When your roof needs attention in Girton, Newmarket Roofers carries out everything from a single slipped tile to a full ridge rebuild - and we walk you through every stage of the work.
A roof repair is not always a straightforward swap of one tile for another. The visible damage - a cracked slate, a patch of lifted felt, water staining on a bedroom ceiling - is usually the end of a chain of smaller failures. Addressing only what you can see from the ground often means the same problem returns within a season or two. A thorough repair starts with understanding what caused the failure, not just what it looks like.
We cover all standard repair types: slipped, cracked or missing tiles and slates; failed or open-jointed ridge and hip sections; cracked or lifting mortar bedding; deteriorated lead, aluminium or zinc flashings around chimney stacks, skylights and party walls; flat roof repairs using felt and EPDM rubber systems; and repairs to guttering and fascia where water damage has spread to the roof's edge. If you have an active leak, contacting a roofer promptly is advisable, as many contractors offer emergency cover for active leaks.
Before any work is quoted or started, someone needs to get eyes on the roof itself - not just the ceiling stain. A visual inspection from the ground gives a partial picture, but many problems only become clear once a roofer is on the roof: a single missing tile can mask five or six that have slipped off their nibs, or a flashing that looks intact from below has lifted at one end and is channelling water behind the lead rather than away from it.
When we arrive, we check the area around the reported problem and the roof as a whole. It is quicker and cheaper to flag a second failing section at the same visit than to come back six months later. We look at the condition of the ridge mortar, the state of the flashings, any visible cracking in the verge pointing, and whether the felt or sarking board beneath the tiles shows signs of long-term damp. You get a clear description of what we find before any work begins.
Once we have inspected the roof, we set out what needs doing and what can wait. Not every imperfection needs immediate repair. A ridge section with minor hairline cracking can be monitored; a ridge section where the mortar has fully detached and the ridge tiles are rocking needs attention now before frost lifts them completely. We will tell you the difference honestly.
Material choices matter at this stage. If you have an older property with handmade clay tiles, matching replacements need to be sourced - reclaimed tiles are often the right answer, and we will check availability before confirming the price. Concrete interlocking tiles are generally easier to match from current stock. Slate repairs on older roofs can catch people out: Welsh blue slate, Spanish slate and Chinese slate all behave differently and vary in price. A like-for-like repair keeps your roof looking consistent and avoids differential weathering over time.
Most small-to-medium roof repairs - replacing a run of tiles, re-bedding and repointing a ridge section, renewing a flashing - are completed in a single visit. Larger jobs, such as a full chimney stack rebuild or an extended flat roof repair, may take two days. We use the correct underlays, fixings and flashing materials for the roof type rather than whatever comes to hand.
For tile and slate work, each replacement piece is properly fixed with the correct nails or clips, not just dropped into place and left to rely on gravity and the pieces either side. Ridge and hip tiles are re-bedded in the appropriate mortar mix and pointed neatly, because a thin skim of fresh mortar on top of old crumbling material fails quickly. Where flashings are renewed, we cut the correct chase into the masonry, dress the lead or alternative material properly and wedge and point the joint so water cannot get behind it.
Flat roof repairs depend on which system is in place. A felt roof with a split or blister is cut back to sound material, dried out properly and re-laid with correct overlaps and bonding. An EPDM rubber membrane is repaired using the matching primer and bonding adhesive - tape repairs done without the right primer tend to lift within a year.
Once the repair is finished, we check the surrounding area before leaving the roof. That means making sure no tiles have been disturbed during access, no debris has been left in gutters that could block the downpipe, and the new or re-bedded sections are sitting correctly. If the job involved re-pointing, we check the mortar is set correctly before the scaffold or ladders come down.
We also check that any felt or membrane cut during the repair has been properly lapped and sealed rather than left open at the edges. Water finds every gap, and a repair that looks solid from the outside can still allow water to track sideways underneath if the underlayer has not been addressed.
We remove all broken tiles, old mortar, lead offcuts and packaging before we leave. The area around the base of your property - paths, planted borders, drains - is cleared of debris. This matters because fragments of old mortar left in guttering can cause blockages in the first heavy rain after the repair.
After any roof repair, it is worth checking your loft space in the next significant rain to confirm water is no longer getting in. Existing damp patches in the loft or on ceilings can take several weeks to dry out fully, so do not be alarmed if the stain does not disappear immediately - the test is whether fresh water is still arriving. If it is, call us and we will come back to investigate further.
Small repairs - replacing two or three tiles, repointing a short ridge section - typically fall in the range of £150 to £300 depending on access difficulty and material costs. A fuller repair involving a flashing replacement or re-bedding a longer ridge run is more likely to sit between £400 and £900. These are typical UK figures and your specific job may sit outside this range depending on roof height, tile type and the extent of any hidden damage found during the work.
Access is a significant cost driver. A single-storey extension is straightforward; a three-storey terrace or a steeply pitched roof that requires scaffold rather than ladders adds to the cost. If scaffold is needed, it is worth repairing everything on that roof at the same time rather than calling us back in six months and paying for access again.
Some properties require consent before certain roofing materials are changed. If your home is listed or in a designated conservation area, check with the local planning authority before replacing tiles with a different type or colour. Like-for-like repairs with matching materials almost never require consent, but switching from clay plain tiles to concrete alternatives on a listed building usually does. We can advise on what we see on the day, but formal consent is the homeowner's responsibility to confirm before non-matching materials are used.
As well as Girton, we carry out roof repairs across Newmarket and the surrounding villages. If you are unsure whether we cover your location, call us and we will confirm quickly.
No obligation · We usually respond within 2 hours
Storm damage, active leak, damaged ridge - we aim to be on-site within 24 hours.
