Every Cornerstone roofing project carries a 10-year insurance-backed warranty, alongside the relevant material guarantee from the manufacturer.
Reliable, high-quality work before, during, and after the scaffold comes down.
Bolney is a rural village in the Low Weald, west of Burgess Hill, set in open farmland and vineyard country near the old London to Brighton road. Its houses are spread out rather than tightly packed, a mix of older cottages and later infill, many on open plots that take the full weather coming across the surrounding countryside. That exposure is hard on a roof, and it is the kind of work Cornerstone has handled across Bolney for 35+ years. Every job carries our 10-year insurance-backed warranty.
Cornerstone covers the full range of roofing across Bolney: pitched and flat roofs, roof repairs, fascias and soffits, guttering, leadwork and chimney work. The village stock runs from older cottages under clay tile, with the odd stone roof on the oldest buildings, through to more recent houses under concrete tile, so a lot of local work is matched repair and re-cover. If you would like a roof looked at, our site visits are free and come without obligation.
Almost every roof in and around Bolney is pitched. The older cottages tend to carry clay tile or natural slate, with heavier stone slabs on a few of the oldest buildings, while the newer houses run concrete interlocking tile. On open plots these roofs take the full force of the weather, so wind-lifted and slipped tiles are common. Our pitched roof installers spec each roof around its covering and its exposure, and where original slate or handmade tile can be reclaimed we re-lay it on new battens with breathable underlay and fresh lead flashings.
Shingles are an overlapping, single-thickness covering laid in courses across a sound deck. They depend on the underlay, the deck condition, and a ventilated batten cavity behind the visible covering. Get any of those wrong and the lifespan drops sharply.
Natural slate is a generational roof covering. Properly laid on fresh battens, with a breathable underlay and sound lead flashings, a slate roof will outlast most owners. We cover slate repairs, slate replacement, and full re-slate work across Mid Sussex.
Stone is a heavy traditional roof covering. The slates are graded by size and laid in diminishing courses (largest at the eaves, smallest at the ridge), which loads the supporting timbers significantly more than a tiled equivalent. Any stone-roofed enquiry calls for a structural survey of the deck and timbers before a quote.
Tile is the most common pitched covering across Sussex. Clay tile (handmade or machine-made) and concrete tile (interlocking or profile) both feature widely on the local stock. Tile lifespan is generally longer than the underlay beneath it, which means a roof can still look sound from the street while the underlay has reached the end of its life. We cover tile repairs, re-bedding of ridges, tile replacement, and full re-covers across Mid Sussex.
Flat roofing in Bolney sits out in the open. The village is spread across Low Weald farmland and vineyard country with very little tree cover, so the extension, garage and outbuilding roofs here take full sun from morning to evening for months at a stretch. Rain gets the blame for most flat roof failures, but on an exposed plot the sun does at least as much of the damage.
A dark flat roof in July runs a great deal hotter than the air above it. The covering expands through the day and contracts again overnight, every day, and it does that against edges and upstands that are fixed and cannot move with it. Add the ultraviolet, which hardens a membrane and takes the flexibility out of it, and the failures turn up where the movement is greatest rather than where the water sits.
Signs the sun has been working on a Bolney flat roof:
Where the covering has hardened but the deck below is still sound, a flat roof repair at the failed detail is the right piece of work. Our flat roofing team works in EPDM, GRP, built-up felt, single-ply and liquid systems, and takes the exposure of the plot into account when specifying the surface and the fixings, not just the span.
Modern reinforced multi-layer torch-on felt is a long way from the single-layer felt that gave the material its older reputation. Properly specified, with metal trims and drips at every edge, it gives a watertight finish well into 20-year territory. Felt remains the most economical like-for-like replacement for an existing felt flat roof.
EPDM is a synthetic rubber membrane sold by the roll and laid as a single sheet across most domestic flat roofs. One sheet means no overlaps and no welded joints to fail later. Lifespan comfortably reaches 25 years and beyond on a properly prepared deck.
Green roofs turn a flat surface into planting, additional thermal insulation, and drainage attenuation. They need a sound waterproof base underneath (typically EPDM or a bituminous build-up), proper drainage outlets, and a structural assessment of the supporting joists or deck because the loaded weight is significantly higher than a standard flat finish.
GRP (glass-reinforced plastic, often called fibreglass roofing) is laid wet over a sound deck and cures into a single seamless skin. It’s strong enough to be walked on and available in a range of finishes. Lifespan typically reaches 25 years and beyond on a properly prepared substrate.
Liquid coatings give a continuous, joint-free skin across complex roof details, including parapet cappings, roof-light or vent penetrations, and abutments where a flat meets a pitched tile. They can also be applied as a recoat over an existing failing membrane that’s otherwise structurally sound, which extends the roof’s life without a full strip-out. Most modern liquid systems are vapour-permeable and UV-stable.
Single-ply membrane comes as factory-made synthetic sheets, fixed mechanically, fully bonded, or held in place by ballast, with joints heat-welded on site. Long sheet widths reduce the number of seams on larger flat areas. Lifespan is comparable to EPDM when properly installed.
The roof repairs we are called to most in Bolney are slipped or cracked tiles, slate slip, worn lead flashings around chimneys, and ridge or hip tiles loosened by wind on the more open plots. We survey honestly before quoting, and where the timbers and battens are sound, a targeted roof repair is almost always better value than a re-cover. An active leak gets a temporary cover first to protect the inside, then a scheduled return for the proper fix, all under our 10-year insurance-backed warranty.
Alongside main roof work we take care of leadwork (chimney flashings, valleys and parapet details), guttering renewal, fascia and soffit replacement, and chimney repointing or rebuilds. On exposed rural property the guttering and lead take a particular beating, so they are often the first things to need attention. While the scaffold is up we will point out anything else worth doing, because handling it in one visit costs less than returning later.
Exposed rural property, like much of Bolney, needs a roofer who will match what is there and build for the weather it takes. Cornerstone brings 35+ years of experience across Mid Sussex, a UK Roofing Awards 2025 Finalist project, and a 10-year insurance-backed warranty on every roof. We survey honestly and quote you straight.
Bolney is a rural village in the Low Weald, west of Burgess Hill, set in open farmland and vineyard country beside the old London to Brighton road. Its housing is spread out and varied, from older cottages and a Norman village church to more recent building on the edges, so roofs here come in a wide mix of tiles, slates and exposures. The open countryside leaves many of them more exposed to wind and weather than roofs in the surrounding towns.
