Commercial roofing for businesses, landlords and industrial premises across Dereham and the surrounding area. We work on flat roofs, pitched roofs, cladding and guttering on all types of commercial buildings, from retail units to agricultural sheds.
A failing roof on a commercial property is not just a maintenance problem - it is a liability. Stock gets damaged, staff get wet, and if the building is tenanted, a landlord's obligations kick in fast. Whether you run a warehouse, a retail unit, an office block or a farm building in or around Dereham, keeping the roof in sound condition is one of the most important things you can do to protect the asset beneath it.
Commercial roofing is a different discipline from domestic work. The scale is larger, the access is more involved, and the systems used - built-up felt, EPDM rubber, single-ply membranes, profile metal sheeting - behave differently from the plain tiles and slates you find on houses. Getting the specification right matters, because a poorly chosen or poorly fitted system on a flat commercial roof will fail within a few years rather than a few decades.
Repairs are the most frequent commercial roofing job. Flat roofs develop ponding water when falls are insufficient or outlets block. Box gutters overflow and soak into the parapet. Felt blisters, cracks and splits at upstands. On pitched industrial roofs, profile steel or fibre cement sheets corrode at fixings, and lap seals break down. Each of these faults has a specific fix, and diagnosing the right one before touching the roof saves money.
A common problem on older Norfolk commercial buildings is that previous patch repairs have been applied over existing damage without addressing the root cause - a saturated deck or a blocked outlet. Layering felt over felt buys time, but it adds weight and traps moisture. A proper repair identifies whether the deck itself is compromised before any new surface material goes down.
For industrial and agricultural buildings around Dereham, corrugated steel roofing is widespread. The fixings rust before the sheets do, and once a fixing fails, the sheet lifts in wind and the hole underneath lets in water. Replacing fixings and sealing laps is a straightforward repair when caught early; leaving it leads to sheet damage that makes replacement unavoidable.
When a commercial flat roof is beyond economic repair, replacement gives the building a fresh start. The main options for commercial flat roofs in the UK are torch-on built-up felt systems, EPDM rubber membrane, and single-ply systems such as TPO or PVC. Each has its place depending on roof size, deck type, access restrictions and budget.
EPDM rubber is increasingly popular on smaller commercial flat roofs because it is lightweight, flexible in cold weather, and can be laid in large sheets with fewer seams - fewer seams means fewer potential leak points. Built-up felt (two or three layers of torch-on felt) remains a solid, well-understood choice for larger areas and is familiar to most commercial roofers. Single-ply membranes are common on new-build commercial construction and can be mechanically fixed, adhered or ballasted depending on the deck.
Flat roofs on commercial buildings in Norfolk typically cost between £70 and £130 per square metre to replace, depending on the system chosen, the condition of the existing deck and the complexity of the detailing around upstands, rooflights and outlets. That range reflects market rates and not a fixed quote - individual surveys may fall outside it.
Getting the falls right is critical. Building regulations require a minimum finished fall of 1:80 on a flat roof, though 1:40 is a better working target. If the existing structure does not drain properly, tapered insulation can create the correct fall without altering the structural frame - worth considering on any refurbishment project.
Roof cladding covers both the overhead skin of a building and, in many cases, the vertical elevations as well. On industrial and agricultural premises, steel profile cladding is the norm. It is practical, relatively low cost and, when correctly installed and maintained, will last for decades. Problems arise when cladding is not overlapped correctly at the laps, when fixings are the wrong type for the sheeting gauge, or when the foam filler strips at eaves and ridges are left out or deteriorate.
Re-cladding a commercial roof is a significant project but it is often more cost-effective than a prolonged series of patch repairs on ageing sheeting. Modern coated steel profiles have protective finishes that manufacturers rate at 25 to 40 years, though actual service life depends on the local environment and how well the building is maintained. Coastal and agricultural environments are harder on coatings than urban ones.
Overcladding - fixing new profile sheets over the existing roof without stripping it - is an option for some steel-framed buildings where the existing sheets are watertight enough to act as a substrate and the structure can carry the additional load. It avoids the cost and disruption of a full strip but requires a structural check before proceeding.
When specifying cladding for a commercial building, the choice of profile, colour and gauge should factor in planning requirements. Checking planning requirements before ordering materials avoids expensive late changes.
