Haverhill Roofers carries out lead flashing repairs and installations for homeowners in Braintree and the surrounding area, stopping water ingress at the joints where a roof meets a chimney, wall or dormer.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
Lead seals the vulnerable junctions on a roof - the places where two different surfaces meet and where rainwater would otherwise find a way in. Chimneys, dormers, parapet walls and valleys all rely on correctly fitted lead to stay watertight. When that lead fails, water tracks silently into the structure beneath and the damage builds before you spot it indoors.
We fit and repair lead flashings, soakers, valleys and aprons on houses and older buildings across Braintree and back to our base in Haverhill. If you are unsure whether your lead is the source of a damp problem, read the warning signs below - they are worth knowing.
Lead problems rarely announce themselves dramatically. Water usually travels a long way from the entry point before it shows up, which means the visible damage indoors is often well away from the actual fault on the roof. Common signs to look for include:
None of these signs on their own proves the lead is at fault, but each one is a reason to have the roof inspected rather than wait. A small repair done promptly costs a fraction of what replastering and treating damp walls will add up to later.
Lead is a long-lasting material when it is correctly specified and fitted, but several things cause it to deteriorate or fail prematurely.
Thermal movement. Lead expands and contracts with temperature. When a flashing is cut too long, or fixed so tightly that it cannot move, it eventually tears or lifts at the edges. Properly fitted flashings are dressed in sections with small movement gaps between them, exactly because of this.
Mortar joint failure. A flashing that is tucked into a raked-out mortar joint and then pointed over relies on that pointing staying sound. As mortar weathers over the years it shrinks and cracks, the water-tight seal breaks, and water can track behind the lead rather than over it. Repointing the chase without replacing or re-dressing the lead itself is a short-term fix that will fail again.
Incorrect lead code. Lead is sold by code number, which refers to its thickness. Code 3 is too thin for most external flashings and will develop splits more quickly than the Code 4 or Code 5 that most chimney and valley work requires. Using undersized lead is a common cause of early failure on older repairs done on the cheap.
Corrosion from organic matter. Moss, lichen and rotting leaves hold moisture against the lead surface and can accelerate surface corrosion over time. A build-up of debris in a valley or behind a back gutter is worth clearing out rather than leaving to sit against the metal.
Poor original installation. Lead that was not fully dressed to the contours of the tiles, or that was over-fixed with too many nails, will split or lift as the roof and structure move with the seasons. This is the kind of fault that a visual inspection picks up before it becomes serious.
Most homeowners think of chimneys first, but lead appears in several other places on a typical house roof.
When we attend a job in Braintree, we start by inspecting the whole affected junction from the roof rather than just looking at the visible damage from below. The fault is almost always higher up than the water entry point suggests.
For a straightforward chimney flashing repair, we rake out the existing mortar chase, remove the old lead, cut new lead to the correct code and length, dress it to the profile of the tiles, step it around the chimney correctly, and point it back into the chase with a flexible sealant or lead wedges and mortar. We check the back gutter and the apron at the same time, because there is no point repairing one side of a chimney and leaving a failing section on the other.
Older housing stock often has original leadwork that has simply reached the end of its natural life, and a full strip-and-relay is the right answer rather than patching over failing sections. We will tell you honestly which option applies.
A straightforward chimney flashing repair - raking out, new lead on one or two sides - typically runs from around £150 to £400 depending on the size of the stack and the access needed. A full lead strip and relay on a medium chimney, covering all four sides with correct soakers and aprons, is more typically in the £400 to £800 range. Valley replacements vary more widely with roof pitch and valley length, but a standard open lead valley on a house roof is often £300 to £600. These are typical UK figures; the actual cost depends on roof height, access, the lead code required and the condition of the underlying timber or masonry.
If scaffolding is needed for safe access - which it is on most two-storey chimney jobs done properly - that adds to the cost and is worth factoring in from the start.
If you have spotted any of the warning signs above, or if you simply know your roof has not been inspected in a long time, call Haverhill Roofers to arrange a roof survey. We will get up and look at the actual condition of the lead, not just the ceiling below it, and give you a straight assessment of what needs doing and why.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
