Roof leak in heavy rain: what to do
By PrimeFix247 Ltd,
Manchester gets a lot of rain, and every autumn a proportion of it ends up inside people’s houses. A roof leak during a storm has an unpleasant urgency about it: the water is coming in now, and the source is somewhere you cannot see and should not go. This guide is about what you can do from inside, and what you should leave to us.
Do not go on the roof
We will say this first because it matters most. A wet roof in the dark, in wind, is dangerous for people who do it every day with the right equipment. It is far more dangerous for anyone else. Every year people are seriously hurt trying to put a tarpaulin over a leak in a storm. Nothing on your roof is worth that. The same applies to leaning out of a loft window or standing on a flat roof to look.
Contain the water inside
Put a bucket, bowl or bin under the drip. If the water is spreading across a ceiling rather than dripping from one point, it is collecting on the plasterboard, and the ceiling may be starting to bulge. Move furniture, rugs and anything electrical out from underneath, and do not stand under a bulging ceiling. Plasterboard holding water can come down in one piece.
If the water is coming through or near a light fitting, do not touch the fitting or switch the light on. If it is running down a wall towards sockets, do not use them. If it is anywhere near the consumer unit, leave the unit alone and tell us. We can bring an electrician alongside the roofer.
If you have a loft, and you can get into it safely, put a bucket under the drip up there and move stored belongings away from it. Do not walk on the joists between boards, and do not touch any wiring you find. If the loft has no boards or lighting, leave it.
Work out roughly where it is coming from
You do not need to be certain, but a few clues help us. Is the leak near a chimney, a Velux, the edge of the roof, or in the middle of a room? Did it start with this storm, or has there been a stain growing for weeks? Is the wind from a particular direction? Water travels along rafters and felt before it drops, so the wet patch is often some distance from the actual hole, but the pattern still tells us a lot.
What we can do in a storm
Be realistic about this. In heavy rain and high wind we cannot safely work on a pitched roof either, and we will not put an engineer up there in conditions that could injure them. What we can do at any hour is attend, assess from the ground and from inside, secure anything that is at risk of coming down, deal with the inside of the house, and be on the roof the moment conditions allow, which is often at first light.
Where access is safe, we make a temporary repair on the first visit. That might be replacing slipped or broken slates, sealing a flashing, clearing a blocked valley or gutter that is forcing water back under the tiles, or sheeting over a damaged area properly. A permanent repair follows in daylight when we can see the whole roof.
The usual causes
On the Victorian and Edwardian terraces across the city, the most common leaks are slipped or cracked slates, failed lead flashing around chimneys, and blocked or broken gutters that overflow back into the wall. On the thirties semis of Cheadle and Sale, it is often the valley between two roof pitches, or the felt under the tiles, which has perished. On flat roofs it is ponding, splits at the edges, and failed joints. Most of these are cheap to fix and expensive to ignore.
Insurance
Storm damage is normally covered; gradual wear is normally not. Photograph the inside damage before you clear up, and photograph the roof from the ground if you can do so safely. We provide a written description of what we found and what we did, which is what assessors ask for. Our insurance work page explains what we supply.
If water is coming in now, call the emergency line on 07893 933403.
Questions people ask
Can a roofer fix a leak while it is still raining?
Not on a pitched roof in heavy rain and high wind; it is unsafe for us as well as for you. What we can do at any hour is attend, assess from the ground and inside, secure anything at risk of coming down, protect the inside of the house and be on the roof as soon as conditions allow, often at first light. Where access is safe, a temporary repair happens on the first visit.
Why is the wet patch nowhere near the damage on the roof?
Water runs along rafters, battens and felt before it finds a place to drop, so the stain on the ceiling can be some distance from the actual hole. That is why we ask whether the leak is near a chimney, a Velux, a valley or the edge of the roof, and which way the wind was blowing. The pattern usually points us to the right area before we go up.
Will insurance cover a storm roof leak?
Storm damage is normally covered; gradual wear such as perished felt or old flashing normally is not, and the distinction is the assessor's call. Photograph the inside damage before you clear up, and the roof from the ground only if that is safe. We provide a written description of what we found and what we did.
