Emergency Roof Repairs in Wells-next-the-Sea

How we handle emergency roof repairs

When your roof can't wait

A leak, a slipped tile or a ridge tile lifted by the wind needs attention before more water gets in. Water gets through quickly once a roof is breached, and what starts as a damp patch can become damaged plaster, wet timbers and spoiled belongings within hours. This page tells you what the emergency faults look like, how to keep safe and limit the damage, and what a roofer will check and do on a visit.

We cover Wells-next-the-Sea and the surrounding villages.

How to tell whether a roof problem is urgent

Not every roof fault needs treating as an emergency, but some do. The following situations should be treated as urgent.

• Water dripping or running inside the property, whether from a ceiling, a wall or around a window or door frame.
• A ceiling that has gone soft, is stained in an expanding patch, or is visibly sagging or bulging downward.
• Missing or slipped tiles or slates visible from the ground, especially after a storm.
• A ridge tile that has shifted, cracked or come away from the roof completely.
• Lead flashing around a chimney, dormer or where a roof meets a wall that is visibly pulled away, cracked or missing.
• A flat-roof membrane that is split or lifted, or standing water on a flat roof that has not drained after rain has stopped.

If you can see from the ground that something has moved or opened up, treat it as urgent. A missing tile on a plain clay or slate roof does not leave a hole straight through, because those roofs are double-lapped, but it does expose the underlay and battens underneath to wind-driven rain, and underlay is not a permanent waterproofing layer.

Keeping safe and limiting the damage

The most important rule is this: do not go on the roof yourself. A wet roof surface is extremely slippery, and without the right access equipment and training the risk of a serious fall is very high. Everything below can be done safely from inside the property or from the ground.

If there is water coming through the ceiling

A sagging or bulging ceiling is a serious hazard. The plaster or plasterboard is holding a body of water, and it can come down without warning. Keep people and pets out of the room. Do not poke or prod the ceiling to release the water.

Place buckets or containers under any drips and use towels or old sheets to protect floors, carpets and furniture. Take photographs of the damage from where you are standing.

Electrics near water

This is not a situation to take chances with. If water is dripping near a light fitting, a socket, a switch or your consumer unit (fuse box), do not touch any of them. If the consumer unit is dry and you can reach it without going near the water, you can turn off the main switch. If the consumer unit is wet, near the water or you are not sure, leave it alone entirely and call an electrician. Water and live electrics together are potentially fatal.

Make-safe work and temporary repairs

On a visit, the first priority is to stop water getting in until a full permanent repair can be done. Depending on the size and location of the problem, that may involve fixing a tarpaulin or heavy-duty temporary sheeting over the affected area, re-seating a slipped tile using roof ladders, or dressing back lifted lead flashing to close the gap temporarily.

A slipped tile on a moderately pitched roof can sometimes be reached using roof ladders alone. But if the roof is steep, high, or the area of damage is large, safe access may require scaffolding. This affects what can be done and what it costs. If scaffolding is needed, it has to be planned and put up before the permanent repair can be done.

Temporary work is exactly that. A tarpaulin will hold out rain but is not rated for prolonged exposure to high winds, and it does not address whatever allowed the failure to happen in the first place. The permanent repair needs to follow once access and materials are in place.

What a roofer checks on a visit

The visible fault - the missing slate, the cracked flashing, the open ridge - is usually only where the water is getting in. A thorough emergency inspection looks beyond that. After rain has been reaching underlay or timber, a roofer will check the battens (the horizontal strips the tiles hang on, which sit on top of the underlay), the underlay itself, and the roof timbers underneath for signs of rot, saturation or movement. On older properties there may be no underlay at all, in which case water reaches the timbers directly and the internal damage can be more extensive.

Flashings around chimneys and where a roof meets a wall are a very common source of leaks and are always checked. Lead flashing that has lifted can sometimes be dressed back into place and resealed. Lead that is cracked or split needs replacing because sealing over a crack in lead is a short-term fix that fails again quickly.

Common emergency faults by roof type

Pitched roofs with plain clay tiles

Clay tiles on older properties can crack from frost or impact, and the mortar bedding on ridge tiles deteriorates over time. A ridge tile that lifts in the wind and falls is a hazard to anything below it. On these roofs the ridge is mortar-bedded, so repairs involve raking out the old mortar, re-bedding the tile and pointing. Newer roofs use a dry-fix ridge system with mechanical fixings instead of mortar.

Slate roofs

Slates do not have nibs (the projecting lugs that clay tiles hook onto) - they are fixed by nails only. When the nails corrode and fail, a condition known as nail sickness, the slates slip or fall out. A single slipped slate is straightforward to replace with roof ladders if the area is accessible. Widespread nail sickness across a roof means many slates are at risk, and an emergency repair to one or two does not make the rest secure.

Flat roofs

Flat roofs are often finished with felt or EPDM rubber membrane. A split or lifted membrane lets rainwater through directly. Standing water on a flat roof after rain has stopped usually points to a blocked outlet or a fall (the slope built into the roof deck to drain water away) that has failed or was never adequate. Standing water adds weight and wear, and it will find any split or weak joint in the membrane. Only look at a flat roof from the ground - do not climb a ladder to it or walk on it.

Chimneys, valleys and gutters

Chimneys are sealed to the roof with lead flashing on all sides. Any gap between the lead and the masonry is an entry point for water. Valley gutters - the channels formed where two roof slopes meet - can block with leaves and debris. When a valley blocks, water backs up behind the blockage and overflows sideways into the roof rather than running down to the gutter. Overflowing rainwater gutters and downpipes blocked at ground level can also force water back up behind fascias and into the eaves. These are worth checking from the ground during or after heavy rain if you are trying to locate a leak source.

Storm damage and buildings insurance

Storm damage to a roof is covered by most standard buildings insurance policies, but the detail matters. Insurers generally judge whether there was a storm by recorded wind speed or rainfall. A claim can be declined if the insurer decides the main cause of the damage was wear and tear rather than the storm itself.

If you believe your damage is storm-related, photograph everything before any work is done, note the date and time, and keep any receipts for emergency or temporary work. Contact your insurer before authorising a permanent repair where possible, because some policies require the insurer to inspect or approve work before it is carried out. If a claim is refused, you can use the insurer's internal complaints process and, if still unresolved, the Financial Ombudsman Service.

What happens when you call us

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. When you call, give us your address and your best contact number.

When the roofer calls back, be ready to describe what you can see from the ground or from inside - whether tiles are missing, where the water is coming in, whether there has been recent storm or high-wind weather, and how long the problem has been apparent. The more information you can give, the better placed they are to come prepared with the right materials for a make-safe repair.

What affects the cost of emergency roof repairs

There are no fixed prices for emergency roof repairs because too many variables affect the job. The main factors are:

• Access and scaffolding - a job that needs scaffolding costs more than one that can be done from roof ladders.
• The extent of the damage - one slipped slate is very different from a section of failed felt and damaged battens behind it.
• Make-safe versus permanent repair - a temporary tarpaulin to stop rain getting in is a separate cost from the full repair that follows.
• Materials - the cost of matching replacement slates, clay tiles or lead depends on availability and what is already on the roof.
• Any damage to underlay, battens or timbers found during inspection that needs addressing before the roof covering is replaced.

Call us about your roof in Wells-next-the-Sea

If your roof is leaking or you can see damage from the ground, call us. We cover Wells-next-the-Sea and the surrounding villages. Do not ignore a developing leak - the longer water is reaching timber, the bigger the repair becomes.