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Emergency Roofer in Chester — Storm Damage and Roof Leaks, Day or Night
Storm damage, an active leak, slipped slates or a flat roof that has let go — we make the situation as safe as conditions allow, help keep the weather out and then repair it properly. Emergency call-outs across Chester, any day of the week, from our yard a few miles up the A55.
If there is an immediate risk to life, a fallen power line, fire, suspected gas escape, major structural collapse or another serious danger, move to a safe place and contact the appropriate emergency service first.
Call 01244 638219 or WhatsApp 07719 535523 now, or send a photo on WhatsApp. For a quote or a non-urgent inspection, use the form further down.
Emergency call-outs are subject to availability, weather, safe access, location and the nature of the damage. We will give you an honest indication of attendance when you call.
Emergency Roofer in Chester — Call Any Time, Day or Night
Photographs help us understand the problem before we set off. They may not show the full extent or cause of the damage, so an inspection may still be needed.
- We attend storm damage, active leaks, slipped or missing slates and tiles, failed ridges and verges, damaged flashing and leaking flat roofs across Chester — the city, Hoole, Handbridge, Blacon, Upton and the villages around.
- Out-of-hours emergency call-outs, nights and weekends included — subject to availability, weather, safe access and the nature of the damage.
- First visit: make the situation as safe as conditions allow, find the cause where we can safely reach it, apply temporary weather protection where appropriate, then explain and quote the permanent repair.
- Builders as well as roofers — where roof damage comes with related building or internal damage, we can advise on the next repair and, where available, coordinate the relevant Quirks services.
- 20+ years’ trading, £5 million public liability insurance, 5.0 on Google from 100+ customer reviews.
Is your roof problem an emergency right now?
Not every roof fault needs someone out tonight, and we will tell you honestly which yours is. Treat it as an emergency if:
- water is coming into the building now — through a ceiling, down a wall, or into the loft in quantity;
- tiles, slates, ridge tiles or lead have come off and the roof underneath is exposed to the weather;
- part of the roof, a chimney stack or a section of roofline has fallen or is hanging and could fall on someone;
- a flat roof has split or lifted and rain is getting under it;
- a storm is still going and the damage is getting worse while you watch.
A damp patch that has been there for weeks, a single slipped slate with no water inside, or moss and worn pointing are not emergencies. They still need doing — book them as a normal repair through the form below and we will come and look properly.
Why the first few hours matter
If materials remain wet, plasterboard and insulation can quickly become saturated, timber can take up moisture and the risk of mould and further deterioration increases. Early temporary weatherproofing can significantly reduce the extent of the internal damage.
What to do while you wait for us
Do not go up a ladder to look, and do not let anyone else. Wet slates, wind and a damaged structure are how people get badly hurt.
Buckets under the drip, a bin liner over furniture, towels along the base of a wet wall. If a ceiling is bulging, keep everyone out of that room.
If water is near lights, sockets or the consumer unit, switch the electrics off at the consumer unit — but only if you can reach it safely and stay dry doing so.
Away from anything that might still fall — loose slates, a leaning stack, a lifted section of felt.
From the ground or from inside. Send them to us on WhatsApp and tell us your postcode and what kind of building it is.
If you cannot get through first time, send the WhatsApp with your postcode and we will respond as soon as we can.
Do not attempt a repair yourself. A tarpaulin thrown over a roof in wind is a sail, and a roof that has just failed may not take your weight.
Why roofs fail in Chester
Chester sits where the Dee opens out towards the estuary, and a south-westerly comes across the Cheshire plain with nothing in its way. The older city — Hoole, the Garden Quarter, Boughton, Handbridge, Curzon Park — is dense Victorian and Edwardian housing: slate on timber battens, tall shared chimney stacks, mortar-bedded ridges and verges, and iron slate nails that can be a century old. When they fail, slates can slide in the first hard blow and the ridge or the stack is often the next thing to move.
Much of the centre, Handbridge and Curzon Park is conservation area, and some buildings are listed. Urgent temporary measures may be possible to make the building safe and limit further weather ingress. Where a property is listed or within a conservation area, additional requirements may apply to the permanent repair — and it usually has to match what is there: slate for slate, the right ridge, the right lead — and we will identify this before that work proceeds.
Blacon, Upton, Newton and Vicars Cross are largely 1930s to 1960s semis with concrete tiles on underfelt that may have gone brittle. Lache, Huntington and Great Boughton have a lot of 1960s to 1980s housing with flat-roofed garages and porches that can be at the end of their life. And many bungalows in Handbridge, Upton, Christleton and Waverton have mortar-bedded verges and ridges that a storm can lift off the gable — which is what happened on the Handbridge job below. What any one roof needs depends on its age, construction and maintenance history.
