Sholden · 16.5 road miles north-east
Roofers in Sholden
Sholden sits near the Upper Deal conservation area, has a Grade II house added to the national list in 2023 and Flood Zone 3 land near its middle on the Environment Agency map. Each of those is checked before a roof is priced, and then the survey begins. You are told what was found, and why.
- Next-door conservation area
- Deal - Upper Deal, near the middle of Sholden, as Dover District Council names it
- Newly listed
- The Old Cottage, Grade II, first listed on 17 April 2023
- New covering approval
- Dover District Council wants it first, even if this is just like for like
- Highway scaffolding
- Kent County Council licence, £52 per week for 2026 to 2027; we arrange it with our scaffolder
Three Sholden roof problems, each with its own mark
What we found
Cracked hip tile, the tiles beside it tight
What it fairly needs
Replace the one tile and re-bed the hip where the mortar has failed.
What we found
Overflowing gutter staining the wall below
What it fairly needs
Find the fault at a joint or outlet, then price it.
What we found
Lean-to flat roof ponding, with a split seam
What it fairly needs
A new covering, laid on a deck with a proper fall to the outlet.
The fair ledger
An Upper Deal boundary, a 2023 listing and Flood Zone 3
Sholden lies close to the Upper Deal conservation area, its Grade II entries include two houses, one added in 2023, and Flood Zone 3 land lies near the middle of the village on the Environment Agency's map. Three stamped entries follow.
Entry 01Neighbouring boundary
Sholden and the Upper Deal conservation area: a line next door
The Deal - Upper Deal conservation area sits near the middle of Sholden, so a house on the village edge may stand on either side of its line.
Checking a house against a neighbour's boundary
A conservation area is named for a place, yet its line pays no attention to village names. Dover District Council lists the Deal - Upper Deal area, which sits near the middle of Sholden, so some Sholden roofs may be inside it and others just outside. Dover District Council counts 57 conservation areas across its district, with the boundary of each shown in its heritage section. We look an address up there before a price is written, and we note the date of the check on the survey sheet.
Article 4 is the one to rule out: a direction can withdraw rights that ordinary re-roofing would otherwise have, and Dover District Council is the one that can say. Only the council can confirm whether one applies, so it is asked and its answer goes into the quote. Dover says its directions cover the parts of a house facing a road, waterway or public open space, which is why the slope facing the street is noted first, and photographed from the road for the file.
Inside or out, the survey begins the same way, with our roof inspection of ridge, hips, valleys, flashings and gutters. For dormers and any other change to the roof's shape, our planning permission guide is the place to read.
Is my Sholden house inside the Upper Deal conservation area?
Only Dover District Council's published boundary can answer that for one address. The area sits near the middle of Sholden, so a house near it is worth looking up, and a house further out may well sit clear. We check it before pricing and put the result beside the quote, whichever way it falls. If the line crosses your plot, we ask which side the roof is on.
Boundary or no boundary, three marks
Cracked hip tile near a boundary line
Ask, then replace
Loose verge bedding well outside it
Re-bed the verge
Battens gone soft beneath a slope
Strip and re-batten
Entry 02Recent listing
A listing from 2023: The Old Cottage and the roof question
The Old Cottage was first listed on 17 April 2023, so a house's status can change after it is bought, and the list is searched on the day of the survey.
Listings are added over time
Historic England lists The Old Cottage at Grade II (list entry 1485541, first listed on 17 April 2023) and The Dower House at Grade II (list entry 1264295, first listed on 24 March 1987). The gap between those dates matters. The National Heritage List grows, and a house that was unlisted when it was bought can be added later, so a search from some years ago is no guide to what the list says today.
That is why we search by address on the day, for every Sholden quote. Listing leaves a house's roof-work permissions as they were. Consent under listed building law is an extra step, needed once the work would touch what makes the building special. Dover District Council is the body asked, and its answer is written into the quote before a date is offered.
A listed roof is photographed and described course by course first, and repairs then follow that record. Where nobody has searched the list for years, the sheet says so, and the consent step takes its place in the order of work ahead of the scaffold, so no one is booked before the answer is in. Our lead work page shows how flashings and valleys are dressed, since metalwork is where older roofs call for the closest look.
Myth: A house that was not listed when you bought it never will be.
Fact: The list is added to over time; The Old Cottage was first listed in 2023, so status is searched afresh at every survey.
2023
the year The Old Cottage was first listed, at Grade II
list entry 1485541
What the zone leaves alone
The mapped centre point of Sholden is outside Flood Zone 3, but zone 3 land lies close by on the Environment Agency's map. That zone is about flood risk to land, and it sets no rule for how a covering goes on or a gutter is fixed. Questions about floors, drives and the ground around a house are for Dover District Council.
