Drone survey in Launceston

Wind-driven rain from the south west is the defining condition here, with Bodmin Moor to the south west and Dartmoor further east, and the town standing high above the Kensey valley. Slate hanging on exposed elevations is common in Launceston for exactly that reason: it is a wall covering that sheds driven rain.

It works, and it also conceals. A hung slate elevation hides the wall behind it, so a fixing failure or a damp problem develops out of sight. What shows in a photograph is the geometry: a course sitting proud, a run that has dropped, a dark line where water is tracking down behind.

The medieval core with its Georgian frontages sits inside the old walls, with the castle motte at the summit and Victorian terraces down the slopes. Modern estates and industrial units occupy the flatter ground near the A30.

Working in the old town means tight streets, steep ground and buildings that abut each other, so take off positions are planned in advance. The flatter modern ground is straightforward by comparison.

Delabole slate is a Cornish material with a long life and its own characteristics. It is thicker and heavier than some slates, it weathers to a distinctive grey, and roofs covered in it are often older than they look.

Age shows in the fixings rather than in the slate. Nail sickness, where the fixings corrode while the slates remain sound, produces a slow slipping pattern across a slope that is unmistakable in a photograph taken from ridge height and easy to miss from the road.

Launceston is the gateway into Cornwall and jobs here frequently sit alongside work in west Devon. The A30 makes it accessible, and travel is inside the fixed price so an address on either side of the Tamar prices the same way.

The steam railway and the Kensey valley give open ground below the town, which is useful for approaches to the lower streets.

The castle motte at the summit and the Kensey valley below give Launceston an unusual vertical range for a small town, and properties at the two extremes have very different exposure. The valley is sheltered, the summit is not, and the streets between are somewhere in the middle.

That is the first thing worth establishing on a PL15 enquiry, because it changes what the survey is likely to find. A high, exposed elevation carries wind damage at the details, and a sheltered valley property carries damp and growth instead.

The steam railway and the open ground along the Kensey give sensible approaches from below, which is useful for the lower streets where there is no room to work from the road.