Lead Work in Kedington

Expert Lead Work
in Kedington

What lead work is and where it sits on your roof

Lead is used to seal the joints between a roof surface and anything that passes through or abuts it. Chimneys, dormer walls, parapet walls, and the valleys between two pitches are all sealed with lead. Flashings, soakers, aprons and valleys are the specific forms it takes. When any of these fail, water gets in, and because the entry point is often not directly above the damp patch that appears inside, tracking the source can take time.

Lead is the right material for these junctions because it is malleable, durable and, when correctly installed, it moves with the structure as temperatures change without cracking. Correctly fitted lead work, in the right code of sheet for the position, lasts decades. The failures that appear on houses are almost always the result of age, original poor installation, mortar deterioration around the fixing, or a previous repair that was never going to hold long term.

A common problem: how lead fails on chimneys

On chimneys, the most common failure point is the mortar joint that holds the top edge of the flashing into the brickwork. This joint is called the raggle joint, and it is raked out to a depth of around 25mm to receive the lead. Over time, the mortar in this joint weathers, shrinks and eventually falls away, allowing the flashing to lift at the top. Once that top edge lifts, water gets behind the lead rather than being shed in front of it.

A secondary failure type is the lead itself splitting or thinning. Lead sheet that was installed at Code 3, which is below the minimum recommended for exposed flashings, will crack along the folds and at the dressed edges within ten to fifteen years. When lead has split, sealant or tape applied over the crack will hold temporarily but will not address the underlying thinness of the sheet. Replacement is the only lasting solution.

What to do while you wait for a roofer

If you have noticed a damp patch near a chimney breast, a dormer or a roof junction, and a roofer cannot attend for a few days, there are practical steps that will limit further damage while you wait. None of them fix the flashing, but they reduce the consequences of a continued leak.

• Contain any water coming in. Put a bucket or absorbent towels under any active drip point. If water is tracking across a ceiling, find where it is collecting before it saturates the plasterboard through to the room below.
• Protect what you can. Move furniture, electronics or stored belongings away from the damp area. Water that appears to be coming through a ceiling can spread laterally further than you expect.
• If there is a loft space, go up and look. You may be able to see where water is entering the roof structure. A wet rafter, a dripping timber or a wet patch on the underside of the felt can tell you a lot. Take a photograph; it is useful information for the roofer when they arrive.
• Check whether the drip point changes during or after heavy rain. Note this for the roofer. Flashings that fail only during driven rain from a particular direction, as opposed to steady vertical rainfall, suggests that the lead is lifting rather than split.
• If you can see the roof from a window or from a safe vantage point, take a photograph of the flashing area. Do not attempt to get onto the roof yourself.

What not to do yourself

This section matters as much as the advice above. A significant number of lead flashing problems are made worse by DIY attempts to fix them before a roofer arrives, and some of those attempts create new problems.

• Do not get on the roof. This is the most important point. Roof surfaces are slippery, particularly when damp, and the consequences of a fall are severe. There is no lead flashing problem that is worth that risk.
• Do not apply silicone sealant or mastic to the flashing from the ground or through a window. Applied incorrectly, sealant can trap water behind the flashing rather than directing it away, and can make the roofer's job harder by obscuring the true extent of the failure.
• Do not attempt to press or tap the flashing back against the wall from inside the loft. Lead that has lifted has usually done so because the fixing into the mortar joint has failed. Pushing it back from behind does not resecure it, and may crack it.
• Do not pour water along the junction to test whether it leaks. Water forced under pressure into a junction behaves differently from rainfall, and you risk pushing water deeper into the structure than the existing leak already reaches.
• If water is coming down the inside of a chimney flue, do not light a fire. A damp flue can cause problems with combustion gases and may crack the flue lining further if heated while wet.

What the roofer will do when they arrive

A roofer attending a lead work problem will first inspect the flashing from the roof surface, not from ground level. That means getting up close to the junction, checking the condition and thickness of the existing lead, the state of the mortar joint above it, and the condition of the tiles, slates or felt nearby. A quote given without that inspection is not a reliable one.

Once the cause is established, the roofer should give you a clear explanation of what has failed and why, what the repair or replacement involves, and what it will cost. For a chimney flashing repair where the lead is sound but the mortar joint has failed, the cost typically runs from £150 to £300. A full flashing replacement on a standard domestic chimney stack runs from around £400 to £700. Valley replacement, depending on length and access, runs from £500 to over £1,000. These are indicative ranges; exact costs depend on the specific detail and what is found when the lead is stripped back.

Lead work as part of a broader roof repair

When lead is failing, it is worth asking the roofer to carry out a broader check of the roof while they are up there. Flashing problems are sometimes accompanied by slipped or cracked tiles nearby, eroded ridge mortar, or deteriorating felt visible at the eaves. Catching these at the same time saves the cost of a second visit.

We carry out lead work and broader roof repairs for homes in Kedington and across the surrounding area, including Haverhill and nearby towns and villages such as Sudbury, Saffron Walden and Halstead. Call us to arrange a roof survey in Kedington and we will inspect the detail properly before giving you a quote.