1,000+ Roof Repairs Completed
Roof Repairs Carlisle
Roof Repairs Carlisle - roof repair specialists across Cumbria
Leaks, slipped slates, storm damage, flat roofs, chimneys and guttering, repaired properly
We repair roofs. That is the whole business, not a sideline to selling you a new one. Carlisle takes close to a metre of rain a year and the wind comes straight up off the Solway, so roofs here work harder than most - and the sandstone terraces, interwar semis and postwar estates across the city each fail in their own particular ways. We have completed over a thousand repairs learning exactly where. Free survey, fixed written price, and an honest answer about whether the work is worth doing at all.
Get A Free Roof Survey & Quote
Tell us what the roof is doing and we will come out, take a proper look and give you a free, no-obligation quote. If it does not need fixing, we will tell you that too.
Fully Insured
Public liability cover on every job
Free Surveys
No charge, no obligation
Fixed Quotes
Itemised in writing before we start
Local To Carlisle
Not a national call centre
1,000+
Roof repairs completed
10 Year
Written workmanship guarantee
Repairs First
Fixed before you are sold a new roof
Free
Roof surveys and quotes
Our Roof Repair Services In Carlisle
Everything below is repair work on a roof that already exists, which is what we do most days. Replacement is on the list because sometimes it genuinely is the right answer - but it is at the bottom for a reason.
Roof Leak Repairs
We trace where the water is actually getting in rather than patching under the stain, then fix that.
More about roof leak repairs
Emergency Roof Repairs
Water coming in now? We get you watertight quickly, then repair properly at a normal price.
More about emergency roof repairs
Storm Damage Repairs
Lifted slates and ridge tiles put right, with the written report and photographs your insurer will want.
More about storm damage repairs
Flat Roof Repairs
Leaking extension or garage roof? We sort the falls out as well as the covering, so water actually leaves.
More about flat roof repairs
Chimney Repairs
Repointing, flaunching and lead flashings on Carlisle's brick and soft red sandstone stacks.
More about chimney repairs
Guttering
Clearing, repairs, realignment and replacement - before an overflow starts marking the wall behind it.
More about guttering
Fascias & Soffits
Rotten boards replaced, ventilation kept, and the guttering rehung to a proper fall while we are there.
More about fascias & soffits
Roof Replacement
When patching genuinely stops making sense. Full strip and re-roof, matched to what is already there.
More about roof replacementWhy Carlisle Roofs Fail Where They Do
A roof repair firm that works one city gets to know that city's roofs. These are the faults we are called to over and over again across Carlisle, and knowing them is most of what makes a survey quick and a diagnosis right.
- Soft red sandstone. Much of Victorian Carlisle is built from it - Denton Holme, Caldewgate, Currock. It is porous and it erodes, particularly on chimney stacks, and it must be pointed in lime rather than hard cement.
- Party-wall abutments. Terraces mean roofs butting up against a neighbour's gable. That junction relies on lead soakers, and split or work-hardened lead there is the single most common cause of leaks we find.
- South-westerly wind off the Solway. West-facing elevations take the driving rain. Verges, ridges and the first course above the gutter are where uplift starts.
- Nail fatigue on original slate. A slate roof laid in the 1890s is on its original nails. When they finally go, they go across the whole roof, and slates start appearing in the garden from a different spot each winter.
- 1970s and 80s flat extensions. A whole generation of rear extensions and garages went on in pour-and-roll felt. Those roofs are now well past their span and have usually been patched several times over.
- Freeze-thaw. Carlisle gets enough frost to work on any water that is sitting still. Ponded flat roofs, blocked valleys and cracked flaunching all get measurably worse every winter here.
Why Choose Roof Repairs Carlisle
There is no shortage of roofers in Cumbria. Here is what is actually different about working with us, in plain terms.
- Repairs are the business, not the loss-leader. Plenty of firms treat a repair as a way into quoting you for a new roof. We would rather do the repair well and be the one you ring in five years.
- We survey before we price. Nobody can diagnose a leak from the pavement. We get up there, and into the loft where we can, before putting a number on anything.
- You get told what failed and why. Not "it needed sealing". A split lead soaker, blown mortar, a corroded nail - you should come away understanding your own roof better than you did.
