Roofing & Exterior
Roofs, gutters, walls, drives and everything that keeps British weather on the outside of your home.
This hub covers the outside of the house: roof lifespan and replacement costs, spotting the difference between settling cracks and structural cracks, fixing a leaking gutter, and building or repairing a deck to UK standards. There's also a strong period-property focus, with guides to restoring original wood windows, repairing lath and lime plaster, testing for lead paint before you strip old skirting or sashes, and cleaning render to shift algae and red staining.
Nims Casa's exterior and structural guides use real UK material and contractor pricing for 2026, so you can judge a quote before you accept one, and printable checklists for roof and structural inspections make DIY assessment straightforward. Drainage gets particular attention too, from French drains to downspout placement, because poor drainage causes more UK subsidence and damp than any other single factor.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
How to Clean Render and External Walls: Algae, Red Stains and Grime
Green film and pink-orange blooms on modern render are algae, and a pressure washer will ruin the wall trying to shift them. Here is the soft-wash method the professionals use, with UK costs.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
Drought Subsidence: Why Cracks Appear in Your Walls During Heatwaves
England's flash drought is shrinking clay soils across the South East, and cracks are opening in walls that were fine in June. Here's how to tell cosmetic from structural — and what to do before you call anyone.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
How Long Does a Roof Last? UK Lifespans by Covering, Age and House Type
A roof is five separate lifespans stacked on top of each other. Knowing which one is expiring is the difference between a £300 repair and a £14,000 quote.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
How Much Does Roof Replacement Cost in the UK? 2026 Price Guide
Three roofers can quote £6,400, £9,200 and £14,800 for the same semi and all three can be honest. Here is what each line on a UK re-roof actually costs in 2026.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
How Much Does Roof Repair Cost? UK Prices for 2026
A slipped tile and a failed valley look identical from the pavement, yet they are £1,300 apart. Here are the real 2026 UK numbers, and the line between a homeowner job and a roofer's job.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
How to Waterproof a Basement or Cellar: The UK Step-by-Step Guide (With Real Costs)
Water in a cellar is a drainage problem that has been ignored long enough to reach the brickwork. Here is the order to fix it in, what each stage really costs, and the point where DIY stops.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
Roofing Mistakes Homeowners Make on UK Homes and How to Avoid Them
Most UK roofs do not fail on their own. They get finished off by a pressure washer, a tub of mastic, or three winters of nobody looking up. Here is what actually goes wrong, ranked by cost.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
Asphalt Shingles vs Metal Roof: UK Costs, Lifespans and Honest Pros and Cons
Two very different roofs, two very different bills. Here is what bitumen shingles and metal actually cost per square metre in the UK, how long each really lasts, and where quotes go wrong.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
Roof Inspection Checklist for UK Homes (Printable)
Most UK roofs don't fail dramatically. They fail at the underlay, a lead flashing or a ridge bedded in mortar in 1987 — and nearly all of it is visible months before it gets expensive.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
Disaster-Proof Home Improvements: What Works in UK Homes and What It Costs
Most British homeowners spend resilience money on the wrong risk. Here is what actually reduces damage in UK housing stock, what it costs in 2026, and how to spot an opportunistic quote.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
Why Are My Floors Sagging? Causes, Fixes and Real UK Repair Costs
A dipping floor is rarely the floor's fault. Here is how to read the sag, what each pattern usually means, and what the repair genuinely costs in the UK once labour and materials are separated.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
Slab Foundation vs Crawl Space: The UK Guide to Solid and Suspended Ground Floors
Two American terms describing two very British floors. Here is what a solid slab and a ventilated underfloor void really cost, how they behave in a damp climate, and which jobs you must hand over.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
Signs of Foundation Problems in UK Homes (And Which Ones Actually Matter)
A hairline crack above a door and a 6mm diagonal crack through brickwork are not the same problem, and the gap between them is about £20,000. Here is how surveyors tell them apart.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
Settling Cracks vs Structural Cracks: How to Tell the Difference, and What Each Costs in the UK
A hairline crack in the hall and a 6mm stepped split above the bay window look the same from the sofa. One costs £12 to fix. The other can cost £20,000 — and only one of them is insurable.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
Home Structural Inspection Checklist for UK Houses (Printable)
Structural problems give you months of warning before they cost real money. Here is the twice-yearly walk-round we use on British housing stock, with times, costs and the point where you stop and pick up the phone.
