Emergency Roof Repair Portsmouth

A director establishes on arrival where the water is entering before anything is covered. An overflowing gutter, a blocked outlet behind a parapet or a failed seal at a pipe lets water into a house as quickly as a defect in the covering itself. The team clears a blocked gutter or outlet during the visit, so that fault needs no cover and no quotation.

On the post-war council estate at Paulsgrove the team clears the gutter and the outlet from a roof ladder positioned against the eaves. It then examines the downpipe, the fascia and the soffit beneath them, and removes any silt accumulated along the gutter run behind the outlet before departing.

The team covers the opening and refixes every loose course the ladder reaches during the visit. The permanent repair is priced as storm damage once the whole slope can be seen in daylight, because a gale that lifted one course has usually loosened the ones around it. Where the visit falls in daylight, a director quotes on the roof and the team often completes the repair before it leaves.

On Portsmouth’s Victorian terraced streets the team refixes the loosened courses above the eaves and at the verge from a roof ladder positioned on the pavement. A director inspects the ridge, its mortar and the chimney flashings in daylight from the same ladder before the permanent repair is priced.

A leak that has shown for weeks and is now water on the floor has usually soaked the insulation above the ceiling first. The team therefore makes safe an area larger than the point of entry. We trace and price the permanent roof leak repair once the roof is dry, because water travels a long way along a rafter before it shows.

Parts of Portsmouth’s Victorian terraces were replaced by council housing during the 1960s and 1970s. On that housing the team lifts the saturated insulation aside during the visit and follows the wet underlay along the rafter to its highest point. It secures the cover on the slope above that point, and a director records the extent of the saturated underlay for the permanent repair.

Water stands on a flat roof instead of running off it. The team first finds where the water is standing on the deck and clears it. A patch holds the membrane until the flat roof repair is completed, and that repair is priced on the whole deck, because water that has stood on the membrane has usually penetrated beneath it beyond the patch.

The team reaches an extension or garage deck on one of the city’s post-war council estates from a roof ladder positioned on the plot. The team removes the standing water and patches the membrane, then examines the outlet and the upstands for the quotation. A director provides that quotation on the visit where the entire deck can be inspected.

On a terrace or a semi-detached pair the water often enters on one side of the party line and shows on the other. A shared valley drains both roofs. The team covers the fault where it is, whichever side that is, and we ask the household to tell the neighbour, because the permanent repair needs both households to agree.

Where the fault lies on one of Portsmouth’s Victorian terraced streets, a director confirms with the household which neighbouring property the valley or the gutter run also serves. The team covers the opening from a roof ladder, on whichever side of the party wall it lies.

A director takes the call and asks:

• where the water is showing inside
• whether it is still coming in
• how the roof is reached from the plot
• whether the loft can be reached from inside

From those answers a director decides which ladders the van carries and which elevation the team attends first. While the team travels, stay off the roof. Position a bucket or a container beneath the leak and move furniture and anything stored beneath it. Leave the tiles, slates and underlay where they are, because the team lifts and refixes them from the roof ladder during the visit.

On arrival the van stops on the road, leaving your driveway clear for the ladder. A director confirms with you where the ladder is footed, whether a side gate reaches the rear elevation and whether the loft hatch is accessible. The team works from the roof ladder and from the loft, and no scaffold is erected for an emergency. Where the ladder cannot reach the defect safely, in darkness or in high wind, the team makes safe from the loft and returns to the elevation once the ladder can be positioned.

The team secures the cover to sound material on every edge and carries it considerably beyond the opening. The water lying on the cover and the wind beneath it cannot then displace it. Where the opening sits at a ridge, a chimney stack or a valley, the cover extends over the apron or the flashing as well as the slope, because the detail above discharges water onto the opening. Before the team leaves, a director explains what the cover will withstand and what it will not.

A director prices what the slope, the ridge, the flashings and the gutters reveal during the visit. It is a free, no-obligation quote, written and itemised with no hidden extras, and nothing proceeds until you have agreed it. Where the entire slope cannot be seen safely during the visit, in darkness or high wind, the quote follows within 24 hours of the visit. The cover remains in position while you decide.

The team completes a minor repair before it leaves. A slipped tile, an open lap or a lifted lead flashing is refixed on the first visit, and the property needs no second visit. How much is completed on the first visit depends on the severity of the damage. The team schedules a more extensive repair once you have agreed the quote, then removes the temporary cover on the return visit. Where the visit showed a covering failing in more than one place, a roof inspection of the entire roof precedes the repair. The inspection establishes the condition of the whole covering, so that we do not price a repair that would be repeated.

Yes, where the hatch and the loft boards are safe to use. Collect the water in whatever container is available and move anything stored beneath the leak. Leave the covering and the underlay undisturbed, because a tile or slate displaced from below opens the roof further. Leave the roof itself to our team, which reaches it from the roof ladder during the visit.

Yes. The temporary cover is secured in the rain, because the water entering the property is the reason for the visit. Our team works from a roof ladder and the loft, and the elevation does not need to be dry for a cover to be secured. The permanent repair is scheduled for a dry roof, and a director confirms the date with you when the quotation is accepted.

From a roof ladder positioned on the property and from the loft; no scaffold is erected for an emergency. On a terrace the team positions the ladder on the pavement, against the eaves of the leaking elevation. Where the property is detached, the team positions the ladder on the plot beside it. The plots on Portsea Island are level, and a director confirms on arrival where the ladder can be positioned and which elevation it reaches. Where neither the ladder nor the loft reaches the defect safely, the team makes safe from inside. It returns to the elevation once it can be reached safely.

Yes, for the conditions it was secured for. The team secures the cover to sound material beyond the opening, and a director explains before leaving the limit of what it will withstand. Portsmouth’s roofs stand on low-lying coastal ground open to the Solent, so wind drives rain beneath the edge of a cover on a seaward slope. The team therefore secures the seaward edge of the cover along its full length. It clears the gutter beneath the cover before leaving, so that the water discharges instead of lying against the opening. If conditions deteriorate beyond what the cover was secured for, contact us and the team returns.

Often, yes. The team refixes a slipped tile, an open lap or a lifted lead flashing before it leaves. Where a director can see the whole fault in daylight, the quote is given on the roof and the repair completed the same day. How much is done on the first visit depends on how severe the damage is. A slope a gale has opened, a leak that has soaked the insulation or a roof that cannot be reached safely is covered first. That repair is quoted within 24 hours of the visit and carried out once you have agreed the quote. We attend emergency call-outs everywhere in our Portsmouth service area.