Slipped tiles, cracked flashing, persistent leaks - roof repairs in Cambridge carried out properly, with the right materials for the job. We diagnose the cause, not just the symptom, and give you a clear picture of what needs doing before any work starts.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
A leaking roof rarely announces itself at a convenient time. Whether a tile has slipped after a night of wind and rain, the flashing around a chimney has cracked, or you have noticed damp on a ceiling after a heavy downpour, getting the right repair done quickly prevents a small problem from becoming a large one. We carry out roof repairs across Cambridge and the surrounding towns and villages, working on pitched roofs, flat roofs, chimney stacks, guttering, and everything in between.
Cambridge sits on a largely flat landscape, and roofs here are exposed to wind and driving rain. Frost during winter months causes mortar on chimney stacks and ridge tiles to crack and crumble over time. That process accelerates on older properties where the original mortar was lime-based and has simply reached the end of its life.
Lead flashing can lift or separate from the brickwork. When the lead pulls away, water tracks down behind it and into the wall or ceiling below. The fix is to repoint the chase in the masonry and re-dress the lead properly - a job that looks straightforward but needs to be done correctly to last.
On clay and concrete plain tiles, a single broken or slipped tile is easy to miss from ground level. But one missing tile is enough to let water into the felt below, and if that felt is old and brittle, it will not hold for long. A common pattern is for the felt to hold water temporarily and then fail, so the leak appears weeks after the actual tile damage occurred.
Flat roof sections tend to use mineral felt or EPDM rubber. Felt systems blister and crack as they age, particularly where water has been sitting. EPDM is more durable but can separate at seams and around upstands if it was not bonded or detailed correctly in the first place.
Before any repair starts, we inspect the roof to find the actual source of the problem. A ceiling stain often sits several metres away from where the water is getting in, so tracing it correctly matters. We check the tiles or slates for damage, the condition of the mortar on ridges and hips, the lead or other flashings at abutments and around chimney stacks, and the state of any flat roof sections.
Once we know what needs doing, we explain it clearly. If a few tiles have slipped and the battens beneath are sound, it may be a straightforward re-fix. If the battens are rotten or the felt has failed, the repair scope widens. We tell you what we find and what the options are, so you can make an informed decision rather than discovering extra work midway through.
Typical repair work includes:
We carry a range of tiles and slates on the van to match common Cambridge roof types, and matching like for like matters both for appearance and for the roof to perform correctly.
Clay and concrete tiles can be repaired rather than replaced if the structure and battens are in reasonable condition.
Ridge tiles are a frequent repair call. They sit at the apex of the roof and take the most exposure. Over time the mortar bedding cracks and the tiles begin to rock, letting water in. Re-bedding with a flexible mortar compound rather than a rigid sand-and-cement mix gives a longer-lasting result because it can move slightly with the roof without cracking again.
Verges - the edges of a pitched roof at the gable end - are another weak point. The traditional mortar pointing here is exposed on two faces and weathers relatively quickly. Some properties have dry-verge systems fitted as an upgrade, which remove the mortar entirely and replace it with a plastic or aluminium trim that clicks into place and requires no maintenance.
A standard mineral felt flat roof has a lifespan of roughly ten to fifteen years before it needs attention. EPDM rubber membranes last considerably longer when well installed, often twenty years or more, but they still need the seams, upstands and edges checked periodically.
Blistering on felt roofs is caused by moisture trapped within the layers during installation or by heat causing the top layer to separate. Small blisters can be cut, dried out and re-sealed. Widespread blistering or cracking generally means the felt layer needs to come off and be relaid. Patching a badly degraded felt roof may hold temporarily but is rarely a lasting solution.
For EPDM repairs, the membrane can usually be bonded back down at seams or around upstands using the appropriate contact adhesive and seam tape. A properly repaired EPDM section, if the surrounding membrane is still sound, should give many more years of service.
Chimneys are often the first part of a roof to show wear. The stack sits proud of the roofline and is exposed to wind, frost and rain on all four sides. Mortar between the bricks - the pointing - deteriorates and needs raking out and replacing every few decades on older stacks. The flaunching, which is the sloped mortar bed the chimney pot sits in, also cracks and can allow water into the stack itself.
The flashings where the chimney meets the roof slope are equally important. A typical Cambridge chimney will have lead soakers and step flashings on the uphill faces, and a lead back gutter or apron on the downhill face. When these fail - through oxidisation, movement, or poor original workmanship - the result is a persistent leak that can be difficult to trace. Proper leadwork here makes a real difference to how long the repair lasts.
A botched repair can cause more damage than the original problem. Mortar that is too rigid will crack again within a season. Tiles that are re-fixed without checking the battens beneath will slip again. Lead that is simply pushed back into place without being re-dressed to the chase will pull away again at the first frost.
Roof access also carries genuine risk. Working at height without the right equipment and experience is dangerous, and the roof structure itself may not be safe to walk on in the same way in every area. Hiring someone who knows how to work safely at height protects you and them.
Getting the diagnosis right the first time also saves money. Treating the symptom - repainting a ceiling, for example - while the underlying leak continues will cost more in the long run than having the roof repaired correctly once.
Simple repairs such as replacing a handful of slipped tiles typically cost in the region of £150 to £300, depending on the height of the property and the tile type. Re-bedding ridge tiles on a standard semi-detached house might cost £300 to £600. Lead flashing repairs vary widely with the extent of the work - a chimney flashing repair often falls between £250 and £500. A flat roof repair on a small extension, if the area affected is limited, might be £200 to £500; a full felt replacement on a typical kitchen extension is usually £700 to £1,500 or more depending on size and specification. These are honest typical ranges, not fixed quotes - every job is priced once we have seen it.
A typical roof repair in Cambridge costs between £150 and £600 for most common jobs such as slipped tiles, re-bedded ridges or chimney flashing work, though flat roof replacements on extensions can reach £1,500 or above depending on size and materials.
We carry out roof repairs throughout Cambridge and the surrounding area. Villages and towns we work in include Trumpington, Histon, Girton, Fen Ditton, Impington, Milton, Comberton, Cambourne, Papworth Everard, Royston and Over, as well as the city itself across the CB1 to CB5 postcode areas.
If you are in a nearby village not listed above, get in touch - if we can reach you we will tell you so straight away.
As well as roof repairs, we carry out full or partial re-roofs, chimney rebuilds, flat roof installations and guttering work. If you are not sure whether a repair or a replacement is the right route, we can inspect the roof and give you an honest assessment. There is no point paying for a full re-roof if sound repairs will see a roof through another ten or fifteen years - and equally, repeated patch repairs on a roof that has reached the end of its life are money spent twice.
A roof survey can show what is needed and what is recommended before any work begins.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
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