Slipped and missing tiles? Any issues that you notice on your roof can tell you a lot more about your roof’s condition than you expect. Most assume that it has to do with the roof’s age, which isn’t far from the truth, but so much more could be hiding beneath your roof than you expect.
How to Check your roofs condition
First Signs: Inside your home
The most obvious signs that there might be an issue with your roof, are the ones inside your home. These are the ones that you will definitely notice and should not be ignored:
- Dark, stained, bubbling areas of plaster or wallpaper
- A damp or musty smell in loft or rooms below the roof
- Black mould or excessive condensation
- Roofing felt looks torn, brittle or perished inside loft
- Areas of daylight from inside roof
- Damp, stained or discoloured roof timbers
How to catch the problems on your roof
How often do you look at your roof? Especially if you noticed issues inside of your home, its good to take a quick look outside. These are some signs that what is happening inside your home could be caused by issues with your roof:
- Tiles or slates overhanging or slipping into gutter
- Pieces of mortar appearing on your driveway or around property
- Gutters overflowing, spilling, leaking when it rains
- Tiles or slates look out of line, slip, or missing
- Plants or vegetation growing from chimney
- Loose, damaged or missing leadwork around chimneys
Why does your Roof experience Issues
What actually causes tiles to slip and go missing? And how would we fix these?
Nail Fatigue
One of the most common reasons behind old homes facing slipped or missing tiles is nail fatigue. Nail fatigue, also known as nail sickness, is the gradual corrosion and failure of the fixings holding the tiles to the roof. This will eventually happen to every roof as the nails will be exposed to moisture and air over decades, causing them to corrode. However, there are some factors that do speed this process up, such as poor loft ventilation which leads to condensation and humidity.
Nail fatigue unfortunately affects the whole roof. Too often we see roofs with multiple repairs done in the past when the issue will unfortunately continue until you replace the full roof. With each repair, you pay for labour, materials, travel, and scaffolding. Over time, the cost will exceed that of a re-roof. That is why it’s important to have a competent surveyor inspect your roof and recommend the best course of action for your roof.
Rotten Battens
Just like the nails themselves, if the roof battens are exposed to moisture, they will eventually rot. This makes the wood softer and easier for strong winds to lift up the tiles, making them come loose and slip.
When it comes to this issue, it is the same case as what would happen with nail fatigue. Roof battens are a part of the roof structure that keeps the tiles on your roof. To replace them, you would have to strip all of the tiles off and replace the rotten battens. This cannot be fixed by a simple repair.
Thick Moss
Moss traps moisture against the tiles and freezes in cold weather, which cracks materials and pushes neighbouring tiles out of line.
Most would think to have the moss removed, but this will cause bigger issues in the long-term. Cleaning a roof can cause tiles to get cracked from being stepped on or from the high-pressure of the water, especially on older and weaker tiles. With certain tiles, it can actually remove the top layer of the tile, making the surface rougher and more absorbent, and helping moss grow back faster and stronger. Many tile warranties actually warn against it and will void your warranty if your roof has been cleaned, making you foot any repair or replacement bills yourself. Moss growth is inevitable and if it is causing leaks, the roof would have to be replaced. The type of tiles does affect how fast moss will grow, with concrete tiles having the fastest moss growth and clay being the best choice when you’re trying to avoid it.
Damage to Tile or Slate
Tiles/slates can be damaged in many different ways, stepping on the roof, falling debris during storms, things being thrown onto the roof such as footballs, rocks, etc. The older the roof, the more likely it is to crack on impact.
Usually the tiles/ slates that are damaged can be replaced with no need of a re-roof.
Extreme Weather
Weather is what reveals the problem, with strong winds testing the roof. To add to this, coastal weather of the Fylde makes the nails corrode faster due to the salty air and the storms make roofs go through a tougher beating.
When replacing roofs, we use materials that stand up better to coastal weather than others. The nails we use are made of stainless steel and resist the salty and moist air better. We also install a high-permeable membrane, meaning that water will not get into your loft but it will help with ventilation by removing moisture and stopping condensation.
What actually causes your ridges, hips and verges to fail and become loose? And how would we fix these?
