Blidworth · NG21
Roof Repairs In Blidworth
Does the wind up on Blidworth hill keep finding the same loose ridge tile?
Ridge, verge and chimney repairs for the old ridge-top village and the New Blidworth colliery estates
Roof repairs in Blidworth start with where the house sits. The old village strings out along a ridge above the forest, and Main Street climbs something like 35 metres from its bottom end to the top of the hill. Not much stands between those roofs and the open fields around them. That doesn't make Blidworth wet. This corner of Nottinghamshire is one of the drier parts of England. It does make it windy, and wind is very good at finding the weak spots that age has already made: a ridge tile sitting on cracked mortar, a verge pointed forty years ago, a lead flashing lifted at one corner. Down on the New Blidworth estates the colliery houses are close to their hundredth birthday, and their roofs look it.
Book a free roof survey in Blidworth
Leave your details and we'll ring you back to arrange a survey. The visit is free, you're under no obligation once we've been, and a roof that doesn't need work gets called a roof that doesn't need work.
Fully insured
Free surveys in Blidworth
Itemised fixed prices
about 12 minutes from base
Who does the work
Hilltop roofs need a roofer who sees it through
Blidworth sits high, with an old village core up top and the colliery estates below it. Chris knows the area, being local, and he's been roofing ever since he was a teenager. That's over 20 years of working on houses like these.
There's no leaving a job half done in his business. The team keep going until the roof is watertight, long hours or not, and they work that way because they care about the customer as much as Chris does.
1,000+
Repairs carried out
10 years
Workmanship guarantee, on paper
Free
Surveys, quotes and honest bad news
No upselling
A patch that will hold gets recommended as a patch
A hilltop village that got a pit in 1926
Blidworth turns up in Domesday as Blideworde, a place of five households, and for most of the next eight centuries it stayed a small forest village on a hill. The parish church of St Mary of the Purification has a fifteenth-century tower, a nave rebuilt in 1739 and a Grade II* listing. A brick tower windmill went up on Main Street around 1816, was still working in the 1890s, lost its machinery during the First World War and still stands without a cap. The legend that Will Scarlet of Robin Hood's band lies in the churchyard is local folklore rather than record, but the old spire top that stands there as his memorial is real enough. The older streets around the church form Blidworth's conservation area.
Then came coal. Shaft sinking started in August 1923, the seam was reached in January 1926, and Blidworth Colliery worked until it closed in February 1989. The pit needed men, the men needed houses, and the estates north of Dale Lane that everyone calls New Blidworth grew up in the following decades. Those roofs are what we spend most of our time on here. Many still carry concrete tiles from a 1970s or 80s re-cover, laid on the original timbers, with ridges and verges bedded in mortar that has dried out and let go. Put that on a slope that takes the full force of a westerly and the first thing to move is always the top line.
The roof repairs Blidworth needs most
Storm Damage Repairs
When a named storm crosses north Notts, Blidworth tends to be where the ridge tiles come off first. We check the windward slope, the ridge line and the verges, make it watertight and put the cause in writing for your insurer.
See the service : storm damage repairs in Blidworth
Emergency Roof Repairs
A missing ridge tile on a hilltop house lets water straight into the loft the next time it rains. We sheet or temporarily fix the gap quickly, then come back and do the permanent repair properly.
See the service : emergency roof repairs in Blidworth
Fascias & Soffits
Exposed gable ends on the New Blidworth semis put a lot of strain on old timber bargeboards and fascias. Rot at the rafter ends shows up here earlier than it does on sheltered streets down in Mansfield.
See the service : fascias & soffits in BlidworthWe also do every other service on the menu in Blidworth, from fascias to full re-roofs.
What a roofer should allow for on Blidworth's high ground
Blidworth roofs don't get more rain than anyone else's. They get more wind across them, and that changes which repairs last.
Ridges fixed mechanically
Re-bedding a ridge in fresh mortar on an exposed hill only buys a few years. Where it suits the roof we fit a dry ridge system that clips and screws each tile down, so the next big westerly has nothing to crack.
Verges that stay put
Gable verges on the New Blidworth estates face open country. Mortar verges there crack and drop out in lumps. Dry verge caps, fitted properly to the tile profile, stop the wind getting under the end tiles.
