Emergency Roof Repair Winchester

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.

The post-war terraces at Highcliffe occupy the open side of the spur with very limited tree cover, so a gale reaches the elevation unbroken. The team refixes every course the ladder reaches from the front garden, and a director inspects the ridge, the verges and the flashings in daylight.

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.

In the slated Victorian properties of Fulflood and St Giles’ Hill the team traces the saturated rafter and underlay from inside the roofspace. It follows the saturation to the dormer cheek or the chimney stack above, then secures the temporary cover above the highest saturated point.

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 Badger Farm estates of the 1980s and 1990s occupy small to medium plots, so the team reaches an extension roof from beside the property. It clears the standing water from the deck, examines the upstands and patches the membrane during the visit.

Water enters a house at a chimney in three places: the flashing and apron at its base, the flaunching and pointing at its top, and the flue itself in driving rain. The team covers the stack and the apron during the visit. A director establishes which of the three is at fault, and the team refixes a lifted flashing during the visit where the ladder reaches it.

At St Cross the tall brick chimneys of the Victorian properties extend well above the slated elevation, so the ladder does not always reach the flaunching. The team covers the stack and the apron where the ladder reaches them, and otherwise makes the property safe from the loft beneath the stack.

We erect no scaffold for an emergency. Where the team cannot reach the roof safely from a ladder, in darkness or in high wind, it works from the loft. It catches the water and moves what is stored beneath the leak, and the roof side is made safe as soon as the roof can be reached.

In the western suburb at Oram’s Arbour and Fulflood the lanes are narrow and the properties step down a steep gradient. The ladder cannot always be positioned level against a two-and-a-half-storey elevation there, so the team works from the loft until it can be positioned.

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. In the walled core and the western suburb the team carries the ladder in from the nearest position the van can occupy. On the post-war estates and at Badger Farm it positions the ladder against the eaves from the front garden or the plot beside the property. 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. Beneath the mature garden trees of Weeke, Teg Down and Oliver’s Battery, leaf litter settling on the cover retains water at the opening. The team therefore clears the gutter and the downpipe beneath the cover before leaving. At Highcliffe, on the open side of the spur, there is very little tree cover to shelter the cover from the wind. The team secures every edge to sound material there and re-inspects the cover from the ladder before leaving. 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 Winchester service area.