Roof renovation in Nieuwegein by an all-round builder

A roof is not a separate trade to me, it is the top part of the house I am already working on. I am Dido Siderov, an all-round builder from Nieuwegein, and I pick up roof work that ties into the rest of the job. A roof renovation where the tiles come off and the roof boarding and the insulation go along with it. A roof extension or a dormer that turns a loft into a room. The roof of an extension I am building anyway. What I am not is a roofing firm with a crew, a call-out service and its own scaffolder. I say that difference straight away, because it decides whether you are in the right place with me.

What I do and do not do on a roof

I work on my own. That means roof work with me is building work: timber, insulation, tiles, junctions and the finish underneath. It also means there are roof jobs I keep away from, because they ask for plant or a specialism I do not have.

What I take on

A roof renovation on a pitched tiled roof, from the tiles coming off to everything closed again. Replacing loose or cracked tiles and putting a roof surface that has shifted back in order. Repairing roof boarding and dealing with wood rot. Insulating at the moment the structure lies open anyway. Fitting or replacing a dormer, including the carpentry, the cladding and the finish on the inside. A roof extension as building work. And the roof of an extension or annexe, as part of that job.

What I do not take on

• Torching bitumen on a big flat roof. That is a roofer’s trade.
• Thatch and slate. Different trade, different man.
• Asbestos corrugated sheets or old roofing felt. That belongs with a certified asbestos removal firm.
• Acute emergency work on a leak. I stand on the job myself and have no out-of-hours service.
• Roofs of apartment blocks and industrial units with several crews on them.
• Solar panels and the wiring that goes with them.

If I say no, you hear why and usually also who does do it. That costs me a job and it saves you a quote you have nothing to do with.

Roof renovation: tiles, roof boarding and insulation

A roof renovation is hardly ever just a roof. As soon as the tiles are off, the whole top of the house lies open, and that is the only moment you can get at it cheaply. So I always ask the same question before I make a quote: what do you want to do with this loft in a few years. If it stays storage, the answer is different from when a bedroom has to go in.

Roof tiles

On a re-tiling job the tiles come off, I check the battens and counter battens and I lay the roof surface again. Sometimes the existing tiles can go back and it is purely about the timber underneath. More often it is mixed: part of the tiles are cracked or weathered and have to be topped up.

That topping up is the point where it goes wrong if you do not look at it up front. An old tile is not always still available, and a tile that is only slightly different stands out when it sits among the rest on one surface. So I first look at whether matching is realistic, and if it is not, the honest answer is that the whole surface gets renewed. That is dearer, and you hear it from me before the ladder goes against the gutter, not after.

Roof boarding and wood rot

The roof boarding is the part you only really see once the tiles are gone. From the loft you can judge damp patches and discolouring, but the spots by the gutter and around a chimney stay an estimate. So my quote says what I can see, and separately what happens if the timber turns out worse.

I deal with wood rot by taking the affected part out back to sound timber and building it up again. Hiding it behind new boarding is not an option. The damp that caused it is still there, and then you are standing in the same spot in a few years.

Insulation

Insulating can be done from the outside, with the tiles off, or from the inside between and under the rafters. From the outside is the better job structurally: you keep your loft height and the layer runs through without breaks. From the inside the work is smaller and the roof does not have to come open, but you give up height and the junctions at the gutter and the ridge take more care to get airtight.

Which of the two it becomes hangs mostly on the rest of your plans. If it is going to be a proper room, this sits straight onto a full renovation of the upper floor, including walls, floor and wiring. Then the insulation is not a separate item but the first step.

Roof extension and dormer

A roof extension and a dormer do the same thing: turn a loft into usable space. They differ in how heavy the work is.

A dormer is an extension in the roof surface. You win headroom and light in one place, and the work is manageable. With a roof extension you change the shape of the roof itself, and then you are nearly always at the structure. A structural engineer comes into it, and usually a permit too. I supply the structural backing, the application runs in the owner’s name.

What I do in both cases is keep the whole run on one side. The opening in the roof, the frame, the cheeks, the junction with the roof surface, the insulation, and after that the inside: plastering, window sill and trim. If there is custom carpentry under the sloped ceiling in the plans as well, that is the same job and not a second party turning up after me.

Facade cladding on a dormer

The cheeks and fascia boards of a dormer are one of the few places where cladding really changes the look of a house. A dormer sits high, catches all the weather and is the first thing you see from the street. If there is weathered sheet material on it, that pulls your whole front elevation down.

I pick this up as part of the roof work or as a separate job. Timber gives a warmer look and asks for maintenance. Composite facade cladding costs more to buy and asks little afterwards, which on a spot you can never get at easily weighs heavier than on a shed in the garden. Which way you want to go decides the choice, and what else is possible is on the page about facade cladding.

The roof of an extension

If I build an extension or an annexe, the roof of it belongs to that job. That is usually a flat roof on a manageable span, with the junction to the existing wall as the point it comes down to. That junction is the place where it leaks later if it is not right, and it is exactly the seam where you do not want two builders pointing at each other. More about how a build like that runs with me is on extensions and annexes.

Where I work

Nieuwegein is my base, and the area right around it is where I am on site quickest. On top of that I work in the rest of the region, including Utrecht. For roof work I always take a look at the access, because it drives the planning more than it does on inside work. If the van can stand nearby and a ladder or a small scaffold fits, it is a normal job. If plant has to come that blocks the street, we discuss that before it goes in the quote.

Straight about this page

Roof work is a recent addition to what I offer. There is no roof project in my portfolio at the moment, and I am not putting a photo with it that does not belong there. What there is: over twenty years in construction, and the choice to take on only what I can also finish on my own.

If you are after a firm that turns up with a crew tomorrow and replaces your whole roof, I am not it. If you are after someone who takes the roof along in the work underneath, who says what he does not do, and who is the same man who finishes your loft afterwards, then it fits. Send a few photos of your roof and of the loft from the inside through the contact page, and I will tell you up front whether this work is for me.