A leaking or damaged roof in Attleborough needs attention quickly - here is exactly what happens from the moment you call us to the moment we pack up and leave.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
A small defect on a pitched roof can let in enough water to soak ceiling joists, rot the felt underlay, and stain plasterwork within a single wet spell. A slipped tile or cracked flashing that looks minor from the ground can cause serious internal damage in weeks. Acting early almost always keeps the repair cost far lower than leaving it.
Dereham Roofers carry out roof repairs across mid-Norfolk, including Attleborough and the surrounding villages. The work covers everything from a single displaced tile to failed ridge mortar, split lead flashings, leaking valleys, and damaged or blocked guttering that is feeding water back into the roof structure.
Some problems are obvious - a tile on the lawn after a windy night, a damp patch spreading across an upstairs ceiling, or daylight visible inside the loft. Others are less clear-cut. Common signs worth investigating include:
If you can safely look into the loft space on a bright day, a thin line of daylight visible between the tiles indicates the felt or the tiles themselves have shifted. That is a reliable sign a survey is needed.
When we arrive, the first job is to get a proper view of the roof before touching anything. We use a ladder to inspect from eaves level, and where the pitch or access makes it necessary, we go up onto the roof itself. A lot of problems are diagnosable from the ladder - slipped or cracked plain tiles, open mortar joints on the ridge, and obvious flashing gaps are visible without walking the surface.
For anything that is not clear from below, we will walk the roof carefully, checking the ridge, hips, valleys, any abutments, and the area around each chimney or soil pipe penetration. We are looking at the tile condition, the pointing, the lead or alternative flashing material, and the underlay where it is visible at the eaves. We also check the guttering at this stage, because a blocked or leaking gutter is a common secondary cause of wall and fascia damage.
This inspection stage sets the scope of the repair. A good roofer should explain clearly what they have found and show you photographs where it helps - especially for anything on the main roof slope that you cannot see from the ground yourself.
Once we know what needs doing, we talk through the options before any work starts. For most repairs this is straightforward - a like-for-like tile replacement, re-pointing the ridge, or stripping and re-laying a section of lead flashing. In some cases there is a choice to make, for example whether to repoint isolated sections of ridge mortar or to re-bed and point the full ridge run if the mortar is generally at the end of its life.
Where we need to source matching tiles, that takes a little extra time. Older properties in the Attleborough area can have plain clay tiles or handmade Norfolk pantiles that are no longer in general production. We source second-hand or reclaimed tiles to match where possible rather than using a visually different modern replacement. Ask your roofer specifically about tile matching before work starts if your property is older - a visible patch repair using the wrong tile is a common frustration homeowners report.
Lead flashings around chimneys and in valleys should be replaced rather than patched if they are cracked through or have split along folds. Stick-on flashing tape and sealant applied over old lead is a short-term fix that rarely lasts more than a couple of years. A properly dressed lead flashing, code 4 or code 5 depending on the application, should last decades if the lead is fixed correctly and has room to expand and contract.
For most domestic repairs on a standard two-storey house, a ladder and a roof ladder (also called a cat ladder or hook ladder) are sufficient. The roof ladder hooks over the ridge and distributes weight across the tile surface so we can work without dislodging sound tiles nearby. On steeper or taller roofs, scaffolding may be necessary - not just for our safety but to allow us to work steadily and reach all of the affected areas.
If scaffolding is needed for your repair, we will tell you at the assessment stage. Scaffolding adds cost, but it also means the work can be done properly rather than rushed because of an awkward working position. A repair done from a leaning ladder on a steep pitch is harder to do well, and a roofer who does not mention scaffolding for a large or high repair should be asked about it.
The sequence of the actual repair depends on what is being fixed. Here is how common repair types run in practice:
We lift the tiles above the affected area first, then ease out the damaged tile. If it is held by a nail through a batten, we use a tool called a ripper to cut the nail without disturbing the adjacent tiles. The replacement tile is nailed or clipped in position, the surrounding tiles are re-seated, and the area is checked for watertightness by looking at the underlay and batten below. If the underlay has also split, we lay a patch beneath the tile before re-fitting.
Old mortar is raked out carefully so the underlying tile does not crack. The ridge or hip tile is re-bedded in a strong sand and cement mix, then pointed and finished to a profile that sheds water cleanly. Modern practice is to leave weep holes at intervals in the pointing so that any moisture that gets behind the mortar can escape rather than building up. Ridge tiles should not be mortared solid along their full length - that traps moisture and accelerates cracking.
The old flashing is stripped back from the chase cut into the masonry. The chase is cleared of old mortar and debris. New lead is cut, dressed to the profile of the roof surface, and turned up into the chase, which is then repointed. The lead is fixed using lead wedges hammered into the chase - not just held by the mortar alone. Where the flashing turns a corner around a chimney, that corner is dressed and welded or soldered to be watertight rather than relying on a simple fold.
Open valleys lined with lead are stripped and re-lined if the lead has cracked. Closed mortar valleys, where tiles are cut and bedded along the valley line, are a common source of leaks as the mortar shrinks over time. The approach here depends on age and condition - re-pointing may extend the life of a mortar valley, but replacing it with a properly lined lead valley is a more permanent solution.
Once the repair is done, we inspect the finished area from above and from the ground. Where possible, we will run water from a hose over the repair to confirm no water is tracking through before we pack up. Inside the loft, we check whether any daylight visible before the repair has been closed off.
All the old tiles, mortar debris, and waste material are cleared from the roof surface, gutters, and garden below. Ridge mortar chippings and broken tile pieces falling into gutters is a common issue after poorly run repair jobs - blocked gutters from repair debris cause secondary problems. We clear the gutter run at the affected elevation as part of the tidy-up.
You should expect to receive a brief explanation of what was done and what to watch for - for example, if an underlay patch was laid beneath a replaced tile, it is worth knowing that so you can keep an eye on that area during heavy rain over the following weeks.
Yes, for the great majority of repairs. Noise from hammering, particularly during ridge re-bedding, can be significant, but there is no reason to vacate the property. If scaffolding is erected and covers windows or restricts light, that is the main practical inconvenience most homeowners notice.
A small repair - a few tiles, a short section of flashing - is usually completed in a few hours on one day. A full ridge re-point or chimney flashing replacement on a larger property may take a full day or occasionally two. We will give you a realistic time estimate once the scope is agreed.
For any work above a minor tile replacement, yes. Make sure each roofer has assessed the roof in person and that the quotes describe the same scope of work. A quote that is significantly cheaper may be for less work, different materials, or no scaffolding where scaffolding would be appropriate.
Contain the water inside with towels and a bucket if it is coming through, and take a photograph of the damp patch for your records. If there is a visible displaced tile that is clearly causing the leak, you can report it to your home insurer to check whether emergency cover applies. Call us to arrange an assessment - the sooner the source is found, the less secondary damage accumulates.
You do not need to notify your insurer about routine maintenance repairs. If the damage was caused by a storm or a sudden event, check your policy, as you may be able to claim. Storm damage claims generally require evidence that the damage was caused by the weather event rather than pre-existing wear.
For a roof repair in Attleborough or the surrounding area, call Dereham Roofers to arrange a survey. We will come out, assess the roof properly, and give you a clear explanation of what needs doing before any work starts.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
