Keep both feet on the ground
WorkSafe says New Zealand has no minimum height for managing fall risk, and calls the belief that a fall under 3 metres needs no precautions dangerous and incorrect. Wet iron is slippery, concrete and decramastic tiles crack or dent under a boot, and WorkSafe lists badly corroded metal roofing, clear roofing and fibrolite among the brittle roofs workers shouldn't walk on. If water is reaching light fittings, switch the power off at the switchboard first. And if your home was built before 2000, the roofing, ridge capping or spouting could contain asbestos, so nobody should drill, cut or water-blast them until they've been checked.
What does a lasting repair look like?
| Lasting repair | Patch that tends to come back | |
|---|---|---|
| Nails lifting on an older corrugated iron roof | Nails swapped for roofing screws with new washers, fixed into sound timber | Nails hammered back down or dabbed with sealant |
| Perished washers on longrun screws | New screws and washers to suit the profile and the metal | Sealant smeared over each screw head |
| Rust holes in an iron sheet | That sheet replaced, in a metal that's compatible with the rest of the roof | A patch glued over thin, flaking steel |
| Flashing lifted at a chimney, skylight or wall | Flashing refixed or replaced so it sheds water on its own | Silicone run along the gap |
| Cracked concrete tile or a dented decramastic tile | A matching tile fitted in its place | Sealant pushed into the crack |
| Split or lifted Butynol on a flat roof | The damaged section cut out and patched by a membrane roofer, and the fall checked | Tape or a paint-on sealer over the split |
| Spouting or a valley full of leaves and moss | Cleared, with the trees or moss behind it dealt with | Cleared once, then forgotten |
Why sealant and paint don't count as the repair
Sealant earns its place at laps, joins and around some fittings. As the whole fix, it mostly buys a season. The sun dries it out, the roof moves as it heats and cools, and water finds the edge of the bead.
Paint is a coating, not a seal. The Building Code's durability clause, B2, treats renewable protective coatings as parts expected to last at least 5 years, while the building envelope, the outer shell that keeps the weather out, is expected to last at least 15 years with normal maintenance. Asking paint to stop a leak gives a short-life product a long-life job. Even Resene, which sells roof paint, says painting tiles can help weathertightness but leaks will keep happening if their source isn't repaired. Get the leak fixed first, then think about roof painting if the roof needs it.
Getting a leak fixed properly, from first drip to dry ceiling
Protect the inside
Buckets under drips, rugs and furniture moved, power off at the switchboard if water is near fittings. If it's pouring in right now, start with our emergency roof leak guide.
Keep a leak diary
Each time it leaks, jot down the date, how hard it was raining and where the wind was coming from. A leak that only shows in a southerly tells a roofer a lot. Photograph the stain from the same spot each time so you can see if it's growing.
Look from the ground
From the yard, the footpath or an upstairs window, look for nail heads standing proud, rust patches, flashing pulled away from a wall or chimney, and spouting that's sagging or full. Binoculars help. Our guide on how to find a roof leak goes through the clues.
Rule out condensation
Marks that turn up after cold, clear nights with no rain are often condensation, not a leak, and no amount of new screws will cure that. Our guide to condensation or a leak shows how to tell.
Book one roofer to find it and fix it
Share your diary and photos. Ask whether the price covers finding the leak as well as repairing