Newmarket Roofers carries out lead flashing repairs and replacements for homeowners in Burwell - and if you are waiting for us to arrive, this page will tell you what to do in the meantime and what to leave well alone.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
Lead flashing is the material used to weatherproof the junctions between your roof and any vertical surface - chimneys, dormer walls, bay window roofs, parapet walls, and abutments where a flat roof section meets the main house wall. It is pressed and dressed by hand to fit each junction precisely, then locked into a mortar joint above and lapped over the tiles or slates below.
Lead flashing should be installed to BS EN 12588 standard, using the correct code of lead for each application. Code 4 is the minimum for most flashing; codes 5 and 6 are used for larger areas such as flat roof abutments or chimney back-gutters. The code determines the thickness, and the thickness determines how well the lead can be dressed and how long it will last.
Lead fails for a range of reasons. Thermal movement causes cracking when sections are too long or expansion joints were omitted. Pointing above the flashing degrades over time, allowing water to track behind an otherwise sound piece of lead. Poorly fitted original work - where the lead was bedded on top of masonry rather than turned into the mortar joints - lifts away from the wall as the bedding deteriorates. Any of these failures can produce a persistent internal leak that is not always easy to trace to its source.
If you have a suspected lead leak and there is a delay before we can get to you, there are practical steps you can take to reduce the damage until the work is done. None of these are permanent fixes, but they can make a real difference to the amount of internal damage that accumulates.
If water is dripping through a ceiling, place a container underneath it and put old towels around it to catch any splash. If the ceiling is bulging and clearly holding a pool of water, keep everyone out of the room and do not poke, prod or pierce it - it can come down without warning.
Move any furniture, rugs, or valuables out from under the affected area. Water sitting on flooring - especially wooden flooring - causes damage quickly, and that damage is often more expensive to put right than the lead work itself.
Note where the wet patch is in relation to the roof above it. Is it near a chimney breast? Beneath a dormer? Above a bay window? This information is genuinely useful to the roofer when they arrive - it narrows down which lead detail is most likely to be failing and means they know where to look first on the roof.
If you can safely access a loft space, take a torch up there during or just after heavy rain. You may be able to see where water is entering the roof structure, which is often more accurate than the position of the internal damp patch, since water can travel along a rafter or joist before dripping down.
Note when the leak appears - does it happen during every rainfall, or only during prolonged rain, or only in certain wind conditions? Lead leaks around chimneys can sometimes be directional, meaning water only gets in when rain is driven from a particular angle. This information helps with diagnosis. A photo of the damp patch and any visible lead work from the ground (binoculars help) is also useful for the roofer to see before they get up on the roof.
There is a temptation to do something when water is coming in, and some of what looks like a fix can actually make the eventual repair harder or more expensive. Here is what to avoid.
This needs saying plainly: roof work without proper access equipment is dangerous. A standard domestic roof is not designed to be walked on without knowing where the load-bearing structure is, and wet or mossy tiles are unpredictable underfoot. A fall from a roof is a serious or fatal injury. There is nothing you can do from the roof that is worth that risk, particularly for a temporary measure while you wait for a professional.
Reaching the flashing from a bedroom window or a Velux and applying bitumen mastic or silicone sealant over a cracked section might seem like a sensible short-term fix, but it is worth understanding the consequences. Sealant shrinks and cracks over time and rarely stops the leak permanently. More importantly, it can complicate the proper repair: the contractor will need to clean the sealant off before they can dress or replace the lead, which adds time and cost. If the sealant is applied over a section that then needs stripping and replacing, it can make the job harder than it needed to be.
Sealant can also mask the extent of the problem. A patch that holds for a week may give the impression that less work is needed than actually is, leading to a smaller repair that then fails because the underlying cause was not fully addressed.
If you can see that the pointing above a flashing has dropped out, the instinct might be to fill it with ready-mixed mortar from a ladder. The problem is that to re-point a flashing joint properly, the old mortar needs to be raked out to the correct depth, the joint needs to be primed and dampened, and the new mortar needs to be worked in firmly rather than simply pressed onto the surface. Work from a ladder that is not safely footed, on a joint above head height, is unlikely to be done in a way that will hold - and a joint that appears filled but has not bonded will allow water in just as freely as an open joint.
Water getting in past a lead flashing rarely stays as a minor inconvenience. It soaks into timber roof structure, which can lead to rot. It saturates insulation, reducing its effectiveness. It travels into plasterboard and masonry, which then takes a long time to dry out and may require replastering once the source is fixed. The sooner the lead work is properly repaired, the less secondary damage accumulates.
When we arrive, we will access the roof properly - whether that means a ladder, a tower or scaffolding depending on the height and configuration - and inspect the lead work and the surrounding roof covering. We will tell you clearly what is causing the problem, which sections need replacing and which can be repaired, and what the work will cost before we begin.
A full chimney re-flash covers the back-gutter at the high side of the stack, stepped flashings on each side following the tile or slate courses, and an apron across the front. Each section is dressed individually in the correct code of lead, turned into a raked mortar joint at the top, and lapped correctly at every overlap. Valley replacement involves stripping the old lead, checking the timber substrate, and laying new lead in overlapping sections to the correct width and fall for the roof pitch.
Chimney flashing repairs typically range from £200 to £500 depending on the extent of work and access needed. A full chimney re-flash generally costs between £600 and £1,200. Valley replacements are priced by length. These are typical UK ranges - the actual cost for your property depends on what is found once the roof is properly assessed.
If you have water coming in and you are waiting for help, follow the steps above to reduce the damage. When you are ready, call us to arrange a proper roof survey and we will give you a clear, honest assessment of what needs doing.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
