Emergency Roof Repair Hayling Island

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 housing that makes up the bulk of the island’s stock the team clears the gutter and the outlet from a roof ladder positioned on the plot and examines the downpipe and the fascia brackets that carry the gutter. It clears the outlet on the sheltered elevation as well 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.

Hayling Island’s roofs take the prevailing south-westerly wind on their south- and west-facing slopes, so a gale usually opens the verge or lifts the courses there. A director inspects those slopes and their verges in daylight and prices the permanent repair from the ladder.

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.

On the sheltered harbour shorelines of Hayling Island the wind does not drive a leak in, so a slow leak there usually shows only after prolonged rain. The team traces the wet underlay along the rafter from inside during the visit and records the extent of the saturated insulation 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.

On the open coast on the Solent side of Hayling Island the team reaches an extension or garage deck from a roof ladder positioned on the plot. It clears the standing water, then patches the membrane once it has examined the windward upstand and the outlet. Wind off the open coast drives rain against that upstand. A director quotes for the whole deck before the team leaves.

Where the household is a tenant, the team makes the roof safe first. A director then confirms with whoever holds authority for the property before pricing the permanent repair. An empty property needs a key-holder to meet the team, because the loft is reached from inside.

Hayling Island is a holiday centre as well as a residential island, so the property is sometimes unoccupied when the call is made. A director confirms with the owner or the letting agent who will meet the team with a key. Where the key-holder cannot attend at once, the team makes the roof safe from the ladder first.

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. The team positions the ladder on the plot beside the property, against the eaves and the fascia of the elevation that is leaking. Where the water is entering on the seaward side, the team works that elevation first. 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. Strong prevailing south-westerly winds load the south- and west-facing slopes of a Hayling Island roof, so wind lifts any loose edge of a cover on those slopes. The team therefore fixes the windward edges of the cover along their full length before departing. 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 Hayling Island service area.