Is it a roof leak you can repair, or does the roof need replacing?

Water rarely comes through the middle of a sound slope. It comes in where two things meet.

• By the chimney. Cracked pointing, worn flaunching around the pots, or lead that has slipped out of the chase. The stain shows in the bedroom. The fault is outside, on the stack.
• Along the ridge. Mortar has cracked and the ridge tiles have lifted. Wind-driven rain gets under the top course.
• In a valley. Two slopes dump water into one channel. Leaves block it, the lead splits, or the tiles are cut too tight.
• Under a slipped tile. One missing tile is enough after a storm. On an older slate roof the slate is often still sound and the nails have failed.
• At the wall. A gutter joint or a sagging run sending water down the fascia, which then reads as a roof leak inside.

A repair is the right job when the leak is in one place and the rest of the covering is sound. A new roof is the job when tiles are failing across the slope, the felt underneath has perished, or the same spot has been patched more than once. Another patch on perished felt is money spent twice.

We say which after looking. You get the price before any work starts.

Concrete tiles fade long before they stop shedding water. Colour loss alone is not a reason to re-roof. Cracked tiles, soft battens and a brittle underlay are.

Natural slate often outlasts its fixings. Slates slipping one by one usually means nail sickness, not bad slate. Sound slates can be re-laid. We do not put a heavy concrete covering on a roof built for slate unless the timbers can take it.

Slate and tile roofs →

Keep people away from that side of the house. Catch water inside with a bucket. If water is near a light, leave that fitting alone. Call 07930 618151 and say which room is wet and whether tiles are on the ground. The first visit makes it safe. The lasting repair is priced once the roof can be seen. Photograph the damage first if you may claim on insurance.

Emergency roof repairs →

Berkshire, Surrey, north Hampshire, Buckinghamshire and Slough, Oxfordshire and west London, including Reading, Wokingham, Ascot, Windsor, Camberley, Farnborough, Slough, Henley-on-Thames, Oxford, Staines and Hounslow. Same phone for a chimney, a valley, a slipped tile or a gutter that is soaking the wall.