Roofing & Exterior · 7 min read
How to Repair Deck Boards: A UK Step-by-Step Guide (Tools, Costs and the DIY Limit)
One soft board rarely means the deck is finished. Here is the joiner's sequence for replacing failed boards, with UK costs, timings, and the point where the job stops being yours.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
How to Clean a Deck: The UK Step-by-Step for Timber and Composite
Algae, black spotting and a lance held too close ruin more British decks than the weather does. Here is the method, the kit, the real costs and the UK rules on runoff, hosepipes and outdoor electrics.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
How to Build a Deck: The UK Step-by-Step Guide to Ground-Level Decking
A ground-level garden deck is genuinely within reach of a careful amateur. What separates one that lasts twenty years from one that goes soft in five all happens before the first board goes down.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
Restore vs Replace Historic Windows: UK Costs, Consents and an Honest Verdict
Original sashes are usually repairable long after a modern window would be scrap. Here is the honest UK cost comparison, the consents that decide it, and where replacement genuinely earns its keep.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
Common Problems in 100 Year Old Houses: A UK Diagnosis and Cost Guide
A house built in the 1920s fails in a handful of predictable ways. Here is how to tell which fault you actually have, what the repair should cost, and where the money gets wasted.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
How Much Does Foundation Repair Cost in the UK? 2026 Price Guide
Most UK homeowners who panic about a cracked wall spend under £6,000 and never see a concrete mixer. Here is what each repair route genuinely costs in 2026, and who pays.
Roofing & Exterior · 5 min read
How Much Does Crawl Space Encapsulation Cost? 2026 UK Price Guide
Three UK damp firms will price the same underfloor void at £1,600, £4,800 and £11,000 — because they are quoting three different jobs. Here is what each tier actually costs in 2026.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
Signs Your Gutters Need Replacing (And When a Repair Will Do)
Most overflowing gutters are simply blocked. But there is a point where cleaning stops working and you are paying to prop up a system that has already failed. Here is how to tell the difference.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
How to Install a French Drain: A UK Step-by-Step (Including Old Houses)
Most boggy British gardens are not a groundwater problem at all. Here is how to tell, how to build the trench properly, and what changes when the house predates damp-proof courses.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
How to Improve Garden Drainage: Diagnose It First, Then Dig
A waterlogged garden is almost never one problem. Work out whether you are dealing with compaction, a downpipe, a low spot or a genuine water table before you spend a penny on pipework.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
How to Fix a Leaking Gutter (UK Parts, Prices and When to Stop)
Most gutter leaks are a £6 part and forty minutes of work. The catch is that the part sits four metres up, and nine out of ten failed repairs fail because of what happened before the sealant came out.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
Lime Mortar vs Portland Cement: Costs, Performance and Which Your UK Walls Need
One of these mortars protects a solid brick wall. The other quietly destroys it over about seven winters. Here is how to tell which your house needs, and what each really costs.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
How Far Should Downspouts Extend From a House? A UK Downpipe Guide
Most damp patches we get called to start outside, at knee height, where a downpipe dumps its water a hand's width from the brickwork. Here are the distances that matter, and what fixing it costs.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
How Much Does It Cost to Renovate an Old House? UK Prices for 2026
Two identical Victorian terraces on the same street can be £30,000 apart on the same brief. Here is what each element really costs in 2026, with three worked budgets.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
Old House Renovation Checklist: The Order to Work in a UK Period Home (Printable)
A pre-1940s house fails differently to a modern one, and the order you work in matters more than the budget. Here is the sequence, the timings and the 2026 costs we use on period stock.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
Lead Paint Safety in Old Houses: What to Test, What to Strip, What to Leave Alone
Lead paint sitting quietly under four coats of emulsion harms nobody. The trouble starts the moment someone reaches for a sander or a hot-air gun — and that is where most UK homeowners get it wrong.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
How to Restore Original Wood Windows (UK Sash & Casement Guide, With Real Costs)
Original Victorian and Georgian joinery is usually slow-grown pine that outlasts anything sold today. Here is the honest method, the real per-window cost, and the point at which you hand it to a joiner.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
How to Repair Old Plaster Walls (Lath, Lime and Where DIY Has to Stop)
A wall that sounds hollow is not automatically a wall that needs hacking off. How to sound, cut back, refix and re-plaster a period wall properly, and the point at which you should hand it over.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
Historic Home Renovation Mistakes That Wreck UK Period Homes
Most of the damage we get called in to undo in Victorian and Edwardian houses wasn't caused by neglect. It was caused by someone spending money on the wrong thing, confidently.
Roofing & Exterior · 5 min read
Seamless vs Sectional Gutters: UK Costs, Pros, Cons and the Honest Verdict
A dripping joint sends most people shopping for seamless guttering. Sometimes that is the right answer and sometimes it is £1,800 spent on the wrong fault entirely.
Roofing & Exterior · 5 min read
How Much Does Gutter Installation Cost in the UK? 2026 Price Guide
Replacing guttering is one of the few roofline jobs where the quotes you get can differ by a factor of five. Here is what the work actually costs, and how to tell a fair price from a fiction.
Roofing & Exterior · 6 min read
Gutter Guards vs Gutter Screens: Costs, Performance and What UK Roofs Actually Need
Both are sold as gutter protection and both promise the end of autumn ladder work. The difference is hole size, and hole size decides what gets in, how often you climb, and whether you spend £60 or £1,400.
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