Roof repairs in Bedford

A leak does not always mean a new roof

One Bedford job sums up how we work. A 1980s house had water coming in by the chimney. It would have been easy to quote for a lot more, but the problem was local: the lead around the stack had failed and about a metre of felt beneath it had gone. We replaced the lead and that strip of felt, and the leak stopped. The customer said afterwards that we had told them there was no need for loads of unnecessary work. That is the point of a repair.

What we check when you ring about a leak

1. Where the water shows inside. The stain on the ceiling is rarely right under the hole, so we start in the loft if we can.
2. The flashings first. Chimneys, abutment walls and valleys are where most leaks start.
3. The tiles or slates. Cracked, slipped or missing ones, and what the wind has lifted.
4. The felt and battens. If the felt has rotted, a new tile on top will not fix anything.

Repairs we do every week around Bedford

• Slipped and broken tiles and slates replaced and matched
• Ridge tiles refixed, or the ridge changed to a dry ridge system
• Cement verges rebedded with a new undercloak, or swapped for dry verge
• Eaves support trays fitted where the felt has collapsed into the gutter
• Lead flashing renewed at chimneys and walls

For a small repair, we often work from our own tower scaffold, which keeps the cost of access down compared with a full scaffold.

When it cannot wait

We run a 24-hour call-out for leaks and storm damage. One customer in MK41 rang about a leak and had a roofer out the next day, with scaffold up the day after. We cannot promise that every time, but we will tell you on the phone exactly when we can come. If the roof needs making safe first, we do that, then quote the proper repair.

What your quote tells you

You get photos of what we found and a written quote that says what we will do, what it needs, and what can safely wait. If the roof is past repairing, we will say so plainly rather than keep patching it.