Storm damage roof inspection in Bideford

Bideford sits on both banks of the Torridge, with the old town rising very steeply from the quay on the east side and Northam and Appledore stretching towards the estuary mouth. Atlantic weather arrives here from the west with salt riding on the wind, and unlike a town sheltered deeper up an estuary, Bideford sits close enough to the mouth that it takes a genuine share of the open-water exposure rather than a softened version of it.

The steep terraced streets rising from the quay mean scaffold access is difficult here even on an ordinary day, which is precisely why slate hanging on exposed elevations became common in the first place: it copes with driving rain that a plain rendered wall would let straight through, and it needs checking for lifted or cracked units after a storm the same way a roof does.

Northam Burrows, the open dune and grazing land towards the estuary mouth, gives a sense of just how little stands between Bideford and open Atlantic weather once the town is left behind, and properties on that side of the estuary see a noticeably more open exposure than the sheltered quay itself.

The Georgian merchant houses on Bridgeland Street and the tightly packed cottages up the hill behind them carry natural slate and slate hanging in combination, and storm damage tends to show first on the hung-slate walls before it becomes obvious on the roof itself, since a wall faces the weather square on in a way a pitched roof does not. Victorian terraces further along, and the post-war and modern housing spreading east and towards Northam, carry clay pantile and concrete tile respectively, with more conventional ridge and verge failure.

Appledore's shipyard end of the estuary sees its own mix of older cottage stock and working buildings, each taking the same Atlantic exposure with a slightly different set of coverings to show it on.

The same steep, narrow streets that make slate hanging necessary here also make a scaffold lorry or even a straightforward ladder a genuine logistics problem, particularly in the wet, unsettled ground conditions that typically follow a storm rather than precede one.

A flown survey solves that access problem directly, covering both the hung-slate walls and the roof above them in the same visit, and produces a dated record that ties the damage to the storm rather than to however long it takes for someone to eventually get equipment up the hill.

Bideford Long Bridge crosses the Torridge close to the old quay, connecting the steep east-bank town to Northam and Appledore's shipyard on the estuary mouth side, all within the same EX39 postcode. Great Torrington, further up the valley away from the open water, takes a distinctly calmer version of the same Atlantic weather.