North Walsham Roofers carries out lead flashing and weathering work for homes in Felmingham and the surrounding villages, cutting and dressing lead to the correct Code specification at every vulnerable point on your roof.
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Lead flashing and weathering is the material that seals the junction between your roof covering and any upstand - a chimney stack, a dormer cheek, a skylight frame, or the valley between two roof slopes. Tiles and slates shed rain well on their own, but where the roof meets a vertical surface, you need a separate, dressed material to bridge that gap and direct water away. Lead has been used for this for centuries because it is dense enough to stay put, soft enough to be worked into tight angles, and durable enough to outlast the roof covering it protects.
Lead is specified by Code number, which refers to its thickness and therefore its weight per square metre. Code 3 and Code 4 are the lightest and are used for small soakers and stepped flashings. Code 5 is the standard for most chimney and dormer work. Code 6 and above are used for larger, flat or near-flat areas such as parapet gutters and valleys. Using the wrong Code for a given situation is one of the most common reasons lead fails prematurely, so it is worth asking any contractor which Code they plan to use and why.
Lead work looks simple from the ground. It is not. Dressing lead correctly - cutting clean mitre joints, forming soakers, stepping flashings into mortar joints at the right depth, and fixing bay lengths within the recommended size so the lead can move with temperature changes - requires proper training and practice. The consequence of poor lead work is almost always a slow leak, the kind that causes damage for months before anyone notices.
Before you agree to any lead work, here are the questions worth asking:
It is tempting to compare lead work quotes purely on price. The problem is that two quotes for "chimney flashing" can represent very different scopes of work. One contractor may be pricing to re-dress the existing lead and re-point the chase. Another may be pricing to strip the old lead, cut a fresh chase, dress new Code 5 lead with proper soakers, and re-point with mortar and sealant. These are not the same job, and they will not produce the same result.
Ask each contractor to describe in writing exactly what the job includes: which Code of lead, how many linear metres, whether soakers are included, and what will happen to the old material. A quote that is significantly cheaper than another is often cheaper because it is a different and lesser scope of work.
For a straightforward chimney re-flash on a standard house, expect to pay somewhere in the region of £300-£600 depending on chimney size, the extent of the existing damage, and access. Valley replacements are typically priced higher because of the material volume and the care needed at the ridge junction. These figures are a guide only - an inspection is the only way to price accurately.
Lead work nearly always requires access above gutter level. For chimney work, that means either a scaffold tower, a podium, or full scaffold depending on the height and pitch of the roof. Be wary of any contractor who offers to do chimney lead work from a ladder alone. The quality of the dressed lead suffers when the operative cannot stand securely next to the work, and working from a ladder at chimney height is not safe practice for anything beyond a brief inspection.
Ask the contractor what access equipment they will bring and whether the cost of that access is included in the quote. Scaffold costs can add meaningfully to a job price, but it is a necessary part of the work done properly.
The signs are not always a drip through the ceiling. Look for damp patches on chimney breast walls, staining on the plasterwork around a dormer window, or a tide mark on a ceiling below a skylight. On the roof itself, look for lead that has slipped down or is visibly rippled, mortar that has cracked and dropped away from the chase, or areas where the lead appears patchy because someone has repaired it with mastic or flashing tape rather than re-dressing it properly.
Patching with sealant or flashing tape is sometimes used as a short-term measure, but it degrades far faster than milled lead and the bond to the brick or roof covering tends to fail within a few years. If you have had this kind of repair carried out previously, it is worth having a proper assessment of whether the underlying lead is still serviceable.
We carry out lead work for homeowners in Felmingham and across the surrounding area. If your property is in this part of Norfolk, call us to arrange a roof survey so we can give you an accurate assessment and a clear price before any work starts.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
