What happens to old roof lead?

Lead is one of the few roofing materials that can be melted down and used again without losing what makes it useful. Sheet that has weathered for decades goes to a metal recycler, is melted, and comes back as new rolled or cast sheet. That is why a skip of rubbish is the wrong place for it, and why lead is also a target for thieves, which our guide to lead theft from Stroud roofs covers from the other side.

It is also heavy. Leadworx lists Code 5 sheet at 25.40 kg per m², so ten square metres of old flashing and gutter lining weighs roughly 254 kg before anything else is counted. A valley, a back gutter and a few chimney flashings can add up to a quantity that matters on a quote, and it is one reason the removal needs planning rather than being tossed down from the ridge.

In ordinary terms, material removed from your roof belongs to the person who owns the roof, unless the contract says it passes to the contractor. That is a point of contract rather than a roofing rule, so read this as how a quote ought to look and not as legal advice. A fair quote states one of three things: the lead is taken away and credited to you, the lead is taken away by agreement with no credit, or the lead is handed back or kept for reuse.

Any of those can be reasonable. What is not reasonable is silence, because silence leaves you finding out on the day that a skip has driven off with a few hundred kilos of metal and no mention of it on the invoice. If a quote you hold says nothing about old lead, ask the question before you accept it.

Our survey records the leadwork in photographs and notes which parts are coming off. The written quote that follows covers each stage: scaffold, stripping, new lead supplied by code, fixing, waste removal and making good, plus VAT. Where old lead is being removed, the quote should say so, either as a credit against the job or as part of the waste taken away.

We do not quote a scrap price here because metal prices move and a figure printed on a web page goes stale. For scale on the new work, In 2026 MyBuilder showed lead flat roofing at £150 to £200 or more per m², and Checkatrade lists Code 5 lead flashing repairs at £50 to £70 per metre before VAT. Against figures like those, a credit for old sheet is a modest offset, not a reason to choose one quote over another. Matching the scope of each quote is what lets you compare them.

Not all of it goes for scrap. Lead that is sound, undamaged and the right thickness can sometimes be dressed again and refixed, particularly on a listed building where the existing sheet has some age worth keeping. Whether that is allowed, or wanted, is a question for Stroud District Council's planning and conservation team, and we would ask them before stripping anything on a listed house.

Most of the time, though, old sheet is better replaced than reused. Lead that has thinned, split along its folds or been patched several times has done its work. Sheet smeared with mastic is also awkward to reuse, which is one more reason to think twice before reaching for the tube, as our answer on whether sealant will fix a leaking lead joint explains. Small offcuts such as an old pipe collar are rarely worth keeping at all, though a lead slate around a pipe is quick to make fresh.

Old lead is cut and lifted by hand, folded or rolled so it stays together, and lowered in a controlled way rather than thrown. It is soft and it carries dust and lead carbonate on its surface, so we keep it contained and clear the site afterwards, waste taken away. If you are handling off-cuts yourself, wash your hands before eating or drinking.

The point of all that care is simple. Lead you can see and count is lead that can be accounted for on a quote, credited if that is the agreement, and kept off a neighbour's wall or your own garden. For work on leadwork across the whole roof, start with our lead roofing page, where the survey, the photographs and the 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing are set out.

Before you accept a quote that includes leadwork, four questions are worth asking. Which parts of the existing lead are coming off, and which will stay? What code is the new lead, and how much of it is there? What happens to the old sheet, and where does that appear in the price? And is the lead being replaced in the same places, in the same way, or is something changing?

The last question matters on older buildings, where matching what was there is the rule and a change of detail can alter how the roof looks. A clear answer to all four tells you the roofer has counted the metal, not guessed at it. A vague answer, with the word lead buried in it, is the cue to ask exactly what is being supplied and fixed. We would rather you asked, because a written quote is built to be questioned.