Roof repairs in Bury St Edmunds, Ely and Thetford

How roof repairs works

Finding a roof leak is rarely the same as finding the wet patch. Water runs along a rafter or a felt lap before it drops, so the stain on the ceiling can be several metres from where it got in. We look for the entry point rather than treating the symptom, which is why we get on the roof rather than quoting from the ground.

Most of the failed repairs we are called out to look at have one thing in common: somebody has sealed over the problem instead of cutting it out. Mastic on a lead flashing, cement over a cracked verge, flexible sealant along a valley. It holds for a winter, traps water behind it, and the second failure is worse than the first.

We will tell you when a repair is not worth doing. If the battens under a slipped course are soft, refixing tiles into them is a job that comes back. It is a short conversation and it usually saves people money, because they stop paying for the same repair twice a year.

A repair is worth doing when the covering around it has life left. That is the whole test. If the tiles are sound, the battens are dry and the underlay is intact, a repair will outlast most people's stay in the house. If it is only the tile you can see that is sound, you are buying time rather than a fix, and you should know which one you are paying for.

Gutters cause a surprising number of what people report as roof leaks. Water backing up over the back edge of a blocked gutter runs down behind the fascia and into the rafter feet, which shows up inside as damp at the top of an upstairs wall. It looks exactly like a roof leak and it costs a fraction to put right, so it is the first thing we rule out.

What the job includes

• A proper look at the roof, on it where it is safe to get on it
• Photographs of what we find, sent to you whether you go ahead or not
• Slipped, cracked and missing tiles or slates replaced and refixed
• Failed lead flashings, soakers and valleys cut out and redressed
• Ridge and verge mortar raked out and rebedded, or replaced with a dry system
• Felt and batten repairs at the eaves where the underlay has torn

Signs you need it looking at

• A damp patch that appears within a day of heavy rain
• Staining around a chimney breast in the loft
• Water running down the inside of a wall below a valley
• Tiles or fragments of mortar in the garden after wind
• Gutters overflowing on one section only