Church Building Inspection Tips for Maintenance Week 2025

It's Maintenance Week! As the weather gets colder and wetter, it's more important than ever to make sure your church and place of worship is getting the care and attention it needs.

The importance of undertaking regular maintenance cannot be stressed enough.

Here are the four key reasons for maintaining your place of worship building:

1. Preserving heritage: Regular, minimal and small-scale work helps maintains original features and fabric.
2. Saving money: When things go wrong, they cost a lot to put right. Historic England's research undertaken in 2019 'The Value of Maintenance?' showed that acting on small repairs now can save 15-20% in costs further down the line.
3. Preserving resources: Preventative maintenance is sustainable; by keeping buildings in a good condition, we save the energy and materials needed to repair them.
4. Promoting guardianship and community involvement: Historic churches are in our care in trust for the next generation, as they have been for centuries. Maintenance is an area where you can involve the wider community in caring for their own heritage.

Caring for and restoring places of worship is at the heart of what we do. Our directors have become leading authorities on stone conservation, church restoration and community engagement.

For over eight decades, we built on our USL legacy and conservation philosophy, blending detailed knowledge and in-depth understanding of ecclesiastical reordering, refurbishment and maintenance requirements to breathe new life into cathedrals, memorials and church buildings.

Our repair experts are on hand to offer advice and support for all your building requirements from stone repairs to roofing.

Monitoring the fabric of your building and performing regular maintenance are key to preserving and identifying any issues.

Here is a useful checklist: External

• Roof areas and tiles - Note any loss / damage / heavy moss. Is a defect the cause of internal dampness / leaks?
• Sheet metal roofs and cladding
• Lead junction weathering and flashings
• Rainwater goods generally
• Inspect external walls from the ground and accessible high points. Note any damage, gathering information on any signs of movement or cracks.
• Ensure ventilation grills, air bricks, louvres etc. are clear.
• Check that birds cannot get into the tower or building through broken mesh
• Leaded light windows
• Non-leaded light windows
• External timberwork
• Doors and windows - Check and make secure - operation of lock, bolts and hinges.
• Boundary walls, monuments, memorials and paths

Internal Inspection:

• Damp - Inspect each part of the building for damp or staining, checking the ceiling and walls
• Internal spaces generally - Inspect in roof spaces and all internal spaces, particularly below and adjacent to gutters. Note any evidence or leaks
• Inspect internal structure and fabric including roof timbers and bell frame and report any signs of structural movement / damp / fungus.
• Inspect exposed woodwork
• Inspect roof and floor voids

Use the link below to download a useful church inspection checklist. 

USL has the expertise to keep you building warm, dry and in good repair this winter.

Feel free to give us a ring:

01245 326 721

USLenquiries@universalstone.co.uk