Agricultural building coatings in the Taunton area
Here in Somerset, around Taunton, farming means grass and livestock: dairy units, beef and sheep, cider orchards, and arable land where it drains well. The buildings are typical for the West Country: cubicle sheds, loose housing, parlour and dairy blocks, fodder and machinery stores. Then there’s the long tail of old asbestos-cement roofs, put up generations ago and still in daily use. All that damp air and those wet winters are brutal on roof surfaces. Moss gets a foothold fast, fibre cement turns porous, steel corrodes along its cut edges, and gutters quietly give up under the sheer volume of water they have to shift. Often, a coating system on a sound, properly prepared surface is the smartest way to stop that slide. We start every job with a survey to figure out if your building is a good candidate for coating.
Wet winters, housed stock and roofs under pressure
From the time stock comes in for winter housing until they go out to grass in spring, livestock buildings around Taunton are warm and humid inside, while outside they’re taking months of rain. Condensation on the underside of cold sheets pushes corrosion at the fixings and laps. On the weather side, saturated fibre cement gets hammered by frost and surface erosion. You end up with the usual: drips over stock, streaked cladding, and green roofs. An exterior coating seals the outer face, stops water getting in, and halts that surface breakdown. On asbestos cement, it also binds the surface. What it can’t do is fix a ventilation problem. If a wet shed is down to poor airflow, we’ll tell you straight, rather than sell you a coating that just treats the symptom.
Timing the work around turnout, silage and cider country
The realistic window for getting roof work done on livestock housing is when the buildings are empty, or nearly empty, between turnout and autumn housing. Around Taunton, that window has to compete with silage cuts, harvest on mixed farms, and the general pressure of a working yard. So, we fix the programme at the survey stage and keep it honest about weather contingency. In Somerset, that’s not just a formality. For parlours and dairies that have to keep running, we’ll plan the job in zones with the farm and stick to the unit’s hygiene and biosecurity rules. Buildings used for fruit or crop storage get the same treatment: the store cycle dictates the dates, not our diary.
Repair, coat or replace: the honest version
Coating isn’t always the right answer. When it isn’t, we’ll put the alternatives in writing:
- Asbestos-cement sheets that are cracked, holed, or too fragile to safely access and prepare.
- Steel roofing that’s corroded right through after years of condensation over housed stock.
- Buildings where the real problem is structural, drainage, or ventilation.
- Sheds that are likely to be replaced, extended, or converted before a coating could pay its way.
- Roofs where the cost of preparation and repair gets too close to the price of new sheets.
Many jobs end up being a mix: we replace the worst sheets and rooflights, repair gutters and fixings, then coat the sound majority. The survey report lays out each option so you can make a decision based on your own figures, not what we’d prefer to do.
Getting a survey booked in Somerset
We’re a survey-led exterior coating contractor, based in the South East but working across the UK. The Taunton area is well within our normal range. Our survey covers roof sheets, cladding, gutters, valleys, rooflights, and fixings. We also look at how the building is stocked, used, and what your plans are for it. You’ll get a written recommendation, which sometimes means we recommend walking away from coating altogether if that’s the honest truth. If one of your buildings is leaking, streaking, or you just need to make a decision about it, a survey is the inexpensive first step that stops you spending money on the wrong fix.
