The short answer
A terrace is re-roofed one slope at a time, working from scaffold at the front and whatever access the back allows. The old covering comes off, the timbers are checked, new underlay and battens go down, then the slates or tiles and the lead at each party wall. Scaffold that stands on the public footway needs a licence for its place on the highway, arranged before work starts.
A terrace has no side access, a roofline shared with neighbours and a pavement at the front. Those three facts shape how the whole job is planned.
Getting onto the roof
On a detached house, scaffold stands on your own land. On a terrace, the front scaffold usually stands on the pavement, and the back may be reachable only through your house or an alley. How the crew gets materials up and waste down is worked out at the survey, with a look at the rear before a price is set.
Can the scaffold stand on the pavement?
Section 169 of the Highways Act 1980 bars anyone from erecting or retaining scaffolding that obstructs a highway unless a licence has been granted. Here the road manager is Somerset Council. Its licences go only to accredited contractors, which puts the application in the hands of whoever you appoint. Allow at least 10 working days for it, and a fee of £124.60 for each 28-day period applies (Somerset Council, April 2026).
That notice is one reason a terraced re-roof is booked ahead and does not start next week. If the pavement is narrow, the scaffold may also need a protected walkway so people can pass underneath, and the application should show it. Our guide to re-roof scaffolding covers the licence in more detail, and our roof replacement page covers whole-roof work.
The order of work on a terraced roof
The sequence is much the same on every terrace, and it helps to know it so you can follow the days.
What happens first, and what happens last?
Scaffold goes up and is inspected. Covering is stripped from one slope at a time, so the loft is never open to the weather on both sides together. Then the structure is examined: the rafters, which are the angled members carrying the roof covering, and the wall plate they sit on. Anything soft or split is dealt with before covering goes back.
Next come the underlay, a protective membrane, and new battens, the thin timber strips that hold slates or tiles. The covering follows, working up from the eaves, the bottom edge, to the ridge. Lead flashings and soakers, the small lead pieces that dress under each course at a junction, are fixed as the covering reaches them. Last come the ridge, any chimney work, gutters if they are in the job and the sweep-up. Waste goes into a skip or a covered chute so nothing scatters along the street, and you are told what the next day holds.
Party walls and shared parapets
The walls between terraced houses often rise above the roof as a parapet, which is a short upstand of masonry at the edge of a slope. Where two roofs meet at a parapet, a lead gutter or flashing runs along it, and a leak there can show up in the next house as easily as in yours.
Whose job is the parapet?
The side you re-roof is your side, and the lead is renewed up to the line of the party wall. Your neighbour's covering is left alone. If the coping, the cap along the top of the parapet, is loose or cracked on the shared wall, tell your neighbour, because water in the wall travels into both houses.
The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 comes into play only if the work touches the shared structure, for instance taking down a chimney on a party wall. GOV.UK lists that as notifiable work, with two months' notice before it begins. A party wall surveyor handles such questions, and building control does not.
Rules, regulations and cost drivers
Class C of the permitted development order normally covers putting the same kind of covering back on a house, so planning permission is not usually required. In a conservation area, or if the house is listed, check with Somerset Council's planning team before choosing a material.
Does a terraced re-roof need Building Regulations approval?
The Planning Portal treats a re-roof as needing no application while under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof is touched. Taking off a whole slope can pass the second limit, so ask your building control body. Somerset Building Control is on 0300 303 7790 and sets no percentage of its own.
On cost, the driver on a terrace is access. The typical UK range for a front scaffold on week-long hire is £550 to £750 (MyJobQuote, Oct 2026), while HomeBuilding (Sep 2025) gives approximately £1,000 for a three-bed semi, a figure that covers the permits. Whoever quotes, check that VAT and scaffold are included. Our quote arrives as one written total after we have looked at your roof and shown you pictures of it. Neighbours, sightlines to the street and the time of year also move the plan, so we talk those through at the survey.
Terrace access and neighbours
Should the neighbours be warned about a terraced re-roof?
It is good manners and good practice. The scaffold may sit across their frontage, noise carries along a terrace, and a formal party wall notice is needed only if the work touches the shared structure. A short note a week ahead saves awkward conversations on the first morning.
Is the roof left open overnight?
Not as a rule. The roof is stripped in stages, and each section is covered with underlay or sheeting before the crew leaves, so rain cannot reach the loft. Weather decides the pace, which is why we plan the days with you before scaffold goes up.
The full picture: Roof replacement and new roofs in Taunton · More short answers