- Access is priced honestly. Scaffold costs real money and some jobs genuinely need it. We itemise it separately so you can see what is work and what is access, instead of finding it buried in one number.
- We tell you when to do nothing. Some of the roofs we survey do not need work yet. Saying so costs us a job and earns the next three.
- Local, so we come back. We are in Carlisle. If something is not right, we are twenty minutes away, not a subcontractor dispatched from another county who is hard to find afterwards.
"More than half the roofs we are called out to in Carlisle have already been patched by somebody else - usually directly under the ceiling stain, which is almost never where the water is getting in."
Based on the repair jobs handled by Roof Repairs Carlisle
How A Roof Repair Works With Us
Eight steps from your first call to the guarantee. No stage of it involves a salesman.
Your Call
What is the roof doing, when did it start, does it change with the weather? Five minutes on the phone often tells us where to look.
Free Roof Survey
We get up and look, and into the loft where we can, tracing the water back to where it enters rather than where it shows.
Written Quote
Itemised and fixed, with access costs shown separately so you can see what is work and what is scaffold.
Safe Access
Ladder, tower or scaffold depending on height, pitch and how long we need up there. The right one, not the cheapest.
Strip Back To Sound
We take the failed area back to something solid. Repairs made over perished mortar or rotten timber do not hold.
The Repair
Matched slates and tiles, code 4 lead where lead belongs, the correct mortar for the masonry. Like for like.
Check Around It
Flashings, valleys, ridge and the gutter below. Whatever caused this failure has been working on its neighbours too.
Clean Up & Guarantee
Everything cleared, photographs of the finished work, and your written workmanship guarantee before we leave.
The 10 Year Workmanship Guarantee
A roof repair is only worth having if it holds. Every repair carried out through Roof Repairs Carlisle comes with a written 10 year workmanship guarantee, and the materials used - slates, tiles, lead, mortar, membranes and rainwater goods - carry their own manufacturer's warranty on top. You are told exactly what is covered before the work starts, in plain English, not buried in small print.
The reason repairs fail is almost never the patch itself. It is that nobody found the actual source of the water. A stain on a Carlisle bedroom ceiling is often a metre or more from the real fault, because water runs down a rafter before it drops. It gets traced properly first. If the same leak returns within the guarantee period, it gets put right at no cost to you.
10 Year
Workmanship Guarantee
1,000+
Repairs Completed
Insured
Public Liability Cover
Materials
Manufacturer Warranty
Repair It Or Replace It?
This is the question almost everyone rings us with, and the honest answer depends on a pattern rather than on the age of the roof.
Repair Makes Sense When
- The fault is in one place and the rest of the covering looks sound
- What failed is a detail - a flashing, a valley, a ridge, some mortar - rather than the slates themselves
- The slates or tiles are still sitting flat and even across the roof
- You have had one problem in the last few years, not one a year
- The loft timbers are dry and there is no soft spot underfoot on a flat roof
Most of the roofs we look at fall into this column, including plenty where the owner had already been told they needed a full replacement.
Replacement Is The Honest Answer When
- Slates are coming off in a different place each winter - that is nail fatigue across the whole roof
- You can see daylight through the covering in several places from inside the loft
- The battens crumble when touched, or the timbers are wet and soft
- The roof is visibly dipping or wavy along its line
- You are spending several hundred pounds a year on patches that keep moving
If you are here, we will show you the evidence on the roof and talk you through what a replacement involves.
Recent Work
Photographs from our own jobs around Carlisle. These are our roofs, not stock images of somebody else's.
What Carlisle Homeowners Say
Feedback from customers across Carlisle and the surrounding villages, on completed roof repair work.
"Water was coming through the landing ceiling of our sandstone terrace in Denton Holme every time the wind came from the west. Two other roofers had patched the spot above the stain and it kept coming back. These lads got up there, found the split lead soaker where the roof meets next door's gable, and that was the end of it. Should have called them first."
"Half a dozen slates came off the back of the house in Stanwix after a rough night. Rang at eight in the morning, someone was on the roof by lunchtime and it was made watertight the same day. Came back later in the week to do it properly with matching slates. No silly emergency pricing either."
