Lead Work & Flashing in Aldershot

More than 36 years on Surrey roofs teaches one thing about leaks at chimneys and valleys: the lead has rarely worn out, the fixing has. That is how we approach lead work & flashing in Aldershot, and every repair carries a 25-year written guarantee.

Our own roofers do the work, never subcontracted, and the 25-year written workmanship guarantee covers every repair as well as new work, from one re-wedged flashing to the lead on a pitched roof in Aldershot. The founder still answers the phone himself.

Ring Wey Valley Roofing on 07428 300474 for a free survey in Aldershot and a fixed price in writing before the next spell of rain finds the gap.

Lead Flashing Installation

Where lead goes on a roof

Lead sits at every junction where a roof meets something that is not roof: chimney stacks, abutment walls, valleys, bay tops, dormer cheeks and the apron under a window. Those are the places water gets in first. Get the lead right there and most leaks never start.

How a new flashing goes in

We fit leadwork to Lead Sheet Association guidance, in this order:

• Rake out the mortar joint to take the lead, so the top edge can turn in by around 25mm
• Cut and dress the lead in short lengths, so each piece can move with heat and cold
• Lap each piece over the next, by at least 100mm on a step or cover flashing
• Turn the top edge into the joint, hold it with lead wedges and point it in
• Finish with patination oil to stop white staining running down the wall

The short lengths matter most. Lead fixed in one long run splits as it expands and contracts, and that split is the leak you would be calling about a few winters later.

Matching the code to the junction

Lead sheet comes in codes by thickness. Code 4 is the usual weight for step and cover flashings at a stack or abutment. Heavier Code 5 goes where water gathers and runs, such as valleys, gutters and bay tops, because thinner lead there wears through sooner.

Request a Survey or Estimate

A real person answers

Call 07428 300474 any time. A real person answers, day, night and weekend, never a call centre, and the founder still picks up himself. A leak at a chimney or valley goes to the front of the queue.

What the survey covers

The survey is free. We look at every lead detail properly: the stack, the abutments, the valleys and anything else at a junction. A drone view helps where a valley or rear stack cannot be seen safely from a ladder. Then you get an honest fixed price in writing, with no obligation and no charge for the quote.

When a repair will do

Plenty of leadwork only needs repointing or one length replaced. If that is the case, we say so. Nobody gets sold a full set of chimney flashings because one wedge has worked loose.

Lead Welding and Detailing in Aldershot

Bossing and welded corners

A bay top or a dormer corner can be formed two ways. Bossed, by dressing a single sheet into shape with hand tools. Or welded, by joining cut pieces with a lead welding torch. Each has its place. Welding suits tight internal corners and complicated shapes where bossing would thin the sheet too far and leave a weak spot exactly where water sits.

Matching what is already there

On older houses in Aldershot, much of the existing leadwork often still has life in it. Where it does, we match the code, the laps and the detailing of the sound sections so the new piece works with the old rather than against it. People sometimes ask where they can get lead flashing for an awkward detail like this. The honest answer is on the roof itself: measured, cut and formed in place to fit that junction, not bought as a ready-made shape.

Materials, Craftsmanship and Compliance in Aldershot

The standards behind each detail

Leadwork is done to Lead Sheet Association guidance. Where lead meets tiles, the tiles and battens around it are fixed to BS 5534 for wind uplift. Roof spaces are kept ventilated to BS 5250, so condensation does not form on the underside of new lead and corrode it. Where a lead gutter feeds the rainwater system, the outlets and guttering are sized to BS EN 12056. Those standards decide whether a detail lasts.

Our own roofers, and a guarantee in writing

The roofers who survey the job are our own, never subcontracted. If it is lead work and flashing in Aldershot you need, or a roofer in Aldershot for the rest of the roof, we cover the whole area. We are fully insured, holding Public Liability Insurance, and every job carries our 25-year written workmanship guarantee. Handed over before we leave.

Lead Flashing Repairs

Why lead flashing fails

• Lengths fitted too long, so the lead splits along a fold as it moves
• Wedges and pointing lost, so the top edge pulls out of the joint
• Mastic or sealant used in place of a proper chase into the mortar
• Lead too thin for the job, wearing through in a valley or gutter
• Laps too short, letting wind-driven rain run back underneath

Almost every one of those is a fitting fault, not a material fault. That matters, because it means the repair is usually smaller than people fear.

Repair or replace

Lead itself rarely wears out. Usually the fixing goes, not the sheet. So a repair is often repointing, re-wedging or swapping out one split length while the rest stays. Where the lead is cracked along its run or the wrong code throughout, we replace it, and we tell you which before any work starts.

After a storm

Wind lifts loose flashings. Rain then runs straight behind them and into the ceiling below. Call any time and an emergency goes to the front of the queue.

Service Areas and Property Types

Aldershot and the wider area

We cover Aldershot along with Guildford, Cranleigh, Woking and the towns and villages across Surrey and the Wey Valley. If you want leadwork done by roofers close to home in Aldershot, the people who survey your roof are the same people who fit the lead.

The properties we work on

Terraced and semi-detached houses with shared chimney stacks, where the flashing on your side ties into next door. Bay-fronted houses with lead bay tops. Extensions where a roof meets the main wall and an abutment flashing does all the work. Dormers with lead cheeks and aprons. Each has a weak point. We know where to look first.

Call 07428 300474 for a free survey and an honest fixed price in writing. The lead goes in once, to Lead Sheet Association guidance, with the 25-year guarantee in your hand before we leave.