Emergency Roof Repair Petersfield

The team refixes a single slipped tile, a lifted ridge tile or an open lap during the visit, from a roof ladder. The roof then needs no temporary cover and no return visit. A director confirms on the roof that nothing else on the slope has moved, and prices any further work before leaving.

Handmade clay tiles cover Petersfield’s historic properties and are also used for tile-hanging on their elevations. The team refixes a displaced clay tile at the eaves or the verge from a roof ladder positioned on the property, and examines the tile-hanging beneath the eaves for movement at the same time. A director confirms from the ladder that the adjoining courses are secure.

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.

Petersfield’s Victorian residential streets are uniform terraces or groups of detached and semi-detached houses, usually roofed in slate. The team reaches the displaced slates from a roof ladder positioned on the pavement or the frontage. A director inspects the ridge, the valleys and the verges in daylight 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.

Petersfield’s Arts and Crafts houses are the more substantial properties in the town. On those larger roofs a director asks on the call whether the loft is boarded, because the team traces the saturated underlay along the rafter from inside during the visit. It secures the cover on the slope above the highest saturated point, and the quotation for the permanent repair covers the full length of affected underlay.

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.

Housing estates have been added around the edges of Petersfield since the 1960s, and the team reaches an extension or garage deck on those estates from a roof ladder positioned on the plot beside the property. The team removes the standing water and patches the membrane during the visit. A director examines the upstands and the outlet before pricing the entire deck.

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.

On the Victorian and Edwardian suburban housing of Petersfield the team positions the roof ladder on the frontage and covers the fault from there. Where a valley or a gutter serves the neighbouring roof as well, a director speaks to both households before the permanent repair is priced, because the repair is completed across the party line.

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 Petersfield terrace the team positions the ladder on the pavement against the eaves of the elevation that is leaking. The team reaches a detached or semi-detached property from the frontage or from beside the house. 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. Petersfield’s roofs stand inland in a river valley, so the load on a cover is the rain lying on it and running to its lower edge. The team therefore clears the gutter and the downpipe beneath the cover before departing, so that the rain running off it discharges. 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 Petersfield service area.