A leak in the middle of a storm feels urgent because it is. Water on a ceiling, on a light fitting or running down a wall can cause harm within minutes, and the instinct is to rush up a ladder. Do not. The first hour is mostly indoors: keeping people safe, limiting the damage, recording what is happening and giving the roofer enough information to act well.
This guide takes you through those steps in sequence. It covers the first hour indoors only. Whether a sheet over the roof will hold is a separate question, answered in our guide to whether a tarpaulin can stop a roof leak. Leaks and storm damage get priority when you ring us, and the first job on any wet roof is to make it safe. The service page for roof repairs explains the rest of the process.
Safety first: water, electrics and the ceiling above you
Water and electricity are the first danger. If water is dripping near a light fitting, a ceiling rose, a socket, a fuse board or an appliance, treat the area as live.
Electrics
Do not touch a wet switch or socket. If you can reach your consumer unit (the fuse board) without standing in water or passing under the leak, switch off the circuits that serve the wet area, or the main switch if you are unsure which is which. If you cannot reach it safely, stay away and ring a qualified electrician. Do not use a light that has water running through its fitting, and do not use a vacuum cleaner or electric heater to dry the area.
The ceiling itself
A plasterboard ceiling holding water can sag and may fall without warning. Look for a bulge, a dark stain that is spreading, or plaster that has started to flake. A bulging ceiling is heavy. Keep people and pets out of the room, and do not stand beneath it. If the bulge is small and you can reach it safely from the side, some people put a bucket underneath and pierce it at the lowest point to let the water out in a controlled stream, rather than see the whole sheet come down. Only do that if you can stand clear of the falling plaster and if you are not under a light fitting.
If water is running through a light fitting or you can smell burning, leave the room, turn the power off if it is safe to do so, and ring an electrician. Dry the area before you switch anything back on.
If the house is full of water, or the ceiling has already come down, ring the emergency services if anyone is hurt. For anything else, the roofer comes after the room is safe.
Containing the water indoors
Once nobody is at risk, the aim is to limit what the water can reach. This is simple, practical work.
Catch and divert
Place a bucket, a washing-up bowl or a large pan under each drip. Put a towel or a piece of cloth in the bottom so the drops do not splash. If the drip is intermittent, a wide container catches the spray. Where water is running down a wall or a light pull-cord, put a bowl beneath and tie a piece of string or cloth to the cord so the water follows it down into the container.
Protect what cannot be replaced
Move furniture, rugs, electronics, books and bedding out of the wet area. If something is too heavy to carry, slide it away from the stain and cover it with a plastic sheet. Lift carpets near the leak if they can come up easily, because wet underlay holds moisture long after the surface seems dry. Take pictures on your phone first.
The loft
If you can reach the loft safely, look at where the water enters. Do not go up if the hatch is directly below a bulging ceiling or if the loft floor is wet. Standing on joists only, you can place a bucket on a board under the drip, move stored boxes and lift soaked insulation away from the ceiling below. Insulation holds water and presses it down onto plasterboard, which is how a small leak turns into a collapsed ceiling.
Do not block ventilation in the loft to keep rain out, and leave the roof timbers uncovered inside so they can start to dry once the weather turns.
Photographs and notes for your insurer
If the leak followed a storm, or a tile or slate has clearly come off, your buildings insurance may respond. Whether it does depends on your own policy, and your insurer decides, not us. What we can say is that good records help.
What to record
- The date and time you first noticed the water, and the weather at the time.
- Photographs of each stain, drip and wet area, with something in shot for scale.
- Photographs of the damage to belongings, taken before they are moved if you can, and after.
- Anything that has dropped from the roof into the garden, such as slates, ridge pieces or a chimney pot, photographed where it lies.
- Views of the outer roof, taken from the ground with no climbing.
Keep the damaged items
Do not throw away anything an insurer might want to see. A stained ceiling tile, a wet rug or a broken fixture can all be evidence of what the leak did and when. Keep receipts for anything you buy to deal with the emergency, such as buckets, dehumidifier hire or a temporary repair.
