Roofing advice · 5 min read
Storm damage roof checklist for Cumbria and the Borders
Short answer
After a storm, check from ground level for missing or lifted slates, cracked or displaced ridge mortar, lifted lead flashings, debris in gutters and fresh damp inside. Photograph everything before any temporary repair, keep the dates, and get the roof made watertight before chasing a permanent fix — insurers cover sudden storm damage but not consequential damage you failed to limit.
Before you go outside
Nothing on a roof is worth an injury. Do not climb a ladder in wind, do not go onto a wet slate roof, and stay clear of anything hanging or partly detached — dislodged slates fall edge-first and are genuinely dangerous.
If material is loose above a pavement, footpath or shared access, treat it as an emergency and get the area cordoned off before anything else happens.
The ground-level checklist
Walk the full perimeter of the property in daylight, ideally with binoculars and a phone camera. Work around each elevation in turn.
- Slates or tiles missing, cracked, lifted, or sitting out of line with their neighbours.
- Ridge and hip lines: cracked or missing mortar bedding, tiles rocking or displaced.
- Verges: pointing broken away at the gable edge, which lets wind get under the covering.
- Chimneys: lead flashing lifted, rippled or pulled from its chase; pots or cowls displaced; cracked flaunching.
- Gutters and downpipes: sagging, detached brackets, or debris containing mortar and slate fragments.
- Roofline: fascia, soffit or bargeboard split, loose or blown off.
- Anything on the ground that came off the roof — keep it, it is evidence.
The inside checklist
Damage that shows outside has usually already let water in, and the loft tells you how much.
- Daylight visible through the roof from inside the loft.
- Wet or dripping timbers, wet insulation, or water pooling on the ceiling plaster.
- Fresh damp patches on chimney breasts, around light fittings and at wall heads.
- Sagging ceiling plaster — treat as urgent, as trapped water can bring a ceiling down without warning.
Making it safe versus repairing it
The first visit after storm damage is about stopping water entering and removing anything that could fall: temporary sheeting, refixing or removing loose units, clearing blocked outlets. Permanent repairs follow once the roof is dry enough and safe enough to work on properly.
Insurers expect you to mitigate further loss. Making the property watertight promptly is part of the claim, not a separate cost you have to justify later — but keep receipts and photographs of the temporary work as well as the damage.
Evidence your insurer will ask for
Storm damage claims are declined far more often for weak evidence than for genuine ineligibility. Buildings insurance covers sudden damage, not gradual deterioration, so the file needs to show a specific event caused a specific failure.
- Dated photographs of the damage, ideally including close-up aerial images of the affected area.
- The date and name of the storm, and local wind speeds if available.
- A written explanation of the cause of failure from the contractor who attended.
- An itemised quotation separating making-safe from permanent repair.
What gets worse if you leave it
A single displaced slate lets wind under the course above it, and the failure spreads across the slope with each subsequent gale. Cracked ridge mortar admits water into the ridge bedding, which then freezes and lifts the whole line. A lifted flashing soaks a chimney breast and the wall plate below it.
Every one of those starts as a modest repair and becomes a slope renewal if it is left through a Cumbrian winter.
Questions people ask about this
Related services
- Emergency Roof RepairsAn emergency roof repair makes a property safe and watertight quickly after storm damage, a sudden leak or falling slates. The first visit stops water entering and removes any danger to people below; the permanent repair follows once the roof is safe to work on.
- Roof RepairsA roof repair fixes a localised fault — slipped slates, cracked tiles, failed flashing, a leaking valley or a split flat-roof seam — without replacing the whole roof. Most Cumbrian domestic repairs are completed in a single visit once the true cause of the leak has been identified.
- Drone Roof InspectionsA drone roof inspection surveys a roof using a camera-equipped UAV, producing high-resolution photographs and video of every slope, chimney, valley and gutter without scaffolding, ladders or anyone setting foot on the roof. It is faster, safer and cheaper than traditional access, and produces evidence you can keep.