This page is about emergency call-outs in Chester. For how we work across every area, see our emergency roof repair service.
Where we come out to in Chester
We cover the city and the villages around it. Tell us your postcode when you call and we will tell you honestly how soon we can be with you.
City centre, Garden Quarter, Blacon, Newton, Upton
Hoole, Upton-by-Chester, Mickle Trafford, Guilden Sutton, Vicars Cross
Boughton, Great Boughton, Huntington, Christleton, Waverton, Tattenhall, Tarvin
Handbridge, Curzon Park, Lache, Westminster Park, Saltney
Saltney straddles the border with Flintshire; we cover both sides of it.
HANDBRIDGE, CHESTER — BUNGALOW
Recent emergency roof repair project
We were called out to a bungalow in Handbridge after a storm took verge tiles off the gable. The verge is the tiled edge where the roof meets the gable wall, and it is the most exposed part of a pitched roof — the first place wind gets underneath. On a great many houses it is held down with nothing but mortar.
Why the verge let go
The tiles along that edge had been bedded in mortar, which is how it was done for decades. The problem is that mortar is rigid and a roof is not. It moves with heat and cold, year after year, and the bedding cracks, loses its grip and comes away in lumps.
That is what the first two photographs show — the bedding broken down along the length of the verge rather than failed in one spot. Once it has gone, the edge tiles are sitting there with very little holding them, and it takes one decent gust under the leading edge to take them off.
Dry verge instead of mortar
The remaining bedding was cleared off and a dry verge system fitted in its place. Dry verge units are caps that sit over the edge tiles and are mechanically fixed down — screwed, not stuck. Each one interlocks with the next, so the whole edge is held as a single run rather than as a line of separate tiles.
The reason to fit that rather than re-bed the verge in mortar is straightforward: mortar would do exactly the same thing again. Same material, same exposed position, same job, and it cracks again on the same timescale. A mechanically fixed verge does not rely on anything sticking to anything, which is the whole point of it.
The finished gable
Anthracite dry verge units run the full length of both sides of the gable and close off at the apex. The edge is sealed against wind and driven rain, and it is no longer depending on mortar to stay where it is.
The last photograph looks along the verge down towards the eaves. It is a tidier edge than the one that came off in the storm, and more to the point it is a fixed one.
This case study covers the verge on that gable and nothing beyond it. The rest of the roof covering was not disturbed, no work was carried out to any other elevation, and nothing is claimed here about the condition of the rest of the roof. Where a whole roofline is at the end of its life rather than one verge, the job becomes a fascias, soffits and guttering one instead. And where a verge has been open to the weather for a long period it is worth having the gable checked at high level — we did not carry out a damp survey at this property.
- Attended after a storm took verge tiles off the gable
- Found the mortar bedding along the verge broken down along its length
- Removed the remaining mortar bedding
- Fitted a mechanically fixed dry verge system in anthracite along both sides of the gable
- Closed off the apex with a matching cap
- Left the rest of the roof covering undisturbed
| Issue | Verge tiles taken off the gable in a storm |
|---|---|
| Service | Emergency roof repairs — storm-damaged verge |
| Findings | Mortar bedding along the verge cracked and broken away along its length, leaving the edge tiles with little holding them |
| Works | Remaining mortar bedding removed and a mechanically fixed dry verge system fitted in anthracite along both sides of the gable, closed off at the apex |
| Property | Bungalow |
| Location | Handbridge, Chester |
WHAT WE ARE CALLED TO
Emergency roofing problems we deal with in Chester
The eleven things we are called out to most often on Chester roofs:
Storm damage
Ridge tiles, slates and hip tiles lifted or thrown off; lead flashing peeled back; a whole area of tiles stripped where the wind got under them. Where conditions allow, we make the exposed area safe and apply temporary protection first, then return to repair it properly.
Active leaks and water coming in
Water through a ceiling or down a chimney breast during rain. Finding the way in is the skill — it is often not directly above the wet patch — and on the first visit we trace it only as far as we can reach safely.
Slipped, cracked or missing slates and tiles
One slipped slate on an older Hoole or Handbridge terrace can be a sign the nails are failing along the course. We refix or replace what has moved and tell you what the rest of the roof is likely to need, depending on its age, construction and maintenance history.
