How to Inspect Your Roof for Storm Damage After a UK Winter

The storm has passed, the bins have been retrieved from next door, and everything looks much as it did last week. That's the problem. Roof damage rarely announces itself. A slipped slate, a cracked ridge tile, a length of lead flashing lifted by a gust — from the pavement these are almost invisible. By the time water finds a path through your ceiling, the leak has usually had weeks to settle in. A careful inspection takes an hour or two, costs nothing, and tells you whether you're dealing with a small repair or a call to a roofer.

Work through the checks below in order. Ground level comes first for a reason: you can spot most problems from below, and you'll know what you're looking for before deciding whether to climb anything.

1. Walk the perimeter with binoculars

Start outside on a dry, still day. Wet tiles are treacherous and frost makes ladder work pointless, so if the forecast is grim, wait. Take binoculars, your phone for photographs, and something to note down what you find and where.

Stand well back and look at each elevation in turn. Work in a grid: left to right, ridge down to gutter. Note the chimney stack, any dormers, the valleys where two slopes meet, and the gable ends. Then move closer and check the details.

From ground level, look for:

• Tiles or slates that are missing, slipped, cracked or sitting proud of the row below.
• Dark gaps in the roof covering, which usually mean the underlay is exposed.
• Broken pieces of tile on the ground, in flower beds, or lying in the gutter.
• Ridge and hip tiles that have shifted sideways or lost their mortar.
• Lead flashing that has lifted, torn, or pulled away from a chimney or wall.
• Anything hanging loose: aerials, satellite dishes, cables, fascia boards.
• Gutters that have dropped, pulled apart at the joints, or are overflowing.

2. Look harder at the places that fail first

Roofs don't fail evenly. Damage clusters around a few weak points, so checking those alone will catch most problems.

Tiles and slates

Individual units are held by nails, clips, or the weight of the tiles around them. Wind gets underneath, lifts one, and the row above starts to lose its grip. Look for a step in the roofline where a tile no longer sits flush, and for nails that have pulled through — the tile may still be lying in place but no longer fixed.

Ridges, hips and mortar

Mortar bedding takes a beating over winter. Water gets into hairline cracks, freezes, expands, and quietly breaks the bond, so ridge tiles can be loose enough to move in a strong gust by spring. Mortar fragments on the ground below a ridge are a strong hint. A loose ridge tile is urgent: it's heavy, and it sits above everything else.

Chimneys, flashings and valleys

These are the leak hotspots. Check the mortar between and around the chimney pots, the condition of the stack itself, and the flashing where the roof meets the chimney. Valleys collect a lot of water and debris; if you can see them, look for ponding, blocked channels, and worn lead or lining.

3. Gutters, downpipes and fascias

A gutter's job is to move water away from the building. When it fails, the damage shows up on walls rather than the roof. Look for:

• Gutters that sag between brackets or have come apart at a joint.
• Water staining, green algae or dark streaks on the fascia boards behind the gutter.
• Overflow staining on the wall below the gutter, especially in corners.
• Downpipes that have come away from the wall or discharge straight onto brickwork.
• Blocked outlets and gullies, which back water up against the roof edge.

A leaking gutter can soak a wall for months without producing an obvious damp patch indoors, so don't skip this because the roof itself looks fine.

4. Go into the loft

Daylight is your best tool up here. Turn the torch off for a moment and look along the underside of the roof with the lights off — pinpricks of daylight are the clearest sign that a tile or slate has gone. Then check the timbers properly with the torch on.

1. Water staining or dark streaks on rafters, purlins and the roof membrane.
2. Damp or compressed insulation, which can point to a drip from above.
3. Discoloured rings or patches on the underside of the membrane.
4. Mould, a musty smell, or condensation that never seems to dry out.
5. Timbers that are cracked, split, or have visibly moved.

While you're in the house, glance at the upstairs ceilings — particularly in rooms under the eaves — for brown rings, paint that has bubbled, or wallpaper starting to lift. Those are leaks that have been running for a while.

5. Know when to stop and call someone

Nothing here requires you to walk on the roof, and you shouldn't. Ladder work is a genuine risk, and a fall does far more damage than a slipped tile ever will. If the ground isn't firm and level, if you need both hands, or if the pitch is steep, leave it alone. If you're in any doubt about your safety, or the structure looks unstable, stay off it and bring in a professional.

Call a roofer if you find loose ridge tiles, noticeable movement, water coming in, or damage you simply can't see properly from the ground. A few practical points:

• Get two or three written quotes for anything beyond a minor repair.
• Ask whether the firm belongs to a recognised trade association and carries insurance.
• Be wary of anyone knocking on the door after a storm claiming to have spotted damage. Ask for identification and take your time.
• Don't accept a quote given from the pavement, and don't pay the full amount before work starts.

If you plan to claim on your buildings insurance, photograph everything before any repair, keep receipts, and hold on to the broken tiles or damaged materials until the claim is settled. Contact your insurer early and ask what they need — terms vary between policies, so it's worth checking your own cover or speaking to your insurer before work begins.

6. Make it a habit, not an emergency

The best time to inspect a roof is when nothing appears to be wrong. Ten minutes with binoculars after every named storm — plus a proper look in the loft once or twice a year — will catch most problems while they're still small and straightforward to sort out.

Keep a note of dates and what you found. If the same slipped slate is still there in February that you spotted in October, the odds are it has moved again. Small observations, repeated, are how roofs get looked after properly. And if you're ever unsure — about a crack, a damp patch, or a tile you can't quite identify from the ground — a survey from a qualified roofer costs far less than the repair that follows a missed leak.

Photo: 12019 / Pixabay