Mildenhall Roofers installs new roofs in Littleport and the surrounding area, and this page explains what to do if your roof fails while you are waiting for a roofer - and which tasks are unsafe or counterproductive to attempt yourself.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
Replacing a pitched roof means stripping the old covering back to the timbers, inspecting the structure for rot or damage, renewing the underlay, battening out and fixing new tiles or slates. Ridge and hip details are finished in mortar or with a dry-fix mechanical system. Lead flashings at chimneys, valleys and abutments are cut and dressed correctly. The process on a flat roof - for garages, outbuildings or extensions - centres on getting the deck right and the falls correct before any membrane goes on, whether that is EPDM rubber or a torch-on felt system.
A new roof installed properly will perform reliably for many years. The quality of the underlay, fixings and flashing work matters just as much as the tile or slate on top. Shortcuts in any of these areas will show up in time, even if the roof looks fine on the day the scaffolding comes down.
If your roof has failed - whether through storm damage, a sudden leak or a covering that has finally given up - there will often be a gap between when the problem happens and when a roofer can assess and fix it. Knowing what to do in that window can limit damage to your property significantly.
If water is coming through the ceiling, your first priority is to protect what is below it. Move furniture, electronics and anything valuable away from the affected area. Place buckets or bowls to collect drips, but also lay down towels or old sheets around them - water that splashes out of a bucket can do as much damage as the original drip. If ceiling plaster is bulging with trapped water, keep everyone out of the room and do not poke, prod or pierce it - it can come down without warning.
Take photographs and video of the damage as it stands. This matters for any insurance claim you may make. Photograph the ceiling, any affected walls, damaged belongings and - from the ground or a bedroom window - any visible roof damage. Do this before you start clearing up, not after.
Active water ingress should be treated as urgent. Most roofing problems that are caught quickly are far cheaper to deal with than those left for days or weeks. Explain the situation clearly when you call: where the water is coming in, whether there is any visible damage on the roof, and whether the building is secure. A roofer can often advise over the phone whether a temporary fix is possible while a full repair is arranged.
In cases of serious storm damage - missing tiles over a large area, a section of roof that has been badly damaged - a heavy-duty tarpaulin fixed over the affected area can limit further water ingress until the full repair can be carried out. This is a task for a roofer with the right access equipment, not a DIY job. A tarpaulin incorrectly secured at height is a safety hazard, and one that is not fixed properly will come away in the next wind and potentially cause further damage.
The instinct to do something useful while waiting is understandable, but there are specific things that are either genuinely dangerous or that make the roofer's job harder. Here is what to avoid.
This is the most important point. Roof surfaces are not designed to be walked across, and tiles or slates can crack underfoot even if you are light on your feet and trying to be careful. The risk of slipping or putting a foot through a weak area is real. Working at height without the right equipment - a properly erected scaffold or a correctly rated ladder with a standoff - puts you at serious risk of a fall. This applies equally to pitched roofs and flat roofs, where the surface can be slippery and the deck may be weaker than it looks.
Proprietary roof sealants, bitumen compounds and waterproofing sprays are widely sold as DIY solutions. In most cases they are not. Applied incorrectly, they can make the underlying problem harder to find and repair - a roofer has to cut through and remove a compound that was painted over the actual fault before the real work can begin. In some situations they can also trap moisture, accelerating the very damage you were trying to prevent. Leave the roof surface itself alone.
It can be tempting to lift a tile above a damp patch to see what is underneath. The problem is that a leak rarely appears directly below the point of entry - water travels along rafters, battens and underlay before finding a low point to drip through. Removing tiles without the skills to relay them correctly can leave the roof in worse condition than before and may create new entry points.
If you can see moss or debris on the roof and are tempted to blast it off with a pressure washer from a ladder or through an upper window, do not. High-pressure water can force its way under tiles and into the underlay, cause surface damage to concrete tiles, and strip the protective coating from various roof materials. Moss on a roof is best dealt with by a roofer using appropriate biocide treatment.
Even if the leak seems minor, a torch inspection of the roof space will tell you much more than looking at the ceiling below. Check for daylight, damp patches on the underlay or timbers, and any staining on the rafters. If you can see any of these, note where they are relative to the layout of the roof above and report this to the roofer - it helps locate the entry point faster.
After a significant period of high winds or storms, a ground-level check of the roof from all sides of the property is sensible. Look for displaced or missing tiles, shifted ridge tiles, lifted lead flashings, or any debris that has landed on the roof. Do not climb up to investigate - report what you can see to your roofer and let them assess from the correct access. Slate and tile roofs can lose individual pieces in high winds without any underlying failure; a repair at this stage is usually straightforward if attended to quickly.
If a roofing contractor cannot give you any indication of when they can attend, or cannot offer any phone advice about limiting immediate damage, that is worth noting. A contractor who is willing to talk you through what to do while you wait - even briefly - is one who has your interest in mind, not just the job price.
We carry out new roof installations across Littleport and the wider area. We also work in Mildenhall, Barton Mills, Elveden, Icklingham, Lackford, Cavenham, Culford and the other villages in the area. For pitched and flat roofs on houses, garages, extensions and commercial buildings, call us for a roof survey and a written, itemised quote.
If your roof has failed and you need urgent advice, call us and explain the situation. We will tell you honestly what you can safely do before we get there, and when you call, ask when an inspection can be arranged.
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.