Ridges, verges and hips
Mortar-bedded ridge and verge tiles are among the commonest storm casualties on Chester bungalows and inter-war semis. Where the mortar has failed along the run, a mechanically fixed dry ridge or dry verge system may be the right permanent repair.
Flashing, lead and roofline
Lead pulled away from a stack or abutment, rotten fascia letting water behind the gutter, a failed valley. Small areas, big leaks.
Flat roofs
Garages, porches, dormers and extensions with felt, asphalt or EPDM that has split, blistered or lifted. Where it is safe and practicable, we aim to stop or substantially reduce water ingress on the first attendance; a tired flat roof may need a proper recover, which we will quote for separately.
Rooflights and roof windows
A rooflight or roof window smashed by debris, or one that has started letting water in around the frame during a storm. Where safe access allows, we can cover or seal it on the visit to limit water into the room below, and replace or re-flash it as the permanent repair.
Valleys and gullies
A valley that has split or a gully that has blocked can send a whole roof’s worth of rain down one seam, and it can show up inside fast. Where safe access allows, we clear or temporarily seal it on the visit and quote the proper valley repair.
Chimney stacks
Storm damage to a stack — loose pots, cracked flaunching, displaced brickwork — often comes with the roof damage around it. Where safe access allows we make the stack safe with the roof, and can carry out chimney repairs in Chester as a follow-on where it needs rebuilding or repointing.
Fallen trees, branches and impact damage
A branch, a tree or an aerial through the roof can do more than break tiles — it can crack rafters and push the structure out of line. We clear what is safe to clear, check where we can whether the timbers underneath have been hit, and advise on any shoring or structural make-safe work needed before the roof is covered.
Fallen debris and unsafe roof materials
Slates in the garden, a section of guttering down, a stack leaning — anything that could still fall is dealt with before anything else, where safe access allows.
What happens when we get there
An emergency visit is not the same as a finished repair, and we will not pretend otherwise. This is the order things happen in:
Where safe access and conditions allow, anything that could fall, or that someone could fall through, is dealt with first.
In daylight and dry conditions that usually means getting onto the roof. At night or in a gale it may mean working from a ladder, a platform or inside the loft until conditions allow more.
Where conditions, access and the nature of the damage allow, we can apply temporary weather protection — sheeting, a properly secured tarpaulin, temporary sealing.
Sometimes it can be done there and then. Often it needs materials, scaffolding, daylight or a dry day, and we explain the options, what they involve and what they are likely to cost before we leave.
Temporary weather protection is exactly that: it buys time, it is not the repair. For the permanent work — from refixing a course of slates to a full recover — see planned roofing work in Chester.
If it is more than the roof
A storm that takes tiles off rarely stops there. If it has brought down masonry, damaged a gable or left a wall or stack that needs making safe, our emergency builder in Chester can be coordinated with the roofing visit where available, and we will advise on the appropriate next repair.
If a rooflight, window or door has gone with it and the building is open, we provide boarding up in Chester to secure it — on the same visit where available.
And once the roof is protected, what the water has done inside still needs putting right. Our ceiling, floor and wall water-damage repair service deals with collapsed ceilings, saturated plaster and lifted floors, and can be arranged as the next step.
Where enough water has come in to need the building drying out and stripping back — saturated floors, walls and insulation rather than a wet patch — our flood damage restoration in Chester service handles the drying, decontamination and reinstatement, and can be arranged as the next step.
Emergency builder in Chester
If it has brought down masonry, damaged a gable or left a wall or stack that needs making safe, our emergency builder in Chester can be coordinated with the roofing visit where available, and we will advise on the appropriate next repair.
Boarding up in Chester
If a rooflight, window or door has gone with it and the building is open, we provide boarding up in Chester to secure it — on the same visit where available.
Ceiling, floor and wall water-damage repair
Once the roof is protected, what the water has done inside still needs putting right. This service deals with collapsed ceilings, saturated plaster and lifted floors, and can be arranged as the next step.
Storm damage restoration in Chester
Where enough water has come in to need the building drying out and stripping back — saturated floors, walls and insulation rather than a wet patch — this service handles the drying, decontamination and reinstatement.
We take emergency roofing calls out of hours, every day of the week.
We're here when you need us most.
Why call Quirks for an emergency roofer in Chester
What you get when you call us out:
- Builders as well as roofers. Many emergency roof jobs involve something else — a stack, a ceiling, a window. Where roof damage is accompanied by related building damage, we can advise on the appropriate next repair and, where available, coordinate the relevant Quirks services.
- Out-of-hours call-outs every day of the week, with an honest answer about when we can get to you rather than a promise we cannot keep.
