Drone survey in Ivybridge

Ivybridge is overwhelmingly a late twentieth century town. There are large estates from the 1970s through to the 1990s, with a small historic core around the old bridge and mill, and continuing new development.

Roofs built in the same decade under the same practice reach the same stage at the same time. Concrete interlocking tile in good order over ridge and verge details that are at the end of their life is the standard finding, and it repeats street by street. That makes a survey here unusually predictive: what is true of one house is often true of its neighbours.

The moor drops steeply to the South Hams here and the Erme valley funnels wind through the town, so gusting is stronger than the general exposure of the area would suggest. Rainfall is high because of the moor edge position.

Mechanically fixed ridge and verge details matter here more than in sheltered towns. Older mortar-bedded ridges on the earlier estates are the ones that move first, and the difference between a mortar bedded ridge and a mechanically fixed one is visible in a close photograph.

The northern streets sit noticeably higher than the southern ones because of the gradient off the moor. Two properties of the same age at different ends of the town are in measurably different conditions, and the higher ones show it first.

The viaduct and the Two Moors Way are useful landmarks in the imagery, and the moorland edge provides open ground for approaches on the northern side.

Estates of this era came with garages, and garages came with flat roofs. Those are now decades old, they are invisible from inside the house, and they are frequently the actual source of a damp problem that is being blamed on the main roof.

An overhead pass covers both in the same flight, which usually settles the question quickly and often for less than the cost of investigating one of them on a ladder.

This is a commuter town and it empties and fills at predictable times. A PL21 estate street at half past eight is a poor place to be setting up, and the practical answer is to work in the middle of the morning when the roads and driveways are quiet.

That is a scheduling convenience rather than a rule. It matters because a take off position on an estate is usually a driveway, and a driveway with three cars on it and children walking past is a worse working position than the same driveway an hour later.

For anybody arranging a survey while at work, nothing needs a person present beyond letting the aircraft into a back garden, and that can generally be handled by a neighbour or a key holder.