Roof repairs in Bromley

What we get called out to

A tile in the flower bed. Crumbling grey mortar along the hips of a 1930s semi - easily the most common job on our books around here, because mortar lasts forty to sixty years and most of it has now had ninety. A damp patch on a ceiling that keeps coming back because somebody fixed the stain rather than the leak. Gutters pouring over at one corner every time it rains.

Water almost never comes in directly above where it shows. It gets in at a fault, runs along a rafter or across the loft insulation, and drops through at the first place it can - sometimes three or four metres away. Finding the real entry point is the actual skill in roof repair, and it is the step that gets skipped when a repair fails twice.

How a repair goes

1. 1. You ring and describe what you have seen. Plain words are fine.
2. 2. We come and look - the roof from above, and the loft from inside if there is a leak involved. No charge for that.
3. 3. You get photographs of the fault and a fixed price, itemised, with the access on its own line.
4. 4. We do the work, clear up, and hand over the 10 year guarantee.

Rough costs

A single slipped or cracked tile is usually £180 to £320. Rebedding one hip runs £350 to £650, and doing all four hips and the ridge on a typical semi is £900 to £1,600. A chimney flashing renewed in lead is £450 to £950. Where a full scaffold is needed, allow £800 to £1,600 on top - and expect to see that as a separate line rather than buried in the total.

Those are honest brackets, not a quote. What you get after we have been out is one fixed figure that does not move.

A few questions we get

Do I need planning permission?

Not for a repair. Putting back the same tile, rebedding a ridge or renewing a flashing is maintenance and needs no consent. It only comes into it if the work changes the shape or the appearance of the roof - a dormer, or a different covering - and Bromley has conservation areas and Article 4 rules in places. We will say so if we think it applies to you.

Why did my last repair not work?

Nearly always because it was done where the stain was rather than where the water was getting in. The other common reason is mastic smeared over a fault instead of the fault being repaired - that buys a year or two and then cracks.

Can you match old tiles?

Usually. The interwar streets round here used a fairly small range of clay tiles and reclaimed stock is easy to come by. Some 1960s and 70s concrete profiles are no longer made, and in that case we will show you the closest match before ordering anything.