Active leaks, storm damage, slipped tiles and failed flashings need attention before more water gets in. We cover Norwich and the surrounding villages.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
A sudden leak, a tile missing after a night of wind, a ridge tile that has shifted or a flashing that has pulled away from the wall - these are the moments when you need a roofer, not a voicemail. We cover Norwich and the surrounding villages.
This page covers how to tell whether a roof problem is urgent, how to keep safe and limit the damage, what temporary make-safe work involves, and how to handle a storm damage insurance claim.
Not every roof fault needs emergency attention, but some do. A problem is urgent when water is actively entering the building, when structural timbers or ceilings are at risk, or when a displaced tile or ridge section could fall and injure someone below. If water is coming through a ceiling, if ceiling plaster is wet and discoloured, or if a section of ridge or verge has visibly shifted when seen from the ground, treat it as urgent and call us.
A slow, intermittent drip that only appears during heavy rain may be a cracked or slipped tile letting water reach the underlay. On most pitched roofs there is an underlay beneath the battens, so water through a gap reaches the battens and underlay together rather than pouring straight into the roof space, though not every older roof has underlay. Even so, underlay has limits and the problem will worsen, so it still needs attending to.
A sagging or bulging wet ceiling is a different matter entirely. If ceiling plaster or a ceiling board has absorbed water and is visibly bowing, keep people out of that room. Do not poke, prod, pierce or try to support it - a saturated ceiling can come down without warning and the weight of fallen plaster is considerable. Call us and then call a builder or structural surveyor if there is any doubt about the ceiling's integrity.
The most important rule is to stay off the roof. Wet tiles, slates and felt are extremely slippery, and a domestic roof is not a safe working surface without proper equipment and training. Never attempt to inspect or repair the roof yourself from above, even with a ladder.
From the ground, you can safely look for obvious issues: a visibly missing or displaced tile, a ridge tile that is sitting at an angle, lead flashing that has pulled away from a wall or chimney, or sections of fascia board hanging loose. Photograph what you can see from ground level - those photos will matter for insurance purposes.
Do not attempt to check gutters, flat roofs or valley gutters from anything other than ground level. A blocked gutter or outlet can be seen overflowing from below; you do not need to climb to confirm it.
Not every sudden leak is caused by a broken tile. A gutter that has become blocked with debris causes water to back up and overflow behind the fascia board and into the roof structure. Valley gutters - the channels where two roof slopes meet - can fill with debris and hold standing water that eventually forces its way under the tiles or slates. Blocked downpipes cause the same problem from below: water has nowhere to go and finds gaps in the fascia, soffit or wall instead.
A lead valley or a zinc valley that has lifted or cracked lets water run sideways into the roof space rather than down and away.
Plain clay tiles and natural slates are double-lapped, meaning one missing piece does not leave a straight hole through to the roof space - the course above overlaps enough to maintain some weather resistance. Interlocking concrete tiles are single-lapped, so a cracked or missing interlocking tile leaves a direct gap through to the battens and underlay, or to the roof timbers where there is no underlay. Both situations need attending to, but the interlocking tile failure is the more urgent of the two.
Slates slip when the nails holding them corrode and fail - a condition known as nail sickness. You may notice several slates slipping in a short period, which often means the nails across a whole section of the roof are at the same stage of deterioration. Unlike tiles, slates have no nibs and rely entirely on the nails, so nail sickness can lead to multiple slips with little warning.
A slipped tile or slate on a relatively shallow, accessible slope can sometimes be reached using roof ladders without full scaffolding. Larger, higher or steeper areas may need scaffolding, and that affects what can be done on the first visit and what it costs.
Ridge tiles on older roofs are mortar-bedded, meaning they are set in a sand-and-cement mix along the apex. That mortar dries out and cracks over time, and a heavy gust of wind can lift or displace a ridge tile once the mortar has gone. A lifted ridge tile lets wind-driven rain into the roof space at one of its most vulnerable points. Newer roofs often use dry-fix ridge systems with mechanical fixings rather than mortar, which tend to be more resilient but can still fail if components are damaged.
Verge mortar - the pointing along the edge of a roof where the tiles meet the gable end - fails in the same way. Loose verge mortar allows tiles to lift in the wind and, once a tile has gone, water and wind have a direct route into the gable wall.
