A hip tile that has been sitting rather than fixed for years is exactly what a storm finds. We assess the full run of ridge and hip lines rather than only the section that visibly moved.
Salt does not stop at the seafront. In strong onshore winds spray is carried well inland, and the salt in it corrodes the nails, clips and flashing fixings that hold a roof covering in place. Properties in Nottage and Newton are not exempt because they are not on the front.
This is why a Porthcawl roof can lose material in a storm without anything having broken. The tiles or slates were sound; the metal holding them was not, and no inspection from the ground can see that.
Porthcawl's housing runs from Victorian and Edwardian seafront terraces through interwar and postwar bungalows and semis to modern development, so both slate and tile are common.
Whichever the covering, wind takes it from edges and works inwards. Where the surrounding roof and its fixings are sound, a targeted repair is the right work. Where the fixings are corroded across the slope, we will say so, because patching a roof in that condition means doing it again after the next storm.
Rain arriving close to horizontal off the sea gets into laps and joints that vertical rain never reaches. It is entirely normal for a Porthcawl roof to be watertight for years and then leak in one storm with nothing having come off at all.
We check the junctions as well as the covering: flashing at chimneys and abutments, the upstands where a flat roof meets a wall, dormer cheeks, and the eaves and verge details where driven rain is pushed upward against the fall.
Porthcawl has a lot of flat roofing: garages, extensions, sun rooms, dormers and commercial premises along the front. Flat roofs are the most exposed of all to uplift, because the entire surface sits in the suction zone and the covering is only mechanically held at its edges.
Wind gets under a trim or an upstand and peels inwards. We assess felt, EPDM and other coverings and are direct about whether a repair is sensible or whether the covering has reached the end of its life on an exposed site.
A stack on the coast takes wind, driven rain and salt on all four faces at the most exposed point of the building. Storms find loose pots, cracked flaunching, open mortar joints and flashing lifted where the stack passes through the roof.
Where the stack and the covering around it have both been affected, we assess them together, since repairing one and not the other seldom stops the water.
In an exposed town the risk of falling material is often the more urgent problem, particularly where roofs overlook pavements, parking or public areas along the front. Making the property safe comes first; the permanent repair follows when conditions allow.
There are days on this coast when nobody should be on a roof, and we will tell you when that is the case rather than take a chance with somebody's safety.
We inspect the damage and provide a written quotation for the roofing work required. On a coastal property, insurers sometimes distinguish between damage a storm caused and deterioration it exposed, and we describe accurately what we find.
Whether the work is covered is a matter for your policy and your insurer, and it is not something a roofer can promise you.
Not automatically. A hipped bungalow roof has no large gable wall, but it has four exposed edges instead of two, an eaves line running right round the building, and often deep overhangs that catch uplift from beneath.
They are the tiles running down each corner of a hipped roof, bedded the same way as the ridge. On older roofs that means mortar, and they are just as exposed as the ridge with rather more of them.
Yes. Strong onshore winds carry spray well inland, and it is the corrosion of nails, clips and flashing fixings that matters rather than the tiles themselves.
Driven rain arriving close to horizontal gets into laps and junctions that ordinary rain never reaches. That usually points to flashing or a detail rather than the covering.
Those usually fail at the junction with the house wall rather than in the glazing or panels. It is worth mentioning specifically when you call.
It depends how many properties are affected, and on this coast a named storm affects a great many at once. We will give you an honest answer about timing rather than one you would prefer to hear.
Yes, Porthcawl and the surrounding area.
Five guides written specifically for Porthcawl. We are publishing these in batches rather than all at once, so some are still being written — those are marked, rather than linked to a page that is not there.
We cover fifteen areas from our base in Neath. If yours is not listed, call and ask — the list is where we work most, not a boundary.
Tell us what the weather has done and what you can see from the ground. We will assess the roof, explain what needs repairing and give you a free, no-obligation quotation.
Tell us what the weather has done and what you can see from the ground. We will come back to you — usually the same day.
If water is coming in now, please call rather than email — 07766 547309.
