In short
Yes, you stay in the house. Checkatrade's 2026 guide says a roof replacement takes up to a week depending on size, and the roof is never left open overnight: we strip and re-cover in sections and the house is watertight every evening. The scaffold goes up a few days before we start and comes down a few days after we finish, so allow around a fortnight of scaffold for a week of roofing.
This is a job for our Re-Roofing & New Roofs service.
How long the work takes
Checkatrade's roof replacement guide puts the job at up to a week, depending on the roof's size, and lists the things that stretch it: the size of the roof, its complexity, access, and the covering chosen. In practice a plain gable in Spalding is at the short end and a hipped roof with two chimneys, valleys and rooflights in Stamford is at the long end. Slate takes longer than interlocking tile because every slate is nailed twice and there are far more of them per square metre.
| Stage | What is happening | What you notice |
|---|---|---|
| Before we start | Scaffold erected, skip delivered, materials dropped | Scaffold on the house, a skip on the drive or road |
| Strip | Old tiles, battens and underlay off, one slope or section at a time | Noise, dust in the loft, chutes into the skip |
| Fix | New underlay and battens, rotten timber replaced, leadwork, ventilation | Quiet in the loft, then the tile deliveries |
| Cover | Tiles or slates laid, ridge and verge fixed, gutters back on | Cutting noise at the hips and valleys |
| After | Building Control inspection, site cleared, scaffold struck | A few more days of scaffold, then the certificate |
Living underneath it
- You do not need to move out. Each section we strip is underlaid and battened the same day, so the roof is weathertight every night.
- The loft is not usable. Cover anything stored up there with dust sheets or bring it down. We will say so before we start.
- Noise. Stripping is the loud part and happens first. Working from home is possible; a video call under a roof being stripped is not.
- Parking. The skip and the scaffold lorry need to get close. On a terrace in Boston or Lincoln with no drive, that means a permit and a day's notice to the neighbours, which we arrange.
- Weather. We do not strip more than we can cover, and we will not open a slope with a storm forecast off the Wash. A wet week can add days, and we would rather add them than leave you under felt.
The paperwork at the end
A full re-roof replaces more than the Planning Portal's thresholds of 25% of the building envelope and 50% of the roof, so it has to meet the Building Regulations, including the thermal insulation. Our re-roofs go through Building Control, are inspected, and you are issued a completion certificate. You also get our printed 25-year guarantee, signed by a director. Keep both: the next buyer's solicitor will ask for them.
The Planning Portal also says re-roofing that does not materially change the house's appearance does not usually need planning permission. Changing from slate to concrete tile on a listed house or in a conservation area is the exception, and we will tell you if you are in one.