Lead Work & Flashing in Godalming

Right now there's a brown ring on the bedroom ceiling and a chimney you don't trust in heavy rain. Afterwards the junction is dressed in proper lead, the plaster dries out, and you stop looking up every time the weather turns.

Wey Valley Roofing is family-run and fully insured, Scott has spent more than 36 years on Surrey roofs, and every job leaves with a 25-year written workmanship guarantee, whether it's leadwork or our fascias, soffits & cladding services Godalming.

Call 07428 300474 any time and a real person answers, day, night or weekend.

Lead Roofing Installation

How much does it cost to do lead flashing? The cost of lead flashing work depends on the length of the detail, the code of lead needed and how much of the surrounding roof has to come off first, which is why we price it in writing after a look at the actual roof.

Where lead goes on a Godalming roof

Lead sits at the junctions, and junctions are where roofs leak. Chimney abutments, valleys, parapet gutters, dormer cheeks, porch roofs and the back gutter behind a stack. On the Victorian and Edwardian houses on the south side between the bypass and Holloway Hill, we've seen plenty of old lead that was fitted well and has simply run out of years. It doesn't fail dramatically. It splits quietly, then a ceiling stains.

Codes, bays and fixings

We use milled sheet lead in the code the detail calls for, not whatever offcut is in the van. Bay lengths are kept short enough for the metal to move without tearing, and clips and welts are set so wind can't lift a free edge. That's straight Lead Sheet Association practice and we don't cut around it. If a soaker course needs stripping back to do it properly, we'll say so at quote stage.

New lead on new work

When lead goes in as part of a reroof, we set the detailing out before the tiles go back, so the flashing is built into the roof rather than smeared on afterwards. It's slower on day one and cheaper for the next thirty years.

Lead Flashing Repairs and Request a Survey or Estimate

Can lead flashing be repaired?

Often, yes. A split can be lead welded, a lifted apron can be raked out, rewedged and repointed, and a tired step flashing can be replaced in isolation. What we won't do is smother a failed detail in mastic and call it a repair. If the lead is thin, fatigued along a fold or was dressed too long in the first place, patching it just moves the leak along a bit.

What the survey involves

You ring, a real person answers, and we come and look. That means the roof from the ground, from a ladder where it's safe, and a drone view where a chimney or a hidden valley won't show itself otherwise. Then you get an honest fixed price in writing, no obligation and no charge for it. If a small repair will see you right, we'll tell you that instead of selling a reroof.

Getting someone out quickly

If you're searching for a leadworker close to home in Godalming, we're already working across the Wey Valley most weeks, so getting to Farncombe or Crownpits is rarely a problem. Emergencies go to the front of the queue, day, night or weekend.

Service Areas and Property Types in Godalming

Neighbourhoods we work in

We cover the whole town and the villages around it: Farncombe, Binscombe, Frith Hill, Aarons Hill, Ockford Ridge, Catteshall, Crownpits, Charterhouse and Busbridge. Riverside streets near the Wey and the towpath that runs down towards Guildford sit low and stay damp longer after rain, and that shows up first at the flashings.

Period stock and post-war estates

Godalming isn't one kind of roof. There are Georgian and Victorian houses near the centre, and there are the estates that went up between 1950 and 1980 in Binscombe, South Hill, Farncombe Hill, Bargate Wood and Aarons Hill. The older roofs tend to need lead matched to what's there. The later ones often have thin cement fillets or short mortar-only details that were never going to last, and those we replace with proper lead.

Flat roofs, porches and garages

Lead does a lot of quiet work on small roofs: bay window tops, canopy porches, garage abutments where a flat roof meets a wall. Get the upstand height and the chase right and it holds. Get it wrong and you'll be chasing the same drip every autumn.

Lead Roof Replacement and Restoration in Godalming

When replacement is the honest answer

Old lead thins where it's been walked on and cracks where it's been overstretched. If we can see multiple splits along the same fold line, that sheet has done its work. We strip it, check the substrate and any timber underneath, and reform the detail to the correct bay lengths. Old lead is fully recyclable, and that's accounted for rather than skipped.

Living with the work

Worried about the mess and the noise and losing a room for weeks? Here's what actually happens: we work one detail or one elevation at a time, sheet and cover what's below before anything comes off, and keep the roof watertight overnight rather than leaving it open to a Surrey sky. Cutting and dressing is done outside, not in your hallway. Drives stay usable where we can manage it, and we tell you the morning before if we need the space. You'll hear us, we won't pretend otherwise. But you keep your kitchen, your stairs and your front door.

Site left tidy

Offcuts, nails and old mortar are cleared as we go, not shovelled up on the last afternoon. Then the 25-year written workmanship guarantee is handed over before we leave.

Lead Welding and Detailing

Welded seams instead of solder and hope

Lead welding joins sheet to sheet without introducing another material that ages at a different rate. We use it on gutter linings, corner details, hopper heads and awkward returns around dormers and bay tops, where a folded joint alone would work loose.

Matching what's already there

On a period house a new flashing that looks brand new can look wrong for a while. We match the profile, the bay widths and the exposure of the existing lead so the repair reads as part of the roof. Near the parish church and the green space around the Wey, where roofs are visible from public ground, that matters more than most people expect.

Materials, Craftsmanship and Compliance

Standards we actually work to

Milled sheet lead to the right code, Lead Sheet Association guidance on bay sizes, fixings and expansion, and BS 5534 for fixing and wind uplift on the surrounding tiling and slating. Where lead forms part of a flat roof detail we work to BS 6229, with ventilation considered under BS 5250 and rainwater outlets sized to BS EN 12056. Where building work needs sign-off, the GOV.UK guidance on when building regulations approval is required is the place that sets it out.

Coverage across the area

If you need lead work & flashing in Godalming, or lead work & flashing in Guildford, we cover the whole of this area with our own roofers. No subcontracted strangers turning up in an unmarked van.

Fully insured, family-run

Scott has spent more than 36 years on Surrey roofs and still answers the phone himself. We're fully insured with Public Liability Insurance, and the guarantee is in writing on every job, repairs included.

Leadwork for Heritage and Listed Buildings

Working near the historic centre

The centre of Godalming carries a lot of protected fabric, from the Pepperpot and Phillips Memorial Park through to the Grade I listed medieval parish church. On listed and locally sensitive buildings we keep the detail traditional: correct codes, correct bay lengths, no modern shortcuts that read badly at eye level from the street.

Consents and conversations

We're happy to talk to your surveyor, architect or conservation officer before anything is ordered, and we'll set out what we intend to do in writing so consent conversations are straightforward. It's your building. You shouldn't be guessing what's going on above your head.

Aftercare

Lead is long-lived if the fixings and the mortar chase behind it are sound. We'll tell you what to keep an eye on, and if something isn't right inside 25 years, we come back and put it right.

Lead Work & Flashing in Godalming FAQs