If your Ipswich home was built between 1950 and 1985 and has a concrete interlocking tile roof, nail sickness is something you should know about. It's the most common structural roofing issue we diagnose on the large post-war estates — Chantry, Whitehouse, Gainsborough, Whitton — and understanding it can save you a significant amount of money and stress.
Nail sickness is the term used when the nails fixing roof tiles to the battens have corroded to the point where they no longer hold the tiles securely. On the post-war and 1960s–70s estates built across Ipswich, tiles were fixed with mild steel nails that have, over 40–70 years, rusted through. The result is a roof where the tiles are held in place largely by their own weight — and, in some cases, by the remaining mortar bedding on ridge and hip tiles that has also degraded.
A nail-sick roof looks normal from the ground. Tiles sit in position. The roof appears weathertight. But in a storm with sustained wind speeds above 30–40mph — entirely normal in a Suffolk winter — the tiles can lift, shift and slide out of position. We see this pattern across Ipswich's estates every time there's a significant storm event.
Where more than a small proportion of nail fixings have corroded, industry guidance recommends stripping and re-covering rather than piecemeal repair, as re-nailing individual tiles is rarely durable.BS 5534 Code of Practice for Slating and Tiling
You can't diagnose nail sickness from the ground — it requires getting onto the roof and physically testing individual tiles. However, the following are strong indicators that warrant a survey:
The definitive solution. Strip all tiles, replace battens and felt, install modern breathable membrane, refix all tiles with stainless ring-shank nails. The roof is restored to a secure, weathertight state with modern materials and a 40–50 year lifespan ahead of it. This is the right answer on properties where widespread nail failure is confirmed.
An intermediate option: tiles are lifted section by section and re-fixed with stainless nails, without replacing the sarking">underfelt. Less disruptive and less expensive than a full re-roof, but appropriate only when the tiles and felt are in reasonable condition and nail corrosion is the primary problem. We carry out lift-and-re-nail operations where the survey supports it.
We carry out free roof surveys across Ipswich's post-war estates. We'll confirm whether nail sickness is present and give you honest options and pricing.
📞 Call 01473 807630A nail-sick roof that loses multiple tiles in a storm can cause rapid internal damage. But the more insidious risk is slower: tiles that shift slightly allow water to track under the edge in heavy rain, gradually saturating the degraded underfelt and the timbers beneath. By the time water appears inside the property, significant timber damage can already have occurred.
A survey costs nothing and takes an hour. Knowing your roof's condition is far cheaper than discovering it through a ceiling collapse.
The Chantry and Whitehouse estates in south-west Ipswich were among the largest public housing developments in Suffolk, built predominantly in the late 1950s through the 1970s. The concrete interlocking tiles fitted during this period are now 50–70 years old. We carry out more nail-sickness diagnoses on these two estates than anywhere else in our coverage area.
The good news: these roofs have simple profiles — standard gable-end and hipped pitches with minimal complexity. A full re-roof on a Chantry estate semi is a straightforward job and is at the lower end of the re-roofing price range as a result. The tiles may be old, but the roofs underneath are simple and economic to work on.
Nail sickness is one of the most common roofing problems across Ipswich, and the reason is in the town's building history. The huge post-war expansion — the Chantry, Whitehouse, Gainsborough, Castle Hill and similar estates built through the 1960s and 1970s — put up thousands of homes with concrete interlocking tile roofs, all fixed with the mild-steel nails standard at the time. Half a century on, those nails have corroded, and because whole estates were built to the same spec in the same few years, the roofs are reaching the failure point together, street by street. It's not a defect in any one house — it's the predictable end of a fixing method's life across a generation of housing.
Nail sickness shows itself as tiles slipping out of position — first one or two, then more as neighbouring fixings fail and the wind gets under the loosened tiles. From the ground you'll see tiles sitting proud, crooked, or gone entirely; from inside the loft you can sometimes see the corroded nail stubs and daylight where tiles have moved. The tiles themselves are usually still perfectly sound, which is what makes the problem frustrating: there's nothing wrong with the covering, only with what's holding it on. That's also what determines the right fix.
When only a few tiles have slipped, individual re-fixing can buy time, and on a roof that's otherwise sound that's a reasonable repair. But once the pattern is established — tiles slipping across whole slopes, repairs needed with increasing frequency — the honest answer is that the fixings have failed across the whole roof, and continuing to re-fix individual tiles is money spent chasing a problem that will keep reappearing. At that point stripping the slope and re-covering with modern non-corroding fixings, a breathable membrane and dry-fix ridge and verge is better value than another round of patches, because it resolves the underlying cause rather than the latest symptom. On the Ipswich estates we can usually tell you which stage your roof is at from its age, a look at the slope and the neighbouring roofs, and an inspection from inside the loft — and we'll be straight about whether you're buying time sensibly or throwing good money after bad.
Very common on properties built between 1950 and 1985. Our survey data suggests that the majority of concrete tile roofs in Ipswich of this age have some degree of nail corrosion. The question is whether it's localised or widespread, which determines whether repair or replacement is the right response.
A nail-sick roof that is in a known deteriorated state could potentially affect an insurance claim for storm damage if an insurer argues the roof was in poor condition before the loss event. There's no standard industry position on this, but it's a reason to address known nail sickness rather than leaving it.
A lift-and-re-nail on a 3-bed semi in Ipswich typically costs £1,500–£3,000 depending on scope. A full re-roof addressing nail sickness and all associated issues costs £5,000–£9,000. We give you exact figures after a free survey.
No call-out fee on any job across Ipswich and Suffolk. Free surveys, free quotes — you only pay once you have agreed the work in writing. Call 01473 807630 any time.
Yes. We carry £5m public liability insurance on all work in Ipswich and the surrounding Suffolk area. We are also registered with the NFRC — details available on request before any job starts.
All our roofing work in Ipswich carries a 10-year written workmanship guarantee. This covers the labour and installation — separate to any manufacturer guarantee on materials. We provide the guarantee document on completion of every job.
Call us on 01473 807630 or use the contact form. We'll arrange a free survey at a time that suits you, usually within 48 hours across Ipswich and IP1. You'll receive a written, itemised quote with no obligation and no call-out fee.
Whatever your roofing question, we're happy to help. Call us for a free survey and honest assessment.
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