Age & Weather
The mortar in the ridges and hips will crack and crumble over time, especially in coastal weather. This will cause ridges, hips and verges to come loose. Once they become loose, you will start facing leaks. The same thing will happen to verges, where they can fall off and expose mortar and timbers, causing the mortar to crack and crumble, and the timbers to start rotting.
If only one ridge or hip is affected, we can repair it by rebedding it back with mortar. There is also the option to replace the whole ridgeline. Once mortar begins to crumble in one area, it is likely to start crumbling along the entire ridgeline. We also offer dry fix ridges and hips, a modern alternative to bedding and pointing ridges that meets current building regulations.
What actually causes your gutters to leak? And how would we fix these?
Clogging
Clogged up gutters can cause an overflow of water. This is caused by debris getting stuck in your gutters, such as leaves, twigs, moss, grit, nests, growing weeds and seeds. The usual issue is built up over time.
No repairs and replacements are needed at all, a simple gutter clean is required. If there are trees near your property, it’s a good indicator that gutter cleans might have to be a more regular thing.
Cracking
Over time, guttering can crack and cause water to leak. These cracks are usually caused over time from UV, freezing temperatures, physical stress and thermal movement. With most guttering being made out of UPVC, UV rays will break down plastic polymers over time. As water freezes, it expands, so if there is water stuck in your gutters during freezing temperatures, they can cause small cracks. Physical stress from debris or birds can easily crack brittle and aged gutters. Thermal movement is something that will cause the guttering to warp, strain and eventually split, this usually happens when there is not enough expansion gaps in the fittings. Cracks can also be caused by physical damage such as heavy debris falling into the gutters or heavy impacts.
The simple remedy is to replace the gutter system. Repairs are not recommended for cracks that are caused by years of wear and tear from the environment. Physical damage is a lot simpler as only the portion that has been impacted has to be replaced, unless the gutter cracked due to it being brittle and old.
Failing Joints
There are many ways guttering joints can fail, such as rubber gaskets hardening and cracking over time, thermal movement causing the guttering to move away from the seal, loose supports causing the guttering to sag and hold water, and being misaligned from movement. All of these lead to creating gaps in your guttering, allowing water to leak out of the joints.
This is a case where only a repair will be needed, having new seals installed.
What actually causes your chimney to fail and leak? And how would we fix these?
Mortar Cracking
Just like with every other part of the roof that requires mortar, it is vulnerable to the coastal weather and is likely to crack and crumble over time. Once the mortar becomes cracked and water gets in, it is likely to crack and crumble more due to water freezing and expanding in the winter, letting even more water in. This will cause leaks and damp in your home. Not only that, if the mortar starts crumbling away, the structure of the chimney will be affected. This can cause it to lean, shift and possibly collapse.
We offer multiple different solutions, such as chimney restoration where we replace the mortar, rebuilding the chimney stack or even fully removing it. Chimney removal is always recommended, especially if you no longer use your chimney, as they can cause a lot of problems for your roof.
Vegetation
When vegetation grows on your chimney, it can cause the mortar to crack and the roots to force the masonry apart. It causes the same issues as above, potential leaks and affects the structural integrity of the chimney.
This can be repaired by removing the vegetation, killing the remaining roots and repointing the chimney. If the damage is a lot more serious, we can rebuild the chimney or remove it.
Leadwork
From gaps and peeling leadwork, it allows water to get in between the gaps and cause leaks within your home. These issues are usually caused by weather, making the lead lift or curl, pulling the lead away from the chimney. Crumbling mortar is also a problem as it holds the flashing between the bricks.
The leadwork can usually be replaced, sealing the gaps once more.
My roof is failing... What should i do now?
There are many reasons as to why your roof can fail, sometimes you can notice the issues by having a look at your roof, or it’s too late and you notice leaks and damp within your home. Whether you are already noticing leaks within your home, or don’t feel confident about whether your roof will be able to protect your property throughout the colder months, we offer free roof health checks so that you can feel confident in your roof once again.
Free Roof health checks
Noticed a leak? Something looks wrong on your roof? Or are you just worried about your roof holding on during the colder months?
We offer free roof health checks and no-obligation quotes to make sure that you can feel confident in your roof once again.
