Norwich Roofers carries out roof repairs in Hethersett, tackling everything from slipped tiles and cracked flashings to storm damage and hidden leaks before they cause serious harm to your home.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
A small roof defect rarely stays small. Water that finds its way past a cracked tile or a failed flashing will track along rafters, soak into insulation and eventually stain ceilings or rot timber before you realise anything is wrong. The repair bill for a single slipped tile is a fraction of what it costs once the damage reaches the roof structure or plasterwork below.
The difficulty is that most roof problems are not obvious from ground level, and many homeowners only notice something is wrong when water appears inside. Knowing what to look for - and what causes each problem - means you can act before the damage compounds.
You do not need to get on the roof to pick up early warning signs. Walk around the outside of your home and look carefully at the following:
Understanding the cause helps you have an informed conversation with any roofer and judge whether the work proposed is proportionate to the problem.
Clay and concrete tiles can last several decades, but individual tiles crack from impact, frost damage or simply age-related brittleness. On older roofs, the nibs that hang each tile on the batten wear away, so tiles are held only by the weight of those above. When a tile near the top shifts, those below can follow. A repair here is straightforward: the broken tile is lifted, slipped out on a ripper blade, and a matching replacement is slid in and clipped.
Slate roofs fail differently. Natural slate is long-lasting but can delaminate, and the fixing nails corrode over many decades, causing slates to slip or fall. On older roofs, a pattern of widespread slipping usually means the nails have rusted throughout rather than just in one area, and that is worth discussing with a roofer before committing to individual repairs.
The mortar bedding that holds ridge tiles in place is one of the most common sources of roof leaks. Mortar is rigid. As the roof structure moves slightly with temperature changes, the mortar cracks and eventually falls away, leaving the ridge tiles resting loosely on top of the roof. Water then runs straight down under them. The traditional fix is to re-bed and re-point with fresh mortar, though dry-fix ridge systems - where the ridge is mechanically fixed rather than bedded - are increasingly used on new work and re-roofing projects because they accommodate movement.
Hip tiles are held the same way and suffer the same problems. Valley areas, where two roof slopes meet, collect a large volume of water and are particularly vulnerable to mortar failure and debris build-up.
Flashings are the metal strips - usually lead, though sometimes mortar or proprietary alternatives on older or budget repairs - that seal the joint between the roof covering and any vertical surface: a chimney stack, a dormer wall, a parapet or a soil vent pipe. Lead flashings are step-cut into the mortar joints of the brickwork and dressed down over the tiles. When the mortar holding the flashing in place crumbles, the flashing lifts in wind and water pours in behind it.
A common problem is a chimney flashing that has been patched repeatedly with roofing sealant. Sealant is not a long-term repair - it cracks with thermal movement and UV exposure, often within a few years. The right fix is to re-dress the lead or replace it, then re-point the mortar chase it sits in.
The sarking felt under the tiles is the second line of defence against water. On roofs more than 25 to 30 years old, the felt may have become brittle and split, meaning any minor gap in the tile covering lets water through directly. Battens can also rot where water has been running over them for an extended period. These problems are only visible from inside the loft or when tiles are lifted - another reason an early inspection is worthwhile.
Many homes have flat-roofed extensions or garages. The most common flat roof coverings are built-up felt and EPDM rubber membrane. Felt roofs blister and crack at the laps between sheets as they age, and water finds its way in at the seams. EPDM is more flexible and generally lasts longer, but it too can lift at the edges or around any pipe penetrations if the adhesive or trim fails. Ponding water - where a flat roof does not drain freely - accelerates the deterioration of any covering.
We cover the full range of repair work on domestic roofs: slipped and broken tiles and slates, re-bedding and re-pointing of ridges and hips, lead flashing repairs and replacement, valley repairs, flat roof patching and overlay, and loft inspections to identify the source of leaks. We also work in nearby Norwich and across the surrounding villages.
After any repair, we provide a written report of the work carried out so you have a clear record - useful if you are selling the property or making an insurance claim. If we find something that needs more attention than the original call-out suggests, we tell you what it is and what the options are. We do not carry out work you have not agreed to.
Before agreeing to repair work, ask the roofer to explain what they found, why it failed and what the repair involves. Ask whether the repair addresses the root cause or just the symptom - for example, replacing a tile without checking why it slipped. Ask for a written record of the work done. A roofer who is reluctant to explain or put anything in writing is a roofer to avoid.
If you are seeing signs of any of the problems described above, or if you have had a damp patch appear after recent rain, call us to arrange a roof inspection in Hethersett. We will tell you exactly what we find and what - if anything - needs doing.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
