Thetford Roofers carries out roof repairs for homeowners in Mundford, covering everything from replacing individual slates to resealing flashing, using the right materials for the job.
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When a roof needs repairing, the material used for the fix matters almost as much as the quality of the workmanship. Use the wrong tile profile, the wrong lead weight, or a cheap sealant in place of proper flashing, and you will be back on the same roof within a few years. This page goes through the materials most commonly used in roof repairs, what each one is suited to, and where the trade-offs lie, so you can have an informed conversation before any work starts.
At Thetford Roofers, we carry out repairs across Mundford and nearby towns including Thetford and Watton. Some repairs can be finished in a day, and it is worth asking for a written report on the rest of the roof so you know exactly what condition it is in.
Natural slate is the premium option for pitched roofs and is often the correct choice for repairs to older slate roofs, particularly where the surrounding slates are still in good condition. Welsh slate is the most common and widely regarded as the most durable. Spanish slate is also widely available and costs less, but it varies considerably in quality between quarries, and some grades absorb more water and deteriorate faster than better Welsh material.
Matching natural slate to an existing roof can be tricky. Slate thickness, texture and colour vary between quarries and between batches, and a perfect match is not always possible. A skilled roofer will source the closest available match and, where necessary, will use salvaged slate from the same roof or a matching source.
The honest trade-off with natural slate: it is the most expensive material per unit, but on a roof where the surrounding slates are sound, repairing like-for-like is nearly always preferable to mixing in concrete alternatives that will look mismatched and weather differently.
Most roofs built in the second half of the twentieth century use concrete interlocking tiles. These are widely available, straightforward to match by profile, and relatively low cost. Replacing a cracked or slipped concrete tile is usually one of the simpler repairs on a pitched roof, provided the batten beneath it is still sound and the underlay has not failed.
Clay plain tiles are used on older properties and have a different profile and fixing method to concrete interlocking tiles. A plain tile roof uses two tiles per course, nailed to the battens at intervals, which makes individual replacement more involved. Matching clay tiles can be difficult if the originals are an older handmade product, though reclaimed tiles are often the best solution.
Concrete tiles are cheaper but they do weather over time, developing moss and algae and sometimes becoming porous. If individual tiles are failing across a large area of a concrete roof, the better long-term decision may be a full re-roof rather than repeated patching, and a roofer should be honest with you about that threshold.
Lead is the standard material for sealing the joints between the roof surface and vertical elements such as chimney stacks, party walls, dormer cheeks and roof abutments. It is used because it is malleable, long-lasting, and can be shaped to conform to complex profiles.
Lead is sold by code number, which refers to its thickness and weight per square metre. Code 4 lead is the minimum typically used for flashings in a domestic repair context. Code 5 is heavier and more durable, and is often specified for stepped flashings or soakers where movement stress is higher. Using underweight lead is a false economy: thin lead cracks sooner as it works with the thermal movement of the roof.
The honest trade-off with lead: it is not cheap, and some contractors use alternative products such as self-adhesive lead-effect flashing tape to reduce costs. These products have their place for minor repairs, but they are not a long-term substitute for properly dressed lead in a demanding location such as a chimney abutment. In high-movement joints, tape-based products tend to lift at the edges within a few years.
Ridge tiles and hip tiles are traditionally bedded and pointed in mortar. The mortar eventually cracks and carbonates, allowing water into the bedding joint and, over time, allowing the tiles to rock or slip. Re-bedding in fresh mortar is a common repair and extends the life of the ridge. The mortar mix matters: too much cement and it will shrink and crack, too little and it will not bond properly.
The alternative is a dry-fix system, where purpose-made plastic or aluminium clips hold the ridge tiles mechanically rather than relying on mortar at all. Dry-fix ridges are increasingly standard on new roofs because they are not subject to mortar failure, and they allow air to circulate at the ridge, which helps ventilation. On a repair to an existing roof, dry-fix can be installed in place of re-bedding, though it does change the appearance slightly as there is a visible ventilated trim beneath the ridge tile.
The honest trade-off: dry-fix costs more upfront than re-bedding in mortar, but if the mortar on a ridge has failed once it will fail again, and the ongoing maintenance cost of repeatedly re-bedding in mortar can exceed the one-off cost of converting to dry-fix over the life of the roof.
The felt underlay beneath the tiles is a second line of defence against water ingress. On older roofs the underlay is often a bitumen-based felt that becomes brittle over decades. When it splits, it no longer sheds water off the timber structure even if the tiles above are intact.
In a repair context, underlay can only be properly replaced if tiles are stripped back from the affected section. A breathable membrane (modern roofing felt) is now standard, replacing the older impermeable bitumen product. The difference matters: breathable membrane allows moisture vapour from inside the house to pass through, reducing the risk of condensation forming on the rafters. On a partial repair it is sometimes possible to slip in a patch of new felt, but this is only practical where the split is localised and the surrounding felt is still serviceable.
When you receive more than one quote for a roof repair, the price difference is often explained by the material specified rather than the quality of the labour. Before accepting any quote, it is worth asking:
A roofer who can answer these questions specifically and explain their reasoning is almost certainly going to do a better job than one who quotes a lump sum without detail.
We cover Mundford for the full range of pitched roof repairs, from single slate replacement to re-bedding ridges and resealing chimney flashings. We also work in Thetford and Watton. If you would like us to look at your roof and explain what needs doing and why, call us to arrange a roof survey.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