The water that lands on a roof is a separate matter, and it has one way out: gutter, outlet and downpipe. When a joint drops, a bracket gives way or an outlet clogs, the water spills over the edge and runs down the wall, which leaves a stain that the survey traces back to the part that failed.
So the gutter run is walked from end to end. Brackets are checked for movement, joints for drips, outlets for blockage, and the fall for any sag that holds water. At the foot of each downpipe the survey also checks that the water has somewhere to go and that the pipe is not cracked at its collar. Where the fascia behind a run has softened, the board is replaced with the gutter. Our gutters, soffits and fascias page sets out the whole job, and a run that is sound is left alone, with the money kept for the part that has failed.
Entry 03Flood zone and gutters
Flood Zone 3 and your gutters: where the roof's own water goes
Flood Zone 3 land sits near the middle of Sholden on the Environment Agency's map, and that says nothing about roofs, but a roof's own rainwater still has to leave by sound gutters.
What sets the price
- How much of the run has failed
- Whether the fascia behind is soft
- Height of the eaves from the ground
- Scaffold needed or a tower
One written total price
Where a gutter run lets go
- Bracket holding the run
- Joint that has dropped
- Outlet to the downpipe
A gutter run is only as good as its weakest joint, so each one is checked.
Does your Sholden roof sit near the line, the list or the flood map?
Post the address together with a photo. We look up the boundary and the listing, give each part its verdict, then give you a single written price once the answers are in.
Out to Sholden
Folkestone to Sholden is 16.5 road miles by road to the north-east, roughly 28 minutes at the wheel. The 2021 Census counted 2,269 usual residents in the parish, so the survey, the council check and the scaffold booking fit around neighbours who live close by.
Hip tiles, gutters and listing questions from Sholden
Plain answers for a village by Upper Deal with a newly listed cottage.
Can a few cracked hip tiles on a Sholden roof be replaced one at a time?
Yes, when the tiles around them are tight and the bedding underneath is sound. The cracked ones are lifted out and matching tiles go in, and the hip is re-bedded where the mortar has failed. If the whole hip line has loosened, the survey says so, and a rebuild of that run is the fairer answer. A few tiles never justify a full re-cover, and the quote will say which of these applies. Old tiles that come off are shown to you.
Who files the application for scaffolding on a Sholden road?
We arrange it with our scaffolder. Scaffolding licences in Kent are issued by Kent County Council, and its guidance says the scaffolding company should make the application on your behalf. Kent County Council charges £52 per week for 2026 to 2027, for a permit covering 7 calendar days, and renewals are lodged 5 working days before the cover ends, so longer jobs are scheduled around that from the first day. The permit is arranged before scaffolding arrives. Dates are shared with neighbours.
Does the Upper Deal conservation area reach Sholden roofs?
The Deal - Upper Deal conservation area sits near the middle of Sholden, so it may reach some Sholden roofs and miss others. Dover District Council's published boundary answers that for one address, and an Article 4 direction can remove further permitted rights, so check with the council. We do the lookup before pricing, and what the council says is written into the quote. You hold the answer before the scaffold is booked. A house plainly outside the boundary goes straight to the survey. We keep a copy of its reply.
How steep should a Sholden gutter fall towards its outlet?
Brett Martin advises a fall of 1 mm for every 600 mm towards the outlet, a gentle slope that the eye barely notices. A run that sags between brackets holds water instead, and the joint beneath takes the strain. On the survey brackets, joints and outlets are all checked, and the failed stretch is replaced, leaving a run that drains cleanly in place and a sound run untouched. Any bracket torn loose from the fascia is refixed into sound timber. You see each fault before it is mended.
Does a Sholden re-roof need approval from Dover's building control?
Yes, in the sense that Dover District Council lists "replacement of roof coverings on pitched and flat roofs even if this is just like for like" among work that needs approval, and its own building control team deals with Sholden. The Planning Portal's less than 25 per cent and 50 per cent test is the national guide, while Dover's rule is the stricter one, so the council is asked before any date is given. Our price follows that reply. Roof lights are on Dover's list too.
What is the way to tell if a Sholden house is listed, as The Old Cottage is?
Search the National Heritage List by address. The Old Cottage was first listed on 17 April 2023 and The Dower House on 24 March 1987, both at Grade II, so the list has grown even within Sholden. We run the search on the day of the survey. A listed house needs listed building consent for work that touches its character, and Dover District Council can answer for your address. If a listing turns up, the quote waits for that answer. We keep the list entry with the file.
Tell us how your Sholden roof is behaving
A photograph of the slope, or of the damp patch below it, gets us started. You'll get one written total price.