How to Tell You Need Leadwork
Lead weatherproofs the junctions on a roof — valleys, chimney flashings, soakers and bay tops. Most persistent leaks on Ipswich's Victorian terraces trace to underspecified or fatigued lead at exactly these points.
- A leak around a chimney, valley or where the roof meets a wall
- Cracked or split lead flashing visible at a junction
- A sealant or mortar patch over old lead that keeps failing
- Staining on a ceiling directly below a valley or bay window roof
- Lifting or slipped flashing after a gale
When it is not the answer: If the surrounding covering has also failed, isolated leadwork won't solve it — the whole junction or slope may need addressing, and we'll be straight with you about scope. Read the full guide.
Most persistent leaks on Ipswich's older stock trace to the leadwork, not the tiles. The Victorian and Edwardian terraces off Norwich Road and around the California area have lead valleys shared between properties, lead flashings around the party-wall parapets, and lead soakers at every roof-to-wall junction — and when that lead is underspecified, fatigued, or patched over with sealant, water tracks straight into the roof. Proper code 4 or 5 lead, hand-dressed and patination-treated, lasts forty to eighty years; the sealant bodges a cowboy leaves behind rarely survive one Ipswich winter. On the bay-windowed terraces the bay-top lead is a frequent culprit, and getting the detail right at that junction is what stops the recurring damp above a bay.
We specify lead by code to the detail: code 4 for most flashings and soakers, code 5 where the exposure or the span demands it. The lead is hand-dressed to the profile of the tiles or slates and finished with patination oil so it weathers evenly and does not stain the covering or brickwork below. On the party-wall valleys shared between Ipswich terraces we fit proper lead-lined valleys rather than the cheaper alternatives, because these are the junctions that carry the most water and fail most visibly when they are underspecified. Correctly-dressed lead at a chimney is a full step-and-cover flashing with soakers under each tile course, not a single strip mortared into a chase — which is the shortcut that lets water track straight into the roof within a year or two.
In practice, the leadwork jobs we are called to in Ipswich cluster around the older housing: the party-wall valleys and parapet flashings of the Victorian terraces, the bay-window roofs that are so common on the Norwich Road and California streets, and the chimney flashings on the dense stack stock near Christchurch Park. Each needs a different lead detail done properly. A bay-top re-lead is a one-to-two day job; a chimney flashing renewal usually needs a day with tower or scaffold access at the stack; and a shared valley re-lead between two terraces has to be coordinated so both properties stay watertight while the work is done. We survey to find the true source of the leak first, because water at a ceiling often travels a surprising distance from where it actually enters.
In practice, the leadwork jobs we are called to in Ipswich cluster around the older housing: the party-wall valleys and parapet flashings of the Victorian terraces, the bay-window roofs that are so common on the Norwich Road and California streets, and the chimney flashings on the dense stack stock near Christchurch Park. Each needs a different lead detail done properly. A bay-top re-lead is a one-to-two day job; a chimney flashing renewal usually needs a day with tower or scaffold access at the stack; and a shared valley re-lead between two terraces has to be coordinated so both properties stay watertight while the work is done. We survey to find the true source of the leak first, because water at a ceiling often travels a surprising distance from where it actually enters.
