If you have a leak near a chimney, dormer or roof junction in Swaffham, failing lead work is one of the most likely causes.
Lead flashing, valleys and soakers sit at every point where your roof meets a vertical surface or changes direction. These are the exact spots where water finds a way in when the work has been done poorly or has simply aged beyond its useful life. A tile or slate failing is usually obvious from the ground. Failing lead is far less visible, and that's what makes it so costly when it's ignored.
Most lead failures don't announce themselves with a sudden flood. They begin quietly and often go unnoticed until water has been tracking into a roof space or wall cavity for some time. Knowing what to look for can save you a much larger repair bill later.
A damp stain on a bedroom ceiling close to the chimney breast is one of the clearest signs that step flashing or back flashing has failed. The water rarely appears directly above the entry point because it travels along timbers and rafters before dropping. If the stain appears after heavy rain, the source is almost certainly the lead detail at the stack, not a broken tile.
Chimney stacks are particularly vulnerable because they protrude through the roof slope and collect water on all four sides. The lead around a chimney must be correctly stepped to the course of the masonry, dressed into a chase cut into the mortar bed, and finished with a separate cover flashing that overlaps the upstand. When any of those details is missed or deteriorates, water gets behind the flashing and into the roof structure.
Lead expands and contracts with temperature changes. If sheets are fixed too rigidly or laid in lengths that are too long, the movement has nowhere to go and the lead buckles, lifts at the edges, or pulls away from the wall surface. A well-dressed piece of lead should sit flat and close against the surface it is protecting, with no visible gaps at the top edge. Lifted lead is not a cosmetic problem. It is an open invitation for water to track underneath.
The correct approach is to keep individual lead sheets within the lengths recommended for each code (thickness) of lead, and to use lead wedges and appropriate fixings to allow for movement without creating gaps. When you see lead that appears to be rippling or standing proud of the wall, it has been incorrectly fitted and should be replaced rather than pressed back down.
A white, chalky residue running down the brickwork below a flashing line is often a sign that water has been sitting behind the lead and leaching lime from the mortar or brick. This is called efflorescence. While it can have other causes, when it follows the line of a flashing or appears in a band below a parapet or chimney, it points strongly to lead failure or inadequate pointing in the chase.
The chase is the slot cut into the mortar bed to accept the top edge of the flashing. Over time, the pointing in this chase cracks and falls away, leaving a gap that directs water straight behind the lead. This is especially common on older chimney stacks where the original lime mortar has weathered significantly. Repointing the chase and re-fixing the flashing is a separate job from simply replacing cracked pointing elsewhere on the stack, and it requires knowledge of how the flashing is dressed to avoid disturbing the waterproof seal.
If you can access your loft safely after a heavy downpour, look for fresh damp patches on the underside of the roof deck, particularly around the chimney or any dormer structures. Staining that has dried to a tide mark tells you water has been present repeatedly. Fresh damp means an active leak. In either case, the source needs to be found and repaired before any internal decoration is touched, or the problem will simply return through the new plaster or paint.
Understanding why lead fails helps you ask the right questions when you are getting the job done. The most common causes are:
If you can see lifted or cracked lead from the ground, or if you have a damp patch inside that appears after rain, do not wait until the problem spreads. Water tracking into roof timbers causes rot, and rot is far more expensive to fix than the lead work that should have been replaced earlier.
For a proper assessment of the lead work on your property in Swaffham, call Brandon Roofers and ask for a roof survey. We will tell you plainly what needs doing and what can wait.
A lead work repair or replacement job typically starts with stripping the old material back to expose the full extent of any damage beneath. Any soft or rotten timber is addressed before new lead goes on. The new lead is cut and dressed on site, not pre-bent off the van, because every roof detail is slightly different in angle and dimension. The chase is re-cut or cleaned out, the lead is fixed, wedged and pointed, and the whole detail is checked for tight contact before we leave.
Prices vary with the scope of work. A straightforward chimney re-flash on a semi-detached house is a different scale of job from re-leading a full valley or a flat roof perimeter. We will always tell you exactly what we have found and what we propose before starting work.
No obligation · We usually respond within 2 hours
Storm damage, active leak, damaged ridge - we aim to be on-site within 24 hours.
