Roof Repairs
Roof repairs, diagnosed properly the first time
Most roof repairs go wrong in the diagnosis, not the work. Water enters at one point, runs along a batten or a rafter and appears somewhere else entirely — and on a terrace with a hidden valley gutter it can enter three doors away.
Finding the actual leak
A damp patch on a bedroom ceiling is the end of a journey, not the start of one. We work back up the path the water took: checking the flashings above it, the valley that feeds it, the condition of the felt at the eaves, and whether the slate courses above have moved. It takes longer than pointing at the ceiling and it is the difference between a repair and a repeat visit.
The repairs we do most
Parapet valley gutters, more than anything else. On the butterfly roofs behind the Brighton and Worthing terrace fronts the whole roof drains through one hidden lead-lined channel, and when that blocks the water backs up over the lead and into the top floor. After that: slipped and broken slates, ridge tiles worked loose where the mortar has failed, and lead flashings around chimneys patched with mastic years ago and now finished. Storm damage after a gale. None of it is unusual here — all of it is worth doing before the timber gets wet.
When a repair stops being the right answer
If we keep finding the same failure in different places on the same roof, that is not a series of coincidences. It is usually corroded fixings, and the honest answer is that repairing it slate by slate will cost you more over five years than re-covering it once. We will say so, and show you what we found. Equally, if a roof has fifteen good years left and needs three slates, that is what we will quote for.
Storm damage and insurance
After a named storm we get busy, and genuine water ingress goes to the front of the queue. We will make the roof safe first and come back for the permanent repair. If you are claiming, we will give you a written report and photographs of what we found, which is generally what an insurer asks for.
What the job includes
- Full diagnosis before any work is quoted
- Slipped, cracked and missing slates and tiles replaced
- Ridge and verge re-bedding, or dry-fix conversion
- Lead flashings renewed — dressed and wedged, not mastic
- Parapet and valley gutter clearing, repair and relining
- Lead renewed on butterfly-roof valleys and party-wall upstands
- Emergency make-safe after storm damage
- Written report and photographs for insurance claims
Talk it through first
Half the time we can tell you on the phone whether it sounds like a morning’s work or something bigger.
Roof Repairs
Questions we get asked about this
Can you find a leak that nobody else has managed to?
Frequently, because we go looking for the cause rather than the symptom. Persistent leaks are usually flashings, valleys or wind-driven rain getting past an edge detail — all of which hide from a quick look from a ladder.
How fast can you come out for an emergency?
Active ingress is prioritised. Ring and describe what is happening; we will tell you honestly whether it needs someone today or whether a container under the drip will hold it safely until a booked visit.
Should I go up and look first?
No. Please do not. Wet slate is lethal, storm-damaged roofs are unpredictable, and there is nothing you can see from up there that we cannot. Photographs from the ground or from an upstairs window are genuinely useful, though.
Do you guarantee repairs?
We stand behind our work and we will come back if something we have done is not right. What we will not do is guarantee the rest of an old roof we did not lay — and you should be wary of anyone who does.
Free quotes & advice
Get a free quote for roof repairs
We will come out, look at it properly and put it in writing — what is wrong, what we propose, and what we are using. No charge either way.