Service
Roof Repairs in BathTraced, Explainedand Priced in Writing
Stop a small leak turning into a ceiling, a rewire and a redecoration. We find the actual source, tell you what it will cost before we start, and fix it once.
22 years' experience · Established 2004 · £1,000,000 public liability
22 years' experience
Established 2004
Fixed-price quotes
Agreed in writing, not a day rate
£1,000,000 public liability
Insured for your protection
Emergency call-out
Available when a roof cannot wait
Overview
What Roof Repair Work Actually Involves
A roof repair is not a tube of sealant and an optimistic look from the ground. It is a diagnostic job first and a building job second. Water rarely enters a roof directly above the stain on your ceiling: it runs along battens, down rafters and across felt laps before it drops. That is why so many repairs fail: the visible damage gets treated and the entry point is left open.
Our repair work starts with an inspection of the covering, the flashings, the ridge and verge mortar, the valleys, the chimney abutments and the rainwater goods. We look for the water path, not just the symptom. Once we know what is letting water in, you get a written fixed price covering the work needed to close it, so the figure you agree is the figure you pay.
Repairs cover everything from a handful of slipped slates after a windy night through to renewed lead flashings, rebedded ridge tiles, patched valleys and made-safe storm damage. Where a roof has genuinely reached the end of its life we will say so rather than sell you a repair that buys eighteen months.
Who this work is for
- Homeowners with a ceiling stain, damp patch or dripping loft after heavy rain
- Anyone who has spotted slipped, cracked or missing slates or tiles from the ground
- Property owners after storm damage who need the roof made safe quickly
- Landlords and letting agents needing a defensible written price for a repair
- Buyers and sellers whose survey has flagged roof defects that need pricing
What's included
- Leak tracing and full roof inspection before any work is quoted
- Slipped, cracked and missing slates or tiles replaced to match
- Flashings, valleys and abutments resealed or renewed
- Storm damage made safe and repaired
- Fixed price agreed in writing before work starts
What happens if it is left
The Cost of Waiting Another Winter
Water that gets past a roof covering does not stay on the roof. It soaks felt and battens, wets rafter ends, drops onto ceiling plaster and runs into insulation, which then stops insulating. Wet timber invites rot in months, not years, and rotten rafter feet turn a straightforward retile into a carpentry job with scaffolding attached.
The costs escalate in steps rather than smoothly. Replacing a few slates is a modest job. Replacing slates, felt, battens and two rafter ends after a winter of ignored leaking is an entirely different figure, and it comes with redecoration, possibly rewiring where water has reached a ceiling rose, and the disruption of both.
Damp also travels sideways. A chimney flashing failure often shows up as a damp patch on a bedroom wall metres away, which gets misdiagnosed as condensation, treated with a dehumidifier, and left to worsen for another year while the actual cause sits on the roof.
Common mistakes we are called in to undo
- Sealing over the stain instead of finding where the water enters
- Accepting a price quoted from the pavement without anyone going up to look
- Letting a roof be 'patched' with mastic where a proper lead detail is needed
- Waiting for the next storm to see whether it happens again
- Paying a day rate on an open-ended repair with no written scope
Our process
How the Job Runs, Start to Finish
The same sequence on every job, so you always know what happens next and what it costs before it happens.
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Step 1
Inspection
We get onto or over the roof and inspect the covering, flashings, mortar, valleys and rainwater goods properly, including the loft side where access allows.
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Step 2
Diagnosis
We identify the water path and explain in plain terms what is failing and why, with photographs where the area is not visible from the ground.
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Step 3
Fixed written price
You get a written fixed price for the repair, not a day rate and not a range. Nothing starts until you have agreed it.
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Step 4
Repair
Slates and tiles replaced to match, flashings formed and dressed in lead, mortar raked and repointed, valleys and abutments made watertight.
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Step 5
Check and clear
We test the repair, check the surrounding details that share the same water path, clear debris from gutters and leave the site tidy.
What you get
Why This Work Is Worth Doing Properly
The leak actually stops
Because we repair the entry point rather than the stain, you are not calling someone back after the next band of rain.
No open-ended bills
A fixed price agreed in writing before work begins means the cost is known on day one.
Damage stops escalating
Catching a failed flashing early keeps the job to lead and slate rather than timber, plaster and decoration.
One point of contact
Luke inspects, prices and works on the roof, so nothing is lost between a salesman and a subcontractor.
Insured work
£1,000,000 public liability cover is in place on every job.
Honest verdict on repair vs replace
If a repair will not last, we tell you and price both options rather than taking the easy money.
In detail
Roof repairs: Materials, Methods and Variations
The specifics that decide whether the work lasts, written out so you can judge any quote you receive, including ours.
