Roof leak repairs in Leatherhead, Surrey and South West London

A Leak Traced toWhere It Starts.

A slipped or cracked tile, a slate that has lost its nails, lead that has pulled away from a chimney or split in a valley, a blocked valley or gutter backing water up under the covering, or felt that has perished at the eaves. Most leaks are one of these and most are a day’s work.

In roughly the order we find them: lead flashing that has pulled away from a chimney or split in a valley, a slipped or cracked tile or slate, mortar gone from a ridge or verge, a blocked gutter or valley backing water up under the covering, and underlay that has perished at the eaves and no longer carries the water into the gutter. Flat roofs add blisters, splits and blocked outlets.

Most leaks are one of these, and most are put right in a day. The exception is a roof where the underlay has gone everywhere, which is a re roof rather than a repair.

The report after a leak visit names the cause, shows it in a photograph, and gives one itemised price for the repair. If the underlay has perished across the roof, the honest answer is a re roof, and we say so rather than sell you a repair that will not hold.

A roof that copes with rain falling straight down and leaks in a south westerly is telling you where to look. Wind pushes water up under laps and past flashings that are fine in still weather. It almost always points at a detail rather than at the roof as a whole.

Wind driven rain travels sideways and upwards. It gets under laps that are fine in a downpour, past flashings that are a fraction short, and through a verge that has lost its pointing. If your roof leaks only in a south westerly, it is a detail on that side, and we look there first.

The fix for a wind driven leak is usually a detail: a longer flashing, a soaker that was missing, a verge re pointed, a ridge re bedded, or the underlay lapped correctly into the gutter. Small work, but it needs the fault found first.

On a flat roof the water shows up where the deck sags, not where the covering failed. We look for blisters, splits at the upstands, open laps and blocked outlets. Some can be repaired; some are past it, and we will say which.

We check the covering for splits and blisters, the upstands and laps where it meets a wall, the edge trims and the outlets. A blocked outlet is the most common flat roof leak of all and the cheapest to fix. A roof that is soft underfoot has water in the deck and needs more than a patch.

A flat roof leak visit starts with the outlets and the edges, then the covering, and the deck is checked for softness underfoot. The repair is a proper patch in the same material, or a new covering where the roof is past it, and the photographs show which.

Where there is a loft we go into it. Daylight, damp battens, dark staining on the felt and the smell tell us more in five minutes than an hour from the ground. We photograph what we find and show you.

The loft is where the leak shows its route. We look for daylight, for tide marks on the underlay, for damp or stained battens and for the smell of wet timber, and we follow the line back up to the point of entry. It takes minutes and it saves guesswork.

If you can get into your loft safely before we come, a photograph of any staining on the underlay or the timbers helps us arrive with the right materials. Do not walk on the ceiling joists without boards, and do not disturb old insulation.

If water is coming through now we make the roof watertight first, with a temporary cover where the weather needs one, and come back for the permanent repair. Someone answers the mobile 24 hours a day.

A leak that is live now gets a temporary cover or a quick fix on the first visit, so the ceiling stops getting worse. The permanent repair is done when the roof is dry, because lead, mortar and adhesives all fail when they are applied wet.

For a live leak the mobile is answered 24 hours, 07513 397 799, and we cover Leatherhead, Epsom, Dorking, Reigate, Kingston, Wimbledon and the rest of Surrey and South West London from the office on the Guildford Road.