If your roof in Littleport has failed or is failing and you are waiting for a roofer to arrive, knowing what to do - and what not to attempt yourself - can prevent a bad situation from getting worse.
A roof failure that is allowing water into the property feels urgent, and it is. But the instinct to get up there and fix it yourself is almost always the wrong one. Working at height without the right equipment and training is dangerous, and the most common DIY attempts at roof repairs - temporary tarps, sealant applied to wet surfaces, or repositioning slipped tiles from a ladder - frequently create new problems alongside the original one.
The most useful thing you can do while waiting for a qualified roofer is to limit the damage inside the property, document what is happening, and make sure the area underneath any active leak is safe and protected.
If water is coming through the ceiling or down a wall, your priority is to stop it causing secondary damage. Place bowls, buckets or plastic sheeting to catch dripping water and protect flooring, furniture and electrics. If water is tracking across a ceiling and pooling at one point, the source of the leak may be some distance away on the roof - water follows the underside of a ceiling joist or the pitch of a roof slope before finding a way through.
If the ceiling appears to be bulging or bowing under collected water, there is a risk of it giving way suddenly. A small, controlled release - piercing the lowest point of the bulge with a screwdriver into a bucket - is safer than letting the weight build until the ceiling drops. Only do this if you are confident the water in the bulge is rain water and not anywhere near electrical fittings.
Turn off any electrical circuits that serve lighting or sockets in the affected area. Water and live electrics are a serious hazard, and ceiling roses in particular can collect water before it becomes visible. If you are uncertain, switch off at the consumer unit and call an electrician as well as a roofer.
The list of DIY interventions that make a roof situation worse is long. These are the most common ones:
There are practical steps that genuinely help the situation and make the roofer's job easier when they arrive.
Take photographs. Record the visible damage from the ground - slipped tiles, lifted flashing, cracked ridge, missing sections - and photograph any water ingress inside. If you can safely access the loft, photograph damp patches on the underlay, wet timbers or daylight visible through the covering. These images help the roofer understand the extent of the problem before they go up, and are useful if you need to make an insurance claim.
Make a note of when the problem started and what the weather has been like. A roofer arriving after a dry spell may not be able to see active water ingress, and knowing the pattern of when it appears helps them trace the source accurately.
Clear the area around the property beneath the affected section of roof. If tiles have slipped or could slip, the ground directly below is a danger zone. Keep children and pets away from that area. If a tile has already fallen and landed on a path or driveway, remove it and note where it fell.
If the assessment when the roofer arrives is that the roof needs a full replacement rather than a repair, the process follows a clear sequence. All the old covering - tiles or slates, battens and underlay membrane - is stripped back to the bare rafters. The timber structure is then inspected for rot, woodworm and movement. Any damaged sections are replaced before anything goes back on top.
A new breathable membrane is laid from eaves to ridge. Battens are fixed through the membrane into the rafters. The new covering is then fixed in courses from the eave upward. Flashings at chimneys, walls and any roof windows are replaced or re-dressed in lead. The ridge is finished with either a flexible mortar bed or a dry-fix mechanical system. Once complete, the scaffold comes down and all material is cleared from the site.
For pitched roofs, the main options are concrete interlocking tiles, natural slate (Welsh or Spanish) and plain clay tiles. The right choice depends on the property type, any planning or conservation requirements, and the weight the existing structure can carry. Switching between tile types - particularly from concrete to natural slate, which is lighter - may require the batten centres to be adjusted.
For flat or very low-pitch sections on extensions, garages and bay roofs, the practical options are a torch-on multi-layer felt system or an EPDM rubber membrane. EPDM bonds to the deck as a single sheet with no joins across the main field, which removes a common source of flat roof failure. Both systems are well-established and widely used.
A common problem is rafter damage that only becomes visible once the covering is off. Leaks that have been present for years, even small ones, can cause localised rot in rafters and ridge boards that shows no obvious sign from inside the loft until the timber is probed. A roofer carrying out a full replacement should be checking every rafter as the strip-out progresses, not just the areas where damage is obvious.
Another common issue is chimney stacks that have been poorly maintained. Cracked or open joints in the brickwork, loose pots and failed flaunching (the mortar fillet around the base of the pot) allow water into the stack independently of the flashing. A new flashing on a stack with open mortar joints will still leak. The masonry should be checked and repointed as part of the work.
Flat roof sections adjoining the main pitched roof are another area that benefits from attention during a replacement. The junction between a flat and pitched section is a common point of water ingress if the upstand and flashing are not properly detailed.
Brandon Roofers carries out roof replacements in Littleport and the surrounding area, including Thetford, Mundford, Feltwell, Methwold, Lakenheath, Weeting, Hockwold cum Wilton and neighbouring villages. If your roof needs an urgent survey, call us to book one and get a written quote before any work begins.
No obligation · We usually respond within 2 hours
Storm damage, active leak, damaged ridge - we aim to be on-site within 24 hours.