Slate, Tile and Stone Coverings
Bath and the surrounding villages carry an unusual mix of coverings: natural slate on Georgian and Victorian terraces, stone tiles on older cottages, clay on interwar housing and concrete interlocking tiles on post-war estates. Each fails differently. Slate suffers nail fatigue: the slate itself is sound but the fixing has corroded, so slates slip in ones and twos across the whole slope. Concrete tiles delaminate and lose their surface. Clay tiles crack and spall at the nibs.
Matching matters on repairs. A repaired slope with visibly wrong slates devalues the elevation, so we match size, colour and thickness as closely as the covering allows, and use tingles or correct re-nailing rather than mortar dabs to hold replacement slates.
- Natural slate: slipped and missing slates, nail sickness, delamination
- Stone tiles: fractured tiles, failed pegs, sagging courses
- Clay and concrete tiles: cracked tiles, broken nibs, surface erosion
- Ridge and hip tiles: cracked bedding, loose or moving tiles
Flashings, Valleys and Abutments
Most persistent leaks are junction leaks. Where a roof meets a chimney, a parapet, a dormer cheek or another roof slope, the covering alone cannot keep water out: the detail does. Lead flashings, soakers and valley linings are what make those junctions work, and they are the first thing to be bodged with mastic by anyone in a hurry.
We repair or renew these details properly: stepped flashings chased into the joint and wedged, aprons dressed over the covering, valleys lined with correctly sized lead in appropriate lengths so thermal movement does not split them. Cement fillets in place of lead are a common cause of repeat leaks in older Bath property and we replace them rather than repair them.
Storm Damage and Emergency Repairs
High winds across the Avon valley lift ridge tiles, strip verges and peel back sections of covering. The first job after storm damage is making the roof safe, securing anything that could fall and closing the opening so the interior stops taking water. The permanent repair follows once the weather allows a proper job rather than a rushed one.
We carry out emergency call-out work where a roof genuinely cannot wait, and we document the damage clearly so you have what you need for an insurance claim.
Repair or Replace: How We Decide
The test is simple: how much of the roof is failing, and is the failure structural or superficial? Isolated slipped slates on an otherwise sound slope, a split valley or a failed chimney flashing are all repairs. Widespread nail fatigue, perished felt across the whole roof, sagging battens or repeated leaks in different places each winter point towards a full re-roof.
Where the answer is genuinely borderline we price both, explain the expected life of each and let you decide with the numbers in front of you.
Questions
Cost, Timescales and Guarantees
The questions we are asked most often, answered straight.
How much does a roof repair in Bath cost?
It depends entirely on what is failing and how the roof is accessed, which is why we inspect before quoting. What we can promise is that the price is fixed in writing before any work starts, no day rates and no invoice that grows once the scaffold is up.
How quickly can you look at a leak?
Call Luke on the number at the top of the page and we will arrange an inspection as soon as our schedule allows. Emergency call-out is available where a roof genuinely cannot wait.
Do you repair heritage and period roofs?
We work on the traditional pitched roofs common across Bath, including natural slate and stone tile coverings. Tell us the property type when you call and we will confirm at the inspection.
Will a repair be enough or do I need a new roof?
That is what the inspection answers. If a repair is the right answer we will say so; if the roof is past economical repair we will tell you that and quote both options where it makes sense.
How long does a typical repair take?
Many repairs: slipped slates, ridge repointing, a flashing renewal, are completed within a day. Larger repairs involving valleys, timber or scaffolding take longer and we give you a realistic timescale with the written quote.
Do you need scaffolding?
Not always. Access requirements are assessed at the inspection and any access cost is included in your written price, so it is never added later as an extra.
How long will the repair last?
A correctly executed repair to sound roof should last as long as the surrounding covering. Where we can see that the wider roof is nearing the end of its life, we will tell you that before you spend money on a repair.
Do you work outside Bath?
Yes: we cover Bristol, Keynsham, Saltford, Bradford-on-Avon, Trowbridge, Frome, Radstock and Midsomer Norton as well as Bath itself.
Are you insured?
Yes. £1,000,000 public liability cover is in place on every job.
Related roofing services
- Ridge/verge repointingCracked and hollow mortar raked out and repointed so ridge and verge tiles stay put.
- Chimney workRepointing, rebuilds, flashings and capping, chimneys made sound and weathertight.
- LeadworkProperly formed lead flashings, valleys and soakers: the detail that decides whether a roof leaks.
- All roofing servicesEvery service we carry out across Bath and Bristol.
Get a Fixed Price for Roof repairs in Bath
Inspection first, written fixed price second, no work started until you have agreed it. 22 years' experience, £1,000,000 public liability. Call Luke Watts on 07735 894962 or send the details and we will arrange a look at the roof.