"The flat roof over our kitchen extension in Harraby had been patched with felt so many times it was more patch than roof. They stripped it back, sorted the falls out so the water actually runs off, and fitted a rubber roof. First winter with no bucket in the kitchen in about four years."
"Our chimney in Botcherby was letting damp into the back bedroom. What I appreciated was being told the stack itself was sound and only needed repointing and new flashings, rather than being talked into taking the whole thing down. Honest, tidy, and the price on the quote was the price on the bill."
"Gutters on our bungalow out at Dalston were overflowing down the wall and starting to mark the render. They cleared them, replaced a cracked section and refitted the brackets where they had dropped. Explained what had caused it rather than just taking the money and going."
Had work done by us?
We would rather earn the next job than talk about the last one. If we have been out to your roof, a quick review helps other people in Carlisle find us.
From The Blog
Practical guides to roofs, written for Carlisle homeowners rather than for other roofers.
Repair Or Replace? Is Your Carlisle Roof Worth Saving?
Age is the wrong question. Here is how to work out whether your Carlisle roof needs one repair or a full replacement, and how to spot the difference yourself.
Why Your Roof Leak Keeps Coming Back After You've Had It Fixed
A leak repaired twice that still comes back was almost certainly repaired in the wrong place. Here is how water really moves through a roof.
Storm Damage To Your Roof In Cumbria: What To Do And How To Claim
Lost slates after a storm? What counts as storm damage, what to do first, and the evidence your insurer will want to see.
What Do Roof Repairs Cost In Carlisle?
Most single-fault repairs land between £150 and £900. Chimney work runs £250 to £1,200 depending on what is wrong. Gutter clearing is around £90 to £180. A full re-roof is £6,000 to £18,000 depending on size and covering. Those are honest ranges, not teaser prices - your actual quote comes after we have seen the roof, and it is fixed.
See The Full Cost GuideRoof Repairs In Carlisle - Common Questions
How much do roof repairs cost in Carlisle?
Most single-fault repairs land between £150 and £900. A slipped slate you can reach from a ladder is at the bottom of that range; renewing lead flashings around a chimney, or stripping back a valley, is at the top. We give a fixed written price after we have actually looked at the roof rather than a guess over the phone.
How quickly can you come out to a roof leak?
For an active leak we aim to be with you within a day or two, and the same day where we can manage it. Tell us when you ring that water is coming in now - we will prioritise getting you watertight and arrange the permanent repair after that.
Do you charge for a roof survey or a quote?
No. The survey and the quote are free and there is no obligation. If we look at your roof and think it does not need the work you were expecting, we will tell you that, and it still costs you nothing.
Do I need planning permission for roof repairs in Carlisle?
Not for repairs - they count as maintenance. Replacing a roof like for like is normally permitted development too. It changes if you are altering the material or the shape, or if the property is listed or in a conservation area, and several Carlisle districts are. Cumberland Council has been the planning authority since April 2023, not the old Carlisle City Council.
Should I repair my roof or replace it?
Ask yourself whether slates are failing in the same place or in different places. One fault in one spot is a repair, whatever the age of the roof. Slates coming off somewhere new each winter usually means the nails have corroded across the whole roof, and from that point repairs stop being economic. We survey first and tell you which one you have.
Which areas around Carlisle do you cover?
Carlisle and the surrounding villages, including Dalston, Brampton, Longtown and Wigton, plus Penrith, Gretna over the border, and down into Kendal and Windermere. If you are not sure whether you are in range, ring and ask.
Areas We Cover
Carlisle is home and it is where most of our work is. Beyond the city we cover the border villages, the Eden Valley and down into the Lakes. Worth knowing if you are outside Carlisle: planning is not one authority across this patch. Carlisle, Brampton, Wigton, Longtown and Dalston are Cumberland Council. Penrith and Kendal are Westmorland and Furness. Windermere sits inside the Lake District National Park, which decides its own planning. And Gretna is over the border, so it runs on Scottish building standards entirely.
Dedicated pages for each of these towns are on the way. In the meantime, ring us and we will tell you straight away whether we cover you.
All Our Services
Get Your Roof Looked At Properly
Free survey, fixed written quote, and a straight answer on whether the work needs doing. Ring us and describe what the roof is doing - we can usually tell you a lot from that alone.