Cowgate is a small, close-knit neighbourhood in the north-west of the city, just under three miles from the centre, with a row of local shops along Ponteland Road. Its name is thought to come from a gate that farmers used when driving cattle from the Nun's Moor area to the market in Newcastle. Much of the housing here belongs to the Cowgate estate, built in the 1920s.
That makes many local houses around a hundred years old. Some have had new roofs, fascias and windows; others are still relying on coverings that have been patched for decades. Newcastle Roofs looks after roofs right across Cowgate, from a single slipped tile to a complete new roof. We provide free, no-obligation quotes, there's no call-out charge, and we run a 24/7 emergency service when water is coming in.
Windmill country turned housing estate
Before the estate was built, this was farmland on the edge of the town. Photographs from the 1890s show cottages in the area and a windmill, and a pub called the Windmill appears in local photographs well into the twentieth century. The estate came in the 1920s, and the North West Radial Road features in city photographs from 1967.
Cowgate was part of Kenton ward until 2018, when ward boundaries changed and it moved into Blakelaw ward. It isn't in a conservation area, and the everyday houses on the estate are not listed, so like-for-like roof repairs and replacements don't usually need planning permission. Building regulations can apply to larger jobs, such as stripping and re-covering a whole roof, and we can explain what that involves for your house.
Is it time for a new roof?
A roof that has stood for a century has done well. The question for many Cowgate homeowners is whether to keep repairing or to start again. These are the signs that point towards a new roof:
- Tiles slipping in several places every winter, not just after one big storm.
- A ridge line that dips or sags when you look along it from the street.
- Daylight visible through the roof from inside the loft.
- Underlay that is torn, brittle or missing altogether. Some older roofs were built without any.
- Damp or rot in the battens and rafter feet at the eaves.
A new roof involves stripping the old covering, checking and repairing the timbers, fitting a breathable membrane and new battens, and laying new concrete or clay tiles. It's also a good moment to deal with the chimney, the lead and the roofline in one go, while the scaffolding is up.
Roofline: fascias, soffits and gutters
The boards along the bottom edge of your roof carry the gutters and close off the eaves. On older houses they were usually painted timber, and once the paint lapses, rot follows. You'll notice peeling paint, soft or split boards, and gutters that sag or drip at the joints.
Replacing fascias and soffits in uPVC removes the need for repainting. Timber is still an option if you want to keep a traditional look. We remove the old boards rather than cladding over them, so we can see what's underneath and fix any rot in the rafter ends. Ventilation is built into the soffits so the roof space can breathe.
New gutters and downpipes are fitted with the right fall so water runs to the outlets instead of sitting in the gutter. If you share a gutter run with next door, it pays to agree the work together so the joint between the two houses is sound.
Keeping a hundred-year-old house warm
Houses of this age were built long before anyone thought about insulation. Plenty of lofts in Cowgate have had some added over the years, but it's often thin, uneven or pushed aside by previous work.
Topping up loft insulation is one of the simplest ways to cut heat loss. The trick is to do it without blocking the airflow at the eaves, otherwise moist air from the house condenses on the cold underside of the roof and soaks into the timbers. Pipes and water tanks in the loft need insulating too, because the roof space gets colder once the floor below is well insulated.
If you want to use the loft for storage, we can lay raised loft boarding over the insulation and fit a loft ladder, so you can get up there safely.
If the roof fails in the middle of the night
Storms don't keep office hours. If tiles come off or water starts pouring through a ceiling, turn off the electrics in the affected area if water is near light fittings, move belongings out of the way and catch what you can in buckets. Stay off the roof and keep clear of the area beneath it.
Then get in touch with our 24/7 emergency team. The first job is to make the roof safe and stop the water, with tarpaulins or temporary repairs if needed. Once the weather allows, we come back to carry out a proper repair and give you a written quote.
Temporary covers are only meant to buy time. Leaving a tarpaulin in place for weeks lets wind work underneath it, so it is worth booking the permanent repair as soon as you can.