- Temporary weatherproofing where safe and practicable on the first visit, to help limit further water ingress while the permanent repair is arranged.
- Nobody sells you a new roof at ten o’clock at night. We make the situation as safe as conditions allow, and the conversation about the permanent repair happens, wherever possible, in daylight when you can see what we can see.
- 20+ years’ trading. £5 million public liability insurance.
- Workmanship guarantee on completed works.
- 5.0 on Google from 100+ customer reviews.
- Based at Ewloe Green on Deeside — Chester is a few miles up the A55, so the city and the villages around it are a short run for us.
Send photos for fast help
What an emergency call-out costs
We will explain the likely cost of the emergency attendance and the temporary work before we set off, so you know where you stand before we arrive rather than afterwards. If the job turns out to be more involved than it first appeared, we explain the additional work and what it means before we carry on. Nothing happens without you knowing what it involves.
The permanent repair is quoted separately once we have seen the roof properly. What it costs depends on the size of the damaged area, the roof covering, how high and how accessible it is, whether scaffolding is needed and whether the fault is one storm’s damage or the roof reaching the end of its life.
If requested and agreed, we can provide photographs and a written description of the visible damage and works carried out for you to pass to your insurer. Your insurer decides how a claim is handled.
The emergency attendance explained before we set off
The temporary work explained before it is done
Additional work explained before we carry on
Photographs and a written description for your insurer, if requested and agreed
Request a quotation
Six details and we’ll come back to you. For emergencies, call 01244 638219.
We take emergency roofing calls out of hours, every day of the week.
Send photos and details for fast help.
Memberships and certifications
Emergency roofing in Chester — your questions
Do you come out at night and at weekends in Chester?
Yes. We take emergency roofing calls out of hours every day of the week and attend across Chester. Attendance is subject to availability, weather, safe access and the nature of the damage — in a gale at 2am the safe thing may be to secure what we can from the ground and come back at first light, and we will tell you that on the phone.
How quickly can you get to Hoole, or Handbridge, or Upton?
We are based at Ewloe Green on Deeside, a few miles up the A55, so Chester is a short run for us — the city, Hoole, Handbridge, Blacon and Upton, and the villages out towards Christleton and Tarvin a little further. We give you an honest indication of arrival when you call rather than a figure we might not meet.
Will you put a tarpaulin on my roof?
Where a permanent repair cannot safely be completed on the first visit, temporary weather protection may be appropriate — sheeting or a properly secured tarpaulin, or temporary sealing. We will explain what can safely be done and the recommended next step. It is a stopgap, not the repair.
Can you fix it permanently on the first visit?
Sometimes — a few slipped slates or a small flashing repair in daylight can be finished there and then. More often the permanent work needs materials, scaffolding or a dry day, and the first visit is about making it safe and keeping the weather out. We will tell you which yours is before we leave.
Do you charge for emergency attendance?
We will explain the likely cost of the emergency attendance and the temporary work before we set off, so you know where you stand before we arrive. If more work is needed than first appeared, we explain it before carrying on.
Should I send photographs?
Please do — WhatsApp them to 07719 535523 with your postcode. Photographs from the ground or from inside help us understand what we are coming to and what to bring. They may not show the full extent or cause of the damage, so an inspection may still be needed.
My ridge tiles came off in the storm. Is that urgent?
If the ridge is open, yes — rain can get straight in along the top of the roof and the tiles either side lose their support. It is one of the commoner storm call-outs on Chester bungalows and inter-war houses, where ridges are often bedded in mortar that may be decades old. Where conditions allow we make it safe and apply temporary protection, and where the mortar has failed along the run a mechanically fixed dry ridge may be the right permanent repair.
Do you do flat roofs and garage roofs?
Yes. Split, blistered or lifted felt on garages, porches, dormers and extensions is a large part of what we are called to. Where it is safe and practicable, we aim to stop or substantially reduce water ingress on the first attendance. If a permanent repair cannot be completed safely, we will explain the temporary measures available; if the roof covering has reached the end of its life we quote for a proper recover.
EMERGENCY ROOF REPAIRS BY AREA
Emergency roof repairs in other areas
Need an emergency roofer in Chester now?
Call 01244 638219 or WhatsApp 07719 535523 any time. Or send photographs of the damage on WhatsApp to WhatsApp 07719 535523 with your postcode and we will respond as soon as we can.
Emergency call-outs are subject to availability, weather, safe access, location and the nature of the damage. We will give you an honest indication of attendance when you call.
Not an emergency? Use the form to book a roof inspection or ask for a quotation and we will come and look properly.
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