If you've spotted damp patches, staining, or lifted flashing near a chimney or dormer in Ickburgh, the lead work is the most likely culprit.
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Lead is the material roofers have trusted for centuries, and for good reason. When it's fitted correctly and in the right weight, it moves with the building through heat and cold without splitting or pulling away. When it's fitted poorly - or when an old repair has simply reached the end of its life - water finds a way in, often in places that are hard to trace back to the source.
At Brandon Roofers, we carry out lead flashing, valleys, soakers, and all associated lead detailing for homes in Ickburgh and the surrounding area, working to BS EN 12588 standards. Lead work is one of the most skilled parts of roofing, and cutting corners on it is one of the most common reasons homeowners end up dealing with repeat leaks.
Lead failures rarely appear all at once. More often, they develop quietly over months or even years before water damage becomes visible inside the property. Knowing what to look for on the outside of the roof - or from inside your loft - can mean the difference between a straightforward repair and a much costlier job.
Understanding the cause matters, because treating only the symptom leads to repeat jobs. The most common reasons lead work deteriorates are straightforward, but each one needs a different approach to fix properly.
Wrong lead code for the application. Lead is graded by thickness and weight, from Code 3 through to Code 8. Using a lighter code than the job demands - Code 3 where Code 4 or 5 is needed, for example - means the lead will fail much sooner. This is a common mistake made when price is the only consideration at the time of installation.
Sections that are too long. Lead expands when warm and contracts when cold. If a single piece is run too long without a proper drip or lap joint to accommodate movement, it will eventually split or pull away from its fixing. The Lead Sheet Association publishes recommended maximum lengths; a roofer who ignores them is storing up problems.
Incorrect fixing. Lead flashing needs to be clipped or wedged and pointed into a proper mortar chase. Simply bedding it in mastic or pushing it under a tile without securing it is a shortcut that rarely lasts more than a couple of years.
Mortar failure. Even correctly installed lead will eventually fail if the mortar pointing the flashing into the masonry joint cracks and falls away. This happens through frost action and general weathering. Re-pointing the chase and re-securing the lead solves it, but the underlying mortar quality matters too.
Age and fatigue. Lead does have a long service life when installed correctly, but it is not indefinite. On older properties, lead that has been in place for many decades may have thinned through natural oxidation or may simply have reached the point where patching is no longer a practical solution.
Poor previous repairs. Sealant-only repairs - where someone has run a bead of mastic or bitumen tape over a failed flashing rather than replacing it - often fail within a season or two. They can also trap moisture behind them, making the underlying problem worse.
The chimney stack is the single most likely source of a lead-related leak on a typical pitched roof. A properly detailed stack has several separate lead components: the apron (or front apron) at the base facing down the slope, step flashings up each side, a back gutter where the stack meets the upper slope, and soakers beneath the step flashings. Each of these is a potential failure point.
When a chimney is no longer in use, it still needs to be maintained. An unused flue that has been capped but not properly sealed around the base can still admit water through failing flashings. If the stack has been reduced in height, the flashings may have been disturbed in the process and may not have been reinstated correctly.
Dormer windows introduce multiple junctions between a vertical wall and a sloping or flat roof surface. Lead is the correct material for these details, and the cheeks (the sides of a dormer) typically need step or cover flashings to keep water out where the cladding meets the tile. A common failure here is a flashing that has been cut too short or has not been turned up far enough at the top to form a proper upstand.
Where a lean-to or flat-roofed extension meets a house wall, a lead cover flashing over the top edge of the flat roof membrane is essential. Without it - or if the original one has lifted - water tracks behind the membrane and into the wall.
A sound lead job starts with a proper inspection - not just of the visible flashing but of the mortar chase, the underlying roof structure, and the condition of any soakers or liners beneath. We cut out failed mortar, re-dress or replace the lead as needed, use the correct lead code for the position, and re-point into a clean mortar chase. All fixings are checked before we finish.
If you have noticed any of the warning signs above on your Ickburgh property, call us to arrange a roof survey. We will tell you exactly what is failing and what needs to be done, without any obligation to proceed.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
