Emergency call-out
Emergency roof leak — water coming through a ceiling
In short
Active water coming into a room is treated as urgent. The immediate priorities are electrical safety and relieving any trapped water in the ceiling, then getting the roof temporarily watertight — the diagnosis of where it is actually coming in happens after the water has stopped.
Also called: Water pouring through ceiling · Roof leaking badly · Ceiling about to collapse
Signs you need this
- Water actively dripping or running into a room
- A ceiling bulging, sagging or visibly heavy with water
- Water tracking down a wall from ceiling level
- Drips from a light fitting or a downlight — treat as urgent
- A stain that grows visibly while it is raining
- Water in the loft, on the insulation or running down a rafter
Water in a ceiling is more dangerous than it looks, and not because of the water. A saturated plasterboard ceiling holds a surprising weight, and when it goes it goes all at once. If you can see a bulge or a sagging patch, put a bucket underneath and pierce the lowest point of it with a screwdriver — deliberately draining it is far safer than waiting for it to let go over a sofa.
Electrics come first, though. Loft water finds cables, and it finds ceiling roses. If water is anywhere near a light fitting, a downlight or a socket, turn that circuit off at the consumer unit and leave it off. A wet downlight is a direct path from a live conductor into the room below, and it is the single most likely way a roof leak hurts somebody.
Then contain and record. Move what you can, get containers down, lift carpet if it is easy, and take photographs — of the water, of the ceiling, and from the ground of anything visibly wrong on the roof. Insurers pay claims that come with evidence taken on the day.
Finding the actual entry point is a job for afterwards, and it is genuinely a job. Water gets in through a defect, runs along the top of a batten or down a rafter, crosses a ceiling joist and drops through at the first low point — so the stain in the middle of the bedroom routinely traces back to a flashing several metres away. That is why the honest sequence is stop it, then find it, rather than guessing at a repair in the rain.
It is also worth knowing that a proportion of urgent 'roof leaks' in this town are not roof leaks. Cheshire East's flood risk assessment designates Macclesfield as the borough's only Flood Risk Area, with 47 internal flooding incidents recorded since 2011, and attributes part of that to an ageing network of unmapped culverted watercourses under the town. Where water is appearing low down as well as high up, or the timing does not match the rain on the roof, that possibility gets ruled out before anybody prices roof work.
In a serious downpour the other common culprit is the guttering rather than the covering — a blocked or undersized gutter overflows back under the eaves and into the roof space, which produces exactly the symptoms of a roof leak and is fixed with a ladder and an hour rather than a scaffold.
What the job covers
- Urgent attendance and immediate making-safe
- Advice on isolating electrics and relieving a loaded ceiling
- Loft inspection to trace where the water is entering and tracking
- Temporary weatherproofing of the roof where it is open
- Ruling out guttering overflow and condensation before pricing roof work
- Photographs and a written account for an insurance claim
What it costs
We don't publish a price for this yet, because a number pulled out of the air is worse than no number at all — your roofer has to honour it. On roofing it would also be close to meaningless: access is often the biggest single factor, and it varies enormously house to house. You'll get a firm price for your actual job when they ring you back, before any work starts. The quote itself is free and there's no obligation either way.
Common questions
Should I pierce a bulging ceiling?
Yes — a bucket underneath and a small hole at the lowest point of the bulge. It sounds wrong and it is the right thing to do. A controlled release into a container beats several litres of water bringing a whole plasterboard ceiling down at once, which is what happens if it is left.
Water is coming out of a light fitting. What do I do?
Turn that circuit off at the consumer unit and leave it off until an electrician has looked at it. Do not switch the light on to check, and do not stand in the water to reach the fitting. This is the one part of a roof leak that is genuinely dangerous rather than just expensive.
Why can you not just patch it today?
Often we can. But in heavy rain and wind a permanent repair frequently is not possible — mortar will not cure, adhesives will not bond to soaked material, and slates laid in a gale lift in the next one. The correct move is a properly battened temporary covering, then the real repair when it can be done once.
How do you find where it is actually getting in?
From inside first: lights off in the loft looking for daylight, then following the water tracks back up the timbers to the highest wet point. Then the corresponding place on the roof outside. Flashings, valleys, the chimney and the abutments account for the large majority of leaks — the open field of a roof rarely fails on its own.
Need this doing in Macclesfield?
Tell us the job and it goes straight to our local roofer — one call back, usually the same day. Free quote, no obligation.