Emergency Roof Repairs in Ely

How we handle emergency roof repairs

When your roof fails and water is getting in

A sudden leak, a tile gone missing after a storm, or a ridge tile lifted by the wind - these are problems to deal with before more water gets in. Water finding its way past the roof covering will reach the underlay, the battens and, if it continues, the timber structure and your ceilings. The sooner a roofer can assess the damage and carry out make-safe work, the smaller the repair bill tends to be.

We cover Ely and the surrounding villages.

How to tell whether a leak is urgent

Not every drip is an emergency, but some situations need action without delay on your part. If you can see water running down a wall or ceiling, if there is a patch of ceiling that is sagging or bulging, or if tiles are visibly missing or shifted, treat it as urgent. A wet ceiling that bulges is holding a quantity of water and can come down without warning. Keep people out of the room and do not poke or prod it.

Damage to lead flashings around chimneys, skylights or where a roof meets a wall can let in surprising amounts of water during rain. A split or lifted flat-roof membrane has the same effect. If you are unsure, ring us and describe what you can see.

Keeping safe and limiting the damage

The most important rule: do not go onto the roof yourself. Even a gentle pitch is slippery when wet, and an emergency is not the moment to discover that. Everything useful can be done from inside or from the ground.

• Put buckets or towels under any drips and move belongings, furniture and anything electrical away from the affected area.
• If water is near a light fitting, socket, switch or the consumer unit, do not touch any of them. If the consumer unit is dry and you can reach it without going near any water, turn off the main switch, not just the circuit for one room. If there is any doubt, leave it and call a qualified electrician.
• Take photographs of the damage inside and outside - time-stamped photos are valuable if you need to make an insurance claim.
• If you can see where water is entering from the ground (a missing tile, lifted ridge, gap in the flashing), note it so you can describe it clearly when you call.
• Move vehicles and anything valuable away from the outside of the house if roof material could fall.

Temporary make-safe work: tarpaulins and temporary sheeting

In many emergency situations, the first visit is about stopping water getting in, not carrying out the full permanent repair. A roofer may fix a heavy-duty tarpaulin or temporary sheeting over the affected area to protect the building while materials are sourced or while the full extent of the damage is assessed properly.

Temporary work is not the same as the finished repair, and it does not always look tidy. Its job is to keep water out until the permanent work can be done. The cost and practicality of temporary work depends on access: a single slipped tile on a low roof with easy ladder access is a different job from storm damage across a large, steep or high roof where scaffolding is needed first. Scaffolding affects both the timeline and the cost of emergency work, and your roofer will talk you through what is needed before any work begins.

Common emergency faults by roof type

Pitched roofs with clay or slate: Plain clay tiles are double-lapped, meaning one missing tile does not leave a straight-through hole, but water will still reach the underlay and battens underneath. Slates work the same way - they are double-lapped and have no nibs, held only by nails. When slate nails corrode and fail (known as nail sickness), slates slip or fall. Not all older roofs were built with an underlay beneath the tiles, so on some properties a gap goes straight to the roof timbers.

Pitched roofs with concrete interlocking tiles: These tiles are single-lapped, so a missing or cracked tile leaves a more direct path for water. They are also heavier, so a loose or slipped tile poses a risk to anyone below.

Ridge tiles: On older roofs, ridge tiles are bedded in mortar. That mortar can crack, crumble or detach over many years, and wind can lift or shift a ridge tile entirely. Newer roofs often use a dry-fix ridge system with mechanical fixings rather than mortar. A lifted or displaced ridge tile should be treated as urgent because it exposes the ridge board and the tops of the tile courses beneath it.

Lead flashings: Lead is used around chimneys, in valleys, behind parapet walls and where the roof meets a vertical surface. Lifted lead can sometimes be dressed back into place. Cracked or split lead needs replacing. Failed flashing is one of the most common causes of persistent leaks that seem to come from nowhere obvious.

Flat roofs: A split or lifted membrane lets water straight through. Standing water on a flat roof is a sign that outlets are blocked or that the fall is insufficient - both put the membrane under stress and accelerate failure.

Valleys and gutters: A blocked valley, gutter or downpipe can cause water to back up under the roof covering and appear as an indoor leak. This is worth bearing in mind when trying to trace where a leak is coming from - the entry point indoors is not always directly below the fault on the roof.

After a leak: what a roofer checks

Fixing the visible fault is only part of the job. After any significant leak, a thorough roofer will check the underlay and battens for saturation and rot, look at the roof timbers for signs of moisture damage, and assess whether any insulation has been soaked. Wet insulation loses its effectiveness and can hold moisture against the timbers for months if not replaced.

The visible cause of a leak - a cracked tile, a lifted flashing - may be straightforward to fix, but the consequential damage depends on how long water has been entering.

Storm damage and your home insurance

Storm damage to a roof is often covered under a standard buildings insurance policy, but the detail matters. Insurers generally expect you to report damage promptly and most policies require you to take reasonable steps to prevent further damage - that is where temporary make-safe work comes in, so keep the receipts.

However, an insurer can and does refuse claims where their assessor decides the primary cause was wear and tear rather than the storm itself - in other words, if the roof was already in poor condition and the storm simply exposed that. Insurers typically judge whether a storm qualifies by checking recorded wind speed or rainfall data for your area and date. If a claim is refused, you can take it through the insurer's formal complaints process and, if needed, to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Your photographs are important here - time and date stamped images taken as soon as possible after the storm, showing the damage to the roof and any damage inside, give your claim the strongest foundation. Speak to your insurer before authorising any permanent repair work if you intend to make a claim, as some policies require the insurer to inspect or approve the repair method first.

What affects the cost of emergency roof repairs

We are not going to quote a price here because the range is genuinely wide. The factors that drive the cost up or down are: the extent of the damage, whether scaffolding or specialist access equipment is needed, whether the work is temporary make-safe or a full permanent repair, and whether underlying timbers or underlay need replacing as well as the roof covering. A roofer can only give you a realistic figure once they have seen the roof.

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.

We cover Ely and the surrounding villages - call us now and let us know what you are dealing with.