Thetford Roofers carries out roof repairs for homeowners in Bury St Edmunds, from slipped slates and cracked flashing to re-bedded ridge tiles.
A small roof fault rarely causes a crisis the day it appears. What it does is let water in quietly, season after season, until wet timbers, damaged insulation and stained ceilings make the job far bigger and more expensive. If you have noticed a damp patch, a loose tile or mortar crumbling around a ridge, getting someone up on the roof quickly is the sensible move.
Thetford Roofers carries out repairs across Bury St Edmunds and the surrounding area. We replace individual slipped or broken slates, re-bed ridge and hip tiles, reseal and repoint flashing, and patch felt underlays where water has already tracked through. After the work we provide a written report on the condition of the rest of your roof so you are not left guessing what is coming next.
When a slate or tile needs replacing, the material you use matters more than most homeowners realise. The goal is always to match what is already on the roof as closely as possible, both in size and in appearance. Getting this wrong - using a tile that is slightly the wrong gauge, or a slate that is noticeably lighter in colour - leaves a roof that looks patched and can cause water to deflect incorrectly at the join.
Below is a plain account of the main materials used in roof repairs, with the genuine advantages and drawbacks of each.
Natural slate is the most durable roofing material available. Good-quality Welsh or Spanish slate can last well over a century with no treatment, and it weathers to a consistent colour rather than fading unevenly. For repairs to an existing slate roof, matching natural slate is nearly always the right choice.
The drawbacks are cost and availability. Natural slate costs more per unit than manufactured alternatives, and sourcing a close match to an older or unusual roof can take time. Some older properties were slated with Welsh blue-grey slate that is harder to find today; Spanish slate is a common substitute but tends to be slightly darker and more uniform in texture. A roofer should show you a sample alongside your existing slates before committing to a material.
Most post-war housing uses concrete interlocking tiles. These are widely available, consistent in size and straightforward to source as replacements. The main challenge with concrete tiles is colour match: concrete weathers and fades over decades, so a new tile almost always looks brighter than its neighbours for a year or two. This is cosmetic rather than structural and tends to blend in over time.
Clay plain tiles - typically found on older or more traditional properties - are a different matter. They are smaller than concrete interlocking tiles, require closer boarding underneath and are more expensive. They also carry more weight per square metre. If your roof already has clay plain tiles, replacing like for like is important both structurally and visually. Using concrete tiles as a substitute on a plain-tile roof rarely looks right and can cause problems at the overlaps.
Reclaimed clay tiles are worth asking about if matching an older roof. They weather to the right colour and age profile, and a good reclamation yard will have batches that closely match common regional tile types. The downside is that quality varies and a roofer needs to check they are not frost-damaged or delaminating before using them.
Flashing is the strip of metal that seals the join between your roof surface and a vertical element such as a chimney, a parapet wall or a dormer. When flashing fails - because the mortar that holds it in place has cracked, or because the lead itself has cracked or lifted - water gets into the gap and tracks along the timber beneath before it appears indoors.
Lead is the standard material for flashing, and for good reason. It is soft enough to mould to irregular surfaces, it does not corrode, and it expands and contracts with temperature changes without cracking. Code 4 lead (approximately 1.8mm thick) is the minimum for most flashing applications; Code 5 is used where the flashing needs to cover a wider area or carry more water.
Alternatives to lead include aluminium flashing tape and zinc. Aluminium tape is sometimes used for temporary repairs or in very tight spaces, but it does not last as long as lead and can lift at the edges in frost. Zinc behaves similarly to lead and is used by some roofers on contemporary-style roofs, but it is less common for repairs to traditional pitched roofs. If someone quotes you a repair using flashing tape as a permanent fix, ask why lead is not being used.
Ridge tiles sit on a bed of mortar at the apex of the roof. That mortar is exposed to frost, rain and UV light year-round and gradually cracks and shrinks away. Once the bond is broken, wind can lift a ridge tile entirely - a genuine safety risk as well as a weatherproofing failure.
Re-bedding ridge tiles means removing the old mortar, cleaning the tile and the ridge board, and relaying with fresh mortar. The mix matters: too strong a mix becomes brittle and cracks faster than the tile it is holding. A sand-and-cement mix with the correct lime content stays slightly flexible, which is what you want.
Some roofers use dry-fix systems for ridge tiles instead of mortar. These use mechanical clips and a ventilated foam filler rather than wet mortar. Dry-fix ridge systems are more resistant to frost and do not rely on mortar curing correctly, but they cost more and are most cost-effective on a full re-ridge rather than spot repairs to a few tiles.
Water does not fall straight down from a fault to the room below. It follows the line of the rafter, the sarking felt or the ceiling joist before it appears as a stain, which means the wet patch you see indoors is often some distance from the actual entry point. Identifying where the leak is coming from before ordering materials is the most important part of the job.
Signs that help narrow down the source include:
A roofer should inspect the roof from above as well as checking the loft space from inside before starting any repair. Fixing the wrong thing is an expensive mistake, and it happens when a roofer goes straight to the most obvious-looking tile without tracing where the water actually entered.
After carrying out a repair, we provide a written report on the condition of the rest of your roof. This is not a sales document. It tells you which areas are in sound condition, which are showing early signs of wear and which may need attention within the next few years. Armed with that information, you can budget sensibly rather than being surprised by the next problem.
If you have a damp patch, a loose ridge tile or flashing that has started to lift, call us for a roof survey in Bury St Edmunds. We will tell you what the problem is, what material will be used to fix it and what the rest of your roof looks like while we are up there.
No obligation · We usually respond within 2 hours
Storm damage, active leak, damaged ridge - we aim to be on-site within 24 hours.
