Knowing what a proper roof repair involves - from the first look to clearing up afterwards - helps you judge whether a roofer is doing the job right.
If you need roof repairs in Elmswell and the surrounding area, it helps to know what the work involves. The work covers slipped and broken tiles and slates, leaking valleys, failing flashings, open ridges and chimney problems. This page walks through what a proper repair job involves, stage by stage, so you know what to expect and what to look out for.
The first thing any responsible roofer should do is understand where the problem actually is. That sounds obvious, but the point where water appears inside a house is rarely directly below where it is entering the roof. Water travels along rafters, across the sarking felt and down the inside of tiles before it finds a way through.
A proper first inspection involves getting up to roof level - not just looking from the ground with binoculars - and checking the area around the suspected entry point, as well as the condition of flashings, ridges, verges and gutters nearby. On an older roof, a single leak is often a sign that the felt and pointing are nearing the end of their life in a wider area, and it is better to know that before a repair is priced than to find it partway through the job.
If the roofer gives you a price without going up to look properly, that is worth questioning.
Safe access is not optional on roofing work - it is a legal requirement for anyone working at height. For most domestic repairs this means either a scaffold tower, a roof ladder hooked over the ridge, or for larger jobs a full scaffold. The type of access affects the cost and the time taken, and it should be factored into any quote you receive.
A roof ladder allows a single roofer to reach the slope safely and carry out tile and flashing work. It will not do for ridge work on a large or complex roof or for chimney repairs high above the ridge, where a scaffold platform is needed for both safety and to work properly. If a quote does not mention access equipment, ask what the roofer is planning to use.
Once up on the roof, the tiles or slates around the problem area are carefully removed and stacked. This is where the actual condition of the roof reveals itself. Common findings at this stage include:
A good roofer tells you what they have found before carrying on. If something is worse than expected, you should know about it before the cost increases, not when the bill arrives.
What happens next depends on what was found. A localised tile repair where the felt and battens are sound involves replacing the damaged tiles with matching ones, checking that fixings are correct, and relaying the surrounding tiles to make sure the lap and alignment are right. A repair is not just about the tiles that were cracked - the ones either side need to be checked and reseated.
Where the felt has failed in a localised section, that section of felt and battens is stripped back to sound material, new breathable underlay or reinforced felt is laid, new battens are fixed, and the tiles are relaid on top. On a repair rather than a full re-roof, the new felt section is lapped into the existing felt at the edges to maintain the waterproof line.
For flashing work on a chimney or valley, the old lead or failed filler is removed fully. Chimney flashings involve both a stepped flashing running up each side of the chimney and a back gutter or saddle at the top. Each piece of lead is cut to size, dressed into shape and fixed with lead wedges driven into a raked-out mortar chase, which is then pointed up. The lead is not just pushed in and glued - it needs a mechanical fix to stay in place long term.
Ridge repointing involves raking out the old mortar fully before a new bed is applied. If old mortar is left in place and new mortar is applied over it, the repair is unlikely to last more than a few years.
Before the roofer descends, the repair should be checked from the roof itself - that tiles are sitting flat, that mortar joints are filled and struck off cleanly, that lead is dressed down correctly and that nothing has been disturbed that should not have been. It is much easier to fix a problem from the roof than to come back with the ladder another day.
A roof repair leaves debris: broken tile pieces, old mortar, spent lead offcuts, dust and grit. All of it should be cleared from the roof, out of the gutters and away from the property. Old mortar dropped in gutters blocks them and causes overflow. If a scaffold or roof ladder has been leaning against brickwork or render, the area should be checked for marks or damage before the roofer leaves.
How long a straightforward tile or slate repair takes depends on access and what is found on the roof. Chimney flashing replacement or a ridge re-bed with repointing typically takes one to two days. If scaffolding is required, the scaffold erection and strike adds time around the repair itself. You should be given a realistic timeframe in advance, not told "it depends" with no further detail.
Typical UK ranges for common repairs:
These are honest typical figures. The actual cost depends on what is found when the problem area is stripped back. Any quote that cannot give you a range until the work is underway should at least commit to telling you before they proceed if additional work is needed.
Most pitched tile or slate roofs do not need full replacement on a fixed schedule. Clay tiles can last 60 years or more; concrete tiles typically 30-50 years. The trigger for replacement rather than repair is usually widespread felt failure, structural batten decay across the whole roof, or a pattern of repeated localised repairs that are not holding. A thorough inspection will tell you which side of that line you are on.
If you have a leak, a slipped tile or a ridge that is starting to open up, call Bury St Edmunds Roofers to arrange a proper inspection in Elmswell or a nearby village. A good roofer looks before they quote, and tells you what they find.
No obligation · We usually respond within 2 hours
Storm damage, active leak, damaged ridge - we aim to be on-site within 24 hours.
