Ely Roofers carries out roof repairs in Burwell and the surrounding villages, tackling everything from slipped slates to leaking flashings with honest advice and no unnecessary upselling.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
Most roof problems do not announce themselves with a sudden collapse. They build slowly, and by the time water appears on your ceiling, the damage has often been spreading for weeks or months. Understanding the warning signs early is the difference between a straightforward repair and a much more involved job.
The most common sign homeowners in Burwell notice first is a damp patch on an upstairs ceiling, often appearing after a spell of rain. That patch is rarely directly below the source of the leak. Water travels along rafters and roof timbers before it drips, so the entry point can be a metre or more away from the stain you see.
You do not need to go onto the roof to spot many of the early indicators. A pair of binoculars and a walk around the outside of your property will reveal a lot. Look for:
Inside the loft, look for daylight showing through the roof covering, damp or stained timber, and any insulation that feels wet to the touch. Wet insulation loses most of its effectiveness and can begin to rot the timbers it sits against.
Wind is one of the biggest culprits. A strong gust gets underneath a tile that has already lost its fixing nail or whose nibs have worn, and that single tile shifts. Once a gap opens up, rain drives in horizontally and the timber sarking felt beneath takes the load. Over time the felt degrades, splits or sags, and water gets through to the structure.
Frost is the other major cause of deterioration. Water sits in small cracks in mortar, ridge bedding or the face of a clay tile. When it freezes it expands, and each freeze-thaw cycle widens the crack a little more. After a few winters, ridge mortar that once looked sound crumbles at a touch, and tiles that were slightly crazed on the surface begin to spall and break up entirely.
Leadwork fails for slightly different reasons. Lead expands and contracts with temperature changes, and where it has been fixed too rigidly - or where old lime mortar in the joint has hardened and lost flexibility - the lead cracks or pulls away at the edges. Even a small gap in the flashing around a chimney stack is enough to let water track down behind the brickwork and into the ceiling below.
Flat roof sections, common on rear extensions, fail most often at their upstands and around outlets. Felt systems become brittle over time as the bitumen dries out. EPDM rubber membranes last longer but can still peel away from their adhesive bond at the edges if the substrate was not prepared correctly when the roof was laid.
A roof repair is not a single task - it is a diagnosis followed by targeted work. The repairs we handle for homeowners in Burwell and nearby include:
A single displaced tile left for a winter can allow enough water into the roof space to soak insulation, cause timber to swell and begin to rot, and allow damp to migrate down into the ceiling board. What might have been a straightforward tile replacement and felt patch can become a job involving new timber, replacement insulation and replastering inside. The repair cost climbs significantly - typically from a few hundred pounds to well over a thousand once the secondary damage is factored in.
Ridge and hip mortar is another area where people tend to leave things too long. A crack in the pointing lets water in, the mortar softens and the ridge tile starts to rock. Once a ridge tile moves, the mechanical bond between it and its neighbour is broken and they can come off in the next significant wind. Relaying a few ridge tiles costs far less than sourcing replacements for a discontinued profile and making good the damage beneath.
Repair costs vary depending on what needs doing and how accessible the roof is. As a rough guide, replacing a small number of slipped or broken tiles typically costs in the region of £150 to £400, including making good the felt underneath if needed. Repointing or relaying a section of ridge mortar runs from around £200 to £600 depending on length. Lead flashing repairs to a chimney stack commonly fall between £200 and £500. More involved work - tracing an unexplained leak, repairing a flat roof section or carrying out chimney stack repairs including brickwork repointing - can run from £400 upwards. We will always tell you what we have found and what the options are before any work starts.
In most cases, like-for-like roof repairs do not require planning permission. If your property is listed or sits within a conservation area, you should check with the local planning authority before work begins, as there may be restrictions on the materials that can be used. We can advise on what we have seen asked for in practice, but the formal decision on permission rests with the planning authority.
Yes. Loose or displaced ridge tiles are a common post-storm job. The old mortar is cut out, the tile is cleaned and re-bedded with fresh mortar, and the pointing is made good. Where a mechanical dry-fix system is a better long-term solution, we can discuss that option with you at the same time.
Yes. We will assess what is there honestly and tell you what needs doing, regardless of who carried out the original work.
Explain the situation when you call, so that the urgency can be judged straight away.
As well as Burwell, we work across the surrounding villages and towns. If you are not sure whether we cover your area, just call and ask.
If you have spotted something on your roof that does not look right, or you have a damp patch inside that you cannot explain, call us to arrange a roof survey. We will get eyes on it, tell you honestly what we find and give you a clear price for the repair.
No obligation · We'll call you to arrange a free visit
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