Ring your insurer early
Many insurers have a claims line and will tell you what they need and whether they want to use their own contractor. Ask whether you may arrange a temporary repair yourself, and whether to keep the receipts. Our guide to storm damage claims goes through the steps and the paperwork a roofer can supply. A written quote backed by survey pictures of your roof gives a claim handler something concrete to read.
What to tell the roofer when you ring
When you ring 01453 933613, or message us on WhatsApp, a few facts help us decide how to deal with the leak and what to bring. You do not need to know the cause.
Information that helps
- Where the water is showing. Which room, which side of the house, and how close to a chimney, a bathroom or an extension.
- How fast. A slow drip in one spot is a different problem from a steady stream.
- When it began. After a particular storm, or gradually over several weeks.
- What type of roof it is. Tiles, slate, stone, flat roof, or a mix. A photograph from the road is enough.
- Access. Steep lane, shared passage, terrace, limited parking. Stroud has many houses that a lorry cannot reach, and we plan scaffold and ladders around that.
- Anything you have already done. Buckets, a sheet in the loft, the electrics turned off.
Send photographs
On WhatsApp, send pictures of the stain, the loft and the outer roof. They let us see the likely area before arriving, and they save time on the day.
What happens next
Making the roof safe comes before the permanent repair, and that can mean a temporary measure to keep water out while the proper fix is planned. Timing depends on the weather and on how much storm damage there is around the valleys. Our guide to temporary roof repairs explains what a make-safe involves and how long it is meant to last.
What not to do on the roof
The most dangerous mistake in a roof emergency is going up there. Roofs are slippery in rain, loose slates slide under a boot, and falls from even a single-storey roof can be serious. Leave the roof to someone with the training and equipment.
Things to avoid
- Do not climb onto the roof, or lean a ladder against the guttering. Gutters are not built to carry a person.
- Do not walk on a flat roof or a rooflight. Glass and polycarbonate can break under weight, and a wet membrane is slippery.
- Do not try to nail a board or throw a sheet across a pitched roof from a ladder. A sheet that is not fixed properly will blow off, and may cause more damage.
- Do not seal a leak with mastic or roofing felt from inside the loft and consider the problem solved. That hides it. The water will find another route.
- Do not remove loose slates or tiles unless you can do so only from solid ground or a window with nothing above it.
Falling debris
Loose slates, ridge pieces and chimney pots can come down in wind. Keep people and pets away from the foot of the wall, and put cones, chairs or tape around the area if it is on a path. A chimney pot that is rocking should be treated like any overhead hazard.
Wait for daylight and calm weather
A roofer will not work in high wind or on an iced roof. That is the correct call. In the meantime, keep to the indoor steps above and photograph what you can from the ground.
After the first hour: drying out and the repair
Once the water is contained and the roofer has been told, the remaining job is to let the building dry. Do not rush this part.
Drying out
Open windows in a dry spell, and run a dehumidifier if you have one. Do not use direct heat on a stained ceiling or on soaked timber, because it dries the surface faster than the core, and plaster can crack. Wet insulation should be lifted and dried or replaced. Check behind furniture for damp walls and look for mould in the following weeks, particularly in a cold corner.
The repair itself
The make-safe is only the first step. After it, the roof is surveyed, and the cause is traced using the method described in our guide on how roofers trace a roof leak. You then receive a written quote for the whole job, covering scaffold, materials, labour, making good and waste, illustrated with pictures of your own roof. Typical national ranges for repairs are published on our roof repair costs page, and a call-out is priced differently from planned work.
Redecorating
Wait until the ceiling and walls are fully dry before repainting. A stain that bleeds through paint usually means the plaster is still damp. Where a ceiling has been soaked to the point of sagging, it often needs replacing rather than patching. The finished work comes with a written 10-year workmanship guarantee, and nothing is left behind on site.