The windward slope checked first
Wind damage on a ridge-top house is rarely spread evenly. We start on the slope that faces the prevailing weather, then work back, because that is where loose tiles and lifted flashings turn up.
Conservation area care
Inside the old village around Main Street and the church, repairs are matched to what is already on the roof. We use like-for-like materials so the work never needs an application it could have avoided.
Ladders and access planned for slopes
Several Blidworth streets fall away steeply, so the scaffold or tower on the low side needs more height than you'd expect. We price that at the survey, so nobody finds out on the day.
"Most of the Blidworth calls we get after a blow are about ridge tiles and verges, and it's usually the gable end facing open fields that went first."
From the Blidworth jobs Roof Repairs Mansfield has taken on
How a Blidworth roof repair runs
First contact
Phone, or use the form. Tell us roughly where the problem is and when it shows up. A rough description is all we need at this stage.
Survey, roof and loft
We walk round the house to see which elevations face open ground, check the ridge and verges from the ground and a ladder, then go into the loft to look for daylight at the top of the roof and damp on the gable walls.
The findings, with photos
We show you photos of what we found and explain what failed first and what follows if it's left. Then we say whether it's urgent.
A price that holds
One written figure, broken into lines. Access costs are listed separately, so you can tell how much of the price is scaffolding.
Doing the work
Loose ridges come off and go back on with a dry-fix system or fresh bedding, depending on the roof. Verges get dry caps or properly bedded tiles, any lifted lead is dressed back, and the windward slope is checked tile by tile before we leave.
Handover
You get photos of the finished repair, the debris goes away with us, and the 10 year written guarantee is yours before the van leaves Blidworth.
Ten years, in writing, before we leave the drive
Every roofer in Nottinghamshire will tell you their work is guaranteed. Ask to see the paper and the conversation often changes. Ours doesn't: work booked through Roof Repairs Mansfield carries a 10 year workmanship guarantee as a physical document, dated, signed and handed over with the completion photos - not a line in an email you'll never find again. Materials sit on top of that with their manufacturers' own cover, which differs product to product, so your paperwork names the cover that actually applies to your job.
A guarantee that long only makes commercial sense if repairs are done in a way that doesn't invite a return visit. Around Mansfield that means respecting what the housing actually is: coverings and fixings from the colliery era that fail as systems, not as single tiles, and mortar that has been quietly powdering since the pits shut. So failed material gets stripped back to something sound before new goes on, mortar gets matched to the age of the brick, and anything we can't make right on the day gets said out loud rather than covered over.
The blunt version: if water we were paid to stop finds its way back through our work inside 10 years, we return and put it right at our own cost. That promise has to be cheap to honour - and it is, because of how the work gets done the first time.
10 yrs
Written workmanship cover
1,000+
Repairs carried out
Insured
Public liability held
Named
Manufacturer cover per job
What to do in Blidworth
Blidworth sits right on the edge of the forest, so most of the good things to do here involve a pair of boots.
Blidworth Woods
A large Forestry England woodland on the southern side of the village, covering about 714 hectares of pine and broadleaf. There are three entrances with car parks, a café kiosk at the main one and plenty of waymarked trails for walking and cycling. Autumn is the best time to go.
Find it on Google Maps : Blidworth Woods
St Mary of the Purification
The Grade II* parish church at the top of the village, home to the Rocking Ceremony. Revived in 1922, it sees a local baby boy rocked in a cradle each year on the Sunday nearest Candlemas. The stone spire top in the churchyard is the reputed memorial to Will Scarlet.
Find it on Google Maps : St Mary of the Purification
The Druid Stone
A natural rock outcrop around 14 feet high, with a passage through its middle, sitting in farmland just outside the village. It's on private land, but you get a good view of it from the public footpath that heads off Ricket Lane towards Ravenshead. Who cut the hole, and why, nobody really knows.
Find it on Google Maps : The Druid StoneBlidworth on the map
about 12 minutes from our yard on Sandy Lane, NG18 2LT. Planning applications here go to Newark & Sherwood District Council.
Word from around the town
What homeowners across the Mansfield patch made of the work, in their own words.
