The wind gets up overnight, and in the morning there are tiles in the garden and a wet patch on the landing ceiling. What you do in the next hour makes a difference to what it costs and to whether your insurer pays.
1. Stay off the roof, and out from under it
Half-detached tiles come down later, in the next gust, and they come down hard. Keep people and cars away from the gable and the eaves.
2. Photograph it before anybody touches it
From the garden, from the street, and of the damage inside. An insurer will want to see the damage as it happened, and once a roofer has sheeted it up that evidence is gone. This is the step people skip and the one that causes arguments later.
3. Catch the water inside
Bucket under the drip, and if the ceiling is bulging, pierce it in the middle with a screwdriver and let it drain into a bucket. That sounds wrong and it is right: a bulge full of water brings the whole ceiling down, and a hole you can patch is much cheaper.
4. Ring a roofer, and be honest about the urgency
Making it watertight and repairing it properly are two different visits. Anyone who arrives at an emergency and immediately starts pricing a full re-roof is selling, not helping.
5. Ring your insurer, but do not wait for them
Almost every policy expects you to prevent further damage, and none of them expects you to wait a week for an adjuster while it rains through the ceiling. Get it made safe, keep the photographs and keep the invoice.