Guttering on a commercial building carries far higher volumes of water than a domestic system, and the consequences of failure are proportionally greater. Box gutters running internally through a roof structure are a particularly common source of serious water ingress on older industrial buildings - when they fail, water does not go over the edge of the building, it goes through the roof structure instead.
Cast iron half-round gutters are found on older commercial and civic buildings in towns like Dereham and in cities like Norwich. They last well when painted regularly, but cracked sections, failed joints and missing fixings are common on buildings where maintenance has been deferred. UPVC is a straightforward replacement for domestic-scale commercial gutters. For larger commercial runs, pressed steel or aluminium gutter systems are more appropriate - they are available in much larger section sizes and can span greater distances between brackets.
Gutters on commercial premises should be cleaned and inspected at least once a year, and ideally twice - once in late autumn after leaf fall and once in spring. Blocked outlets on flat-roofed commercial buildings are one of the single most common causes of water ingress, and it is a problem that costs very little to prevent and a great deal to fix after the fact.
Signs that a commercial gutter needs attention include:
On some commercial buildings, gutter replacement can be done from mobile access equipment without scaffolding, which keeps costs down. On larger or more complex buildings, a scaffold or MEWP (mobile elevated work platform) may be needed both for safety and to do the work properly.
Not all commercial roofing is flat. Many older buildings in the Dereham area - former agricultural buildings converted to commercial use, Victorian-era workshops and warehouses, and purpose-built retail units - have pitched roofs in clay or concrete tile, natural slate or artificial slate. The maintenance principles are similar to domestic work but the scale and access requirements are different.
A common problem on pitched commercial roofs is mortar failure at ridges and hips. Dry-fix ridge systems have largely replaced mortar on new domestic construction, but commercial buildings often still have bedded and pointed ridges that need re-bedding every 20 to 30 years. When ridge tiles start to rock or slip, water can get under them and, on a large commercial roof, a lot of water can enter before it is noticed.
Lead flashings at abutments, around chimney stacks and at valley junctions are another regular maintenance item. Lead has a long service life - well-installed lead flashings can last 50 to 60 years - but on older commercial buildings they are often past that point or have been repaired with short-life sealant rather than re-flashed properly. Sealant solutions are a temporary measure, not a permanent fix.
Commercial roofing work involves considerations that do not apply on domestic jobs. Working at height regulations require proper planning, risk assessment and method statements for commercial projects. Access needs to be managed so that the business below can continue to operate where possible, or so that the building can be secured if it cannot. Material deliveries to commercial sites, particularly in town centres like Dereham, need to be coordinated carefully.
For businesses that need to remain open during roofing work, sequencing is important - working in sections, protecting openings at the end of each day, and not leaving large areas of roof exposed overnight. For vacant commercial premises, security boarding may be needed if work has to stop partway through.
Before any significant commercial roofing work, a proper survey is essential. Walking a commercial roof without knowing what you are looking at - or standing on - can cause further damage and creates a safety risk. A survey should cover the surface condition, the state of all upstands and flashings, outlet and gutter condition, any visible deck movement or deflection, and the current insulation specification if the building's energy performance is relevant.
For landlords and property managers, a written condition report gives a baseline for planned maintenance budgets. Knowing that a flat roof has five or six years of serviceable life left is more useful than discovering it has failed in winter. Planned replacement is almost always cheaper than emergency repair followed by replacement.
If you have a commercial roof that needs a survey or repair, call us to arrange a visit. We can assess the situation, explain what we find and give you a clear picture of what the work involves before you commit to anything.
Before instructing any contractor for commercial roofing work, there are practical questions worth asking:
A contractor who cannot answer those questions clearly before the job starts is one to approach with caution. Commercial roofing projects are significant investments, and the quality of the installation determines how long the system actually performs.
No obligation · We usually respond within 2 hours
Storm damage, active leak, damaged ridge - we aim to be on-site within 24 hours.
A new roof protects your home for decades, but only if the materials and the build are right. We install new roofs on ho
A full roof replacement strips back your existing covering down to the structure and installs new materials suited to yo
Slipped tiles, leaking flashings, failed ridge mortar - roof repairs in Dereham carried out with the cause addressed, so
Flat roofs need the right system and the right installation to stay watertight for years. We work with felt and EPDM rub