"The back bedroom ceiling had a mark that came and went for two years and I'd stopped even noticing it. When Babet hit it turned into a proper leak overnight. They came out two days later, found a split flashing round the chimney - nowhere near where the stain was - and had it done in a morning. Showed me photos of the fault before and after. The quote and the invoice were the same number, which I'm told is rarer than it should be."
"Ours is one of the old colliery houses and the ridge had been shedding bits of mortar onto the path for months. I expected to be told we needed a new roof - the bloke next door had been quoted for exactly that by someone else. Instead they rebedded the ridge, refixed four tiles and told me the rest of the roof was fine for years yet. Charged a fraction of what I'd braced myself for."
"Water was streaming down the front of the house whenever it rained hard and I assumed the worst about the roof. Turned out the gutter had lost its fall and was tipping everything over the edge in one spot. They reset the brackets, sorted a joint, checked the gully at the bottom and were gone within a couple of hours. Also pointed out a slate that wants watching next year rather than fixing now - appreciated that."
"Bought a 1900s terrace near the town centre and the survey flagged the chimney. Two other firms quoted to take it down entirely. These lads went up, told me the stack itself was sound and it just needed repointing with the right mortar, new flaunching and a cap on the dead flue. Three years on the chimney breast is bone dry. Kept the chimney, saved about two grand."
"The extension roof had ponded for years and every couple of winters someone would patch it and it would come back. They were the first to explain the actual problem - no fall on the deck - and quoted to sort that rather than just laying another layer of felt over it. New rubber roof, water actually runs off it now. You get told the truth, which is worth paying for on its own."
Been a customer?
A short review is the most useful thing you can give a local firm - it tells the next household in Mansfield with a dripping ceiling who they can trust with it.
The rest of our patch
Every town and village below gets the same free survey and ten year guarantee, from Warsop down to Kirkby and from Shirebrook across to Ollerton.
Roof repair prices in Blidworth
Height is the thing that moves a Blidworth price. The village sits on a slope, so a house that looks two storeys from the street can be nearer three at the back, and the scaffold or tower has to match. Exposure matters too. Where we'd normally re-bed a ridge, up here a dry-fix system is often the better buy, and it costs a little more up front. Inside the conservation area, matching existing tiles or slate can take longer to source. Small repairs we can reach from a ladder stay small. We list access as its own line so you can see what it adds.
See the price guideRoof repair questions from Blidworth
Who handles planning for roof work in Blidworth, and is the village a conservation area?
Blidworth comes under Newark & Sherwood District Council, not Mansfield, even though the postcode is NG21. The old part of the village around Main Street and the church is a conservation area, first designated in 1977. Like-for-like repairs need no permission there or anywhere else. Changing the roof covering, adding rooflights on a front slope or altering the roof shape inside the conservation area is worth clearing with the council first. St Mary's church is Grade II* listed and the windmill is Grade II, so anything touching those needs listed building consent.
Why do the ridge tiles keep coming off my Blidworth house?
Usually because the mortar under them has dried out and lost its grip, and on high ground that shows up faster. Ridge tiles are held by the bedding mortar and their own weight. Once the mortar cracks, a strong gust can lift a tile clean off. Re-bedding in a better mix helps. On an exposed gable or a roof that has lost tiles more than once, a dry ridge system with mechanical fixings is usually the longer-lasting answer.
My house is on one of the New Blidworth estates. Is the roof due for replacement?
Not necessarily. Many of those houses were re-covered in concrete tiles in the 1970s or 80s, and concrete tiles can go on for years if the battens and felt under them are sound. What tends to fail first is the bedding on ridges and verges, and sometimes the felt at the eaves. We look in the loft as well as on the roof, and tell you whether repairs will do or whether the money is better spent on a re-roof.
Can you do a temporary repair after storm damage and come back for the full job?
Yes, and on a hilltop house that's often the sensible order. If tiles are off we cover the gap the same day where we can, so the loft stays dry. Then we survey the whole roof once the wind has dropped, because one missing tile is often a sign that others are loose. You get a written report with photographs, which most insurers ask for on a storm claim.
Lost a ridge tile to the last Blidworth blow?
Ring us before the next one finds the gap. We'll come up to Blidworth for free, check the ridge, verges and windward slope, and tell you in writing what needs doing now and what can wait for a calmer week.