Lead flashing seals the join between a chimney stack, dormer or roof light and the main roof surface. Its top edge is tucked into a mortar joint in the brickwork and the rest is dressed down over the tiles. When the lead pulls out of that joint - often because the mortar holding it has cracked - water can run down inside the chimney breast and into the house. Lifted lead can usually be dressed back into position and the joint repointed. Cracked or split lead cannot be repaired in the same way and needs to be cut out and replaced. Never confuse the two - dressing back split lead only delays the failure.
Stepped flashings alongside a chimney, dormer or extension parapet follow the same principle. A single lifted section allows water to run behind the flashing and into the wall or roof space.
A split or lifted flat-roof membrane is a genuine emergency in wet weather. Water enters through the split, soaks the insulation layer and works its way through to the deck and the ceiling below. Standing water on a flat roof always points to a blocked outlet or to insufficient fall - flat roofs are not truly flat but are built with a slight slope to drain; if debris or a collapsed outlet prevents drainage, water finds another route.
Felt flat roofs are common on older extensions and outbuildings. Felt can split at seams or bubble and crack after years of weathering. EPDM rubber membranes are increasingly used for replacements; they can be punctured by sharp debris in storm conditions. In either case, a temporary waterproof sheet secured over the affected area is the first step while a permanent repair is assessed.
A fascia board - the horizontal board at the foot of the roof that carries the guttering - can be lifted, split or pulled away in strong winds, particularly where the original timber has rotted behind the guttering bracket. When a fascia fails, the gutter goes with it, water pours against the wall, and the foot of the rafters may be exposed to rain. This is an emergency in wet weather because water against an unprotected rafter foot causes timber decay that is expensive to put right.
uPVC fascia is less prone to rot but can crack or pull away if the underlying timber has failed. In either case, the fix involves securing or replacing the fascia board, reattaching or replacing the guttering, and checking the condition of the rafter feet and soffit behind it.
Temporary make-safe work means stopping water from entering the building as a short-term measure - not fixing the underlying problem. A tarpaulin or temporary waterproof sheet weighted and secured over a damaged section of roof is the most common approach. It is not a permanent solution, but it protects the roof space, the underlay, the battens and the timbers from further wetting while the permanent repair is planned and, where relevant, agreed with an insurer.
After a leak, the work does not stop at the visible fault. The underlay, battens and roof timbers beneath the affected area are checked for water damage. On older roofs there may be no underlay at all, so water from a slipped tile has reached the bare battens and possibly the ceiling boards directly. Saturated timber needs time to dry before permanent work is completed, and that can affect the programme.
The cost of make-safe and permanent repair work depends on several factors: whether scaffold access is needed (and for what height and pitch), the extent of the damaged area, the materials required, and whether temporary sheeting has already been in place. We do not publish price ranges for emergency work on this page because the variables are too wide - a single slipped tile on a low-pitch roof is a very different job to storm damage across a large section of a steep Victorian roof with a chimney in the middle.
Storm damage to a roof is often covered by buildings insurance, but the claim process has rules and pitfalls that catch homeowners out. The first thing to do is check your policy and speak to your insurer. Do this before instructing any permanent repair work where possible, as insurers may want to send their own assessor.
Photograph the damage from the ground as soon as it is safe to do so, note the date and time, and keep all receipts for emergency measures you take - such as towels, buckets or temporary sheeting. These records support your claim and help demonstrate that you took reasonable steps to limit further damage.
Insurers commonly decline claims where they decide the main cause of the problem was wear and tear rather than the storm itself. A storm may have dislodged tiles that were already loose because the mortar had failed years earlier, and the insurer may argue the underlying cause was maintenance rather than weather. Each policy has its own definition of what constitutes a storm - some refer to recorded wind speeds, others to rainfall intensity. A refused claim can go through the insurer's own complaints process and, if still unresolved, to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Keep records at every stage.
Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers, who ring you back to talk through what has happened and arrange a visit.
For genuine roof emergencies in Norwich - an active leak, storm damage, a displaced ridge tile or failed lead flashing - call Norwich Roofers.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
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