In short
A slipped or missing tile can usually be made watertight the same day with a temporary cover or a replacement tile, and a proper repair follows once the wind has dropped and we can get on the roof safely. Larger damage, such as a stripped ridge or a lifted verge, gets a tarpaulin first and a repair inside the week. Photograph everything before we touch it, because your insurer will want to see it.
This is a job for our Storm damage repair service.
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The first few hours
After a blow off The Wash our phone starts before it is light. The order we work in is the order the damage matters: water coming into a bedroom before a tile lying on a lawn. We will tell you honestly where you are on the list.
- Stay off the roof and away from what is loose. A hanging tile or a ridge that has lifted can come down on the next gust.
- Photograph it. Inside and out, before anything is moved. The Association of British Insurers and the HomeOwners Alliance both say the same: document the damage and keep any receipts for emergency work.
- Catch the water. A bucket under the drip and a pinhole in a bulging ceiling to let the water out stops the ceiling coming down.
- Ring your insurer. Most have a 24-hour line, and some will send their own contractor for the emergency cover.
What we can do the same day
While the wind is still up, the HSE's roof work guidance limits what anyone should be doing at height, and we follow it. From a ladder we can usually replace a single slipped tile, refix a ridge end, or sheet over a small hole. A stripped verge or a run of missing tiles gets a tarpaulin battened down, and that holds until the weather allows a proper repair, normally within the week.
| Damage | Same-day | Full repair |
|---|---|---|
| One or two slipped tiles | Replace | Done |
| Ridge tiles blown off | Sheet the gap | Dry ridge system, days later |
| Verge lifted along one side | Tarpaulin | Re-bed or dry verge, within the week |
| Chimney flashing torn | Tarpaulin over the stack | New lead, once scaffolded |
| Flat roof felt peeled back | Roll back and weight it | Usually a new covering |
The insurance question
The ABI defines a storm for insurance purposes as gusts of at least 55mph, among other criteria. Damage in a lesser wind, or damage to a roof that was already failing, is often treated as wear and tear and declined. That is why a maintained roof with photographs from a survey is easier to claim on than one nobody has looked at in twenty years. We write our repair report so it can go straight to the insurer, with the before-and-after photographs and what we found.
What we will not do
We will not put a lad on a wet pantile roof in a Force 8 to save a day, and we will not tell you a roof that lost forty tiles because every nib had gone was storm damage. It was age; the storm just found it out.
