Church Roof Surveys
Church roofs are high, complicated and expensive to scaffold. We photograph the whole roof, the tower, the parapets and the leadwork without a single ladder going up.
Church roofs are high, complicated and expensive to scaffold. We photograph the whole roof, the tower, the parapets and the leadwork without a single ladder going up.
What it shows
- Slipped, missing and delaminating slates and tiles
- Condition of leadwork, rolls, laps and drips
- Blocked, split or ponding parapet gutters
- Cracked and eroded stonework, copings and finials
- Failed pointing to parapets and stacks
- Vegetation growth in gutters, parapets and stonework
- Condition of louvres, belfry openings and the tower or spire
- Rainwater goods, hoppers and downpipes
- Evidence of water tracking and staining
- Bird and pest ingress points
- Areas of previous repair and how they are holding up
Save time and money on a church roof — see the parapet gutters without a grant application.
Get in touchThe parapet gutter problem
Most water getting into a church is coming through a parapet gutter, and a parapet gutter is invisible from everywhere. Not from the ground, not from inside, not from the tower. Unless somebody is standing in it, nobody knows what is in it.
That is why churches so often end up dealing with a problem at the point where plaster is coming off a wall, rather than at the point where a lead lap opened up or a gutter silted with leaves and started backing up.
An aerial survey shows the gutters along their whole length, along with the leadwork, the slate, the parapets and the stonework junctions. For a building that cannot be scaffolded without a grant application, that is often the only way anybody sees them at all.
What you get
Save Time And Money On A Church Roof Survey
Church roofs are the worst possible case for traditional access. They are high, complicated, and the parapet gutters that cause most of the trouble are invisible from the ground, from inside and from the tower. Scaffolding one costs more than most PCCs can find without applying for a grant first.
A flight photographs all of it in a single visit, at a resolution you can enlarge and study, without a ladder touching the building.
A survey typically covers:
- Every roof plane, valley and parapet gutter
- Leadwork, rolls, laps and drips
- Tower, spire, louvres and belfry openings
- Stonework, copings, finials and junctions
- Rainwater goods, hoppers and downpipes
- Previous repairs and how they are holding
Evidence For A Faculty, A Grant Or The Quinquennial File
Most of what a church needs from a roof survey is dated photographic evidence — something to put in front of the inspecting architect, to support a faculty application, to show a grant funder what the problem actually is, or to sit in the quinquennial file so the next inspection has something to compare against.
That is precisely what this produces, and it produces it for the parts of the building that have always been guessed at.
It is not a substitute for the architect's inspection and we would not suggest it is. It is the high-level half of that inspection, finally visible.
Who asks for it
- Parochial church councils and church architects
- Quinquennial inspecting architects
- Specialist contractors pricing leadwork or stonework
What clients get from working with us
Timescales
Most sites are surveyed within two working days of instruction, with reports sent 24 hours after surveys.
Deliverables
Orthomosaics, 3D models, point clouds, elevation sets and edited media, supplied in the formats your team already works in.
Coverage
Operating throughout the East and West Midlands, Yorkshire and East Anglia.
Compliance
Fully authorised and insured, with a site-specific risk assessment issued before every attendance.
Continuity
One point of contact from enquiry to delivery. Data is processed in-house and is never passed to a third-party bureau.
Certainty
A fixed written quotation against an agreed deliverable. No day rates and no variation after the event.
Questions
Is this a quinquennial inspection?
No. A quinquennial is carried out by the inspecting architect and covers far more than the roof. What we provide is high-level photographic evidence they can use, of the parts they cannot otherwise reach.
Will it help with a faculty application or a grant bid?
It gives you dated, clear photographic evidence of the condition, which is usually what these need alongside the professional advice. Check with your architect or DAC what else they want.
Can you fly over a listed building?
The listing does not restrict flying. What matters is the airspace, the surroundings and the people below, all of which we assess before we attend.
Do you need to go on the roof?
No. Everything is captured from the air at a standoff, so nobody works at height and nothing needs scaffolding, a tower or a MEWP.
What happens if the weather is wrong on the day?
We move it. Wind and rain make for unsafe flying and soft, unusable pictures, and a survey you cannot rely on is worse than no survey. We watch the forecast and give you as much notice as we can.
Tell us about the site and we will take it from there
A site postcode and a sentence about what you need is enough to get started.
Get in touch
Provide a site postcode or boundary and a short description of the required output. We will confirm the deliverables, level of detail.
- A site postcode is sufficient to price most instructions
- Written quotation, in most cases the same working day
- Deliverables and formats agreed at instruction
info@midlandsaerialsurveys.co.uk
Stamford, Lincolnshire