Understanding exactly what a lead work job involves in Elmswell helps you know what to expect, what questions to ask, and whether the work has been done properly.
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Lead work is not a job where you can skip steps and make up the difference later. Each part of the process - the inspection, the preparation, the forming of the lead, the fixing and the pointing - has to be done in the right order and to the right standard. A shortcut at any stage shortens the life of the whole detail. This page walks through a lead work job from the first look at your roof to the moment we clear the site, so you know what is involved and can judge for yourself whether work has been done correctly.
Before any lead is ordered or cut, the affected area needs a proper inspection. That means getting above the roof covering and looking at what is actually happening, not just assessing from the ground. Ground-level inspections miss cracked sections of flashing, lifted edges, failed pointing and deteriorating substrates beneath the lead.
On a chimney, the inspection covers all four faces: the front apron, the step flashings on each side, and the back gutter where the stack meets the uphill slope. The back gutter is the area most likely to be holding water, and the one most likely to have timber damage below it. On a valley, the boards beneath the lead and the condition of the tiles on either side are both checked - a valley failure is sometimes caused by movement in the boards rather than the lead itself.
A common problem at this stage is finding that what looks like a small lead failure on the outside has been letting water in for long enough to wet the timbers below. That changes what the job involves. If rot is found in valley boards or timbers at the base of a stack, those need to be replaced before new lead goes down - laying new lead over damaged timber is a false economy.
Lead is specified by code number, which corresponds to its thickness and weight. The code required depends on the application.
Using the correct code is not just a specification detail - undersized lead thins more quickly under thermal movement and water flow, and can develop pinholes within years rather than decades. If you are told what code is being used and it does not match the application, that is worth questioning.
Old lead and any associated mortar fillets, old pointing and failed fixings are removed completely before new material goes down. Leaving old lead in place and simply lapping new over the top creates an irregular base that prevents the new lead from lying flat and dressing properly.
Where step flashings are being replaced, the mortar joints in the brickwork are raked out to a depth that allows the new flashing to be tucked in securely. Shallow raking does not give enough purchase and the flashing will work loose more quickly. Where the old flashing was simply surface-fixed with mastic - which is a common cause of repeat failures - those adhesive traces are cleaned off before the new work begins.
At this point, any deteriorated valley boards, fascia timbers or battens in the affected area are replaced. New lead on old rotten wood will not perform as it should, and returning to lift new lead to fix what was underneath is disruptive and avoidable.
Lead sheet is cut to length on site using a knife or snips, then formed - shaped by hand using a bossing mallet and dresser - to fit the exact profile of the junction. This is where the skill in lead work is concentrated. A flat piece of sheet has to be worked around internal and external angles, chimney corners, and irregular masonry without tearing or thinning excessively.
Each section of flashing on a long run is kept to around 1.5 metres. Beyond that, thermal movement causes the lead to buckle and eventually split. The sections are overlapped and dressed to allow the lead to move freely without water getting behind the joint. You should be able to see these stepped overlaps on any long flashing - a single unbroken length running further than about 1.5 metres is a sign that expansion has not been managed properly.
Where soakers are needed - at abutments, alongside dormers or chimneys - each soaker is individually cut and folded to the pitch of the roof and the size of the tile. Soakers slip under the tile courses and turn up the wall face. They are not visible in the finished job, but they do the critical work of preventing water tracking sideways under the tiles.
Lead is fixed using lead clips or wedges driven into mortar joints. It is not nailed through - nail fixings create rigid points that prevent natural movement, and the lead eventually splits at those points. At the top of a flashing that turns into a mortar joint, the lead is folded into the joint and the wedge holds it without penetrating the metal face.
Cover flashings - the visible outer layer at abutments - are tucked a minimum of 25mm into raked mortar joints. Deeper is better on exposed sections. The practice of applying a cover flashing on top of the brickwork face and holding it with mastic is not the correct approach. Mastic dries out, shrinks and cracks within a few years, and the flashing then lifts and admits water.
Once the lead is fixed, the mortar joints where it has been tucked are repointed with fresh mortar. The mortar is worked into the joint firmly but not so tightly that it traps the lead and prevents any movement. On older properties where lime mortar is original to the chimney, matching lime mortar should be used rather than a hard sand-and-cement mix, which can crack the surrounding brickwork as it is stronger than the masonry it is sitting in.
The pointing is finished neatly and left slightly recessed - proud pointing that sits above the face of the brickwork channels water towards the flashing joint rather than away from it.
When the lead is down and pointed, the whole detail is checked before the scaffolding or ladders come down. This means looking at every joint, every soaker position, every overlap and every section of pointing. On a valley, the lead is pressed firmly into the angle and checked that it is lying flat without bridging - lead that bridges the valley bottom carries the water but eventually cracks where it flexes under load.
Any tile disturbed during the work is refixed correctly. Tiles that were lifted to slide soakers underneath are bedded back and checked for stability. Verge tiles and ridge tiles adjacent to chimney work are inspected and, if any have been knocked loose, re-bedded.
Old lead arisings, mortar rubble, broken tiles and any packaging are cleared from the site on completion. Lead is a recyclable material and scrap lead from a domestic job has a small but real value - a roofer who removes it for recycling is handling waste correctly. The area around the base of the building is checked for any debris that has come down from the roof during the work.
Finished lead work should be even in colour and texture, neatly dressed into angles without obvious wrinkles or stretched patches. The pointing above should be clean and flush. You should be able to see the stepped overlaps on longer runs of flashing. There should be no mastic or sealant visible as the primary fixing - these are temporary measures that are not a substitute for proper mechanical fixing.
If work has been done on a chimney, check the internal chimney breast for any sign of residual moisture over the following weeks, particularly after rain. New flashings should stop any water entry immediately - if damp continues, something in the detail is not right and needs to be looked at again.
When looking for lead work in Elmswell, ask any roofer which areas they cover and whether they can explain the lead codes, overlaps and fixings described above before any work starts. If you want to understand what a job on your property would involve before committing to anything, call us for a roof survey and we will walk through the specifics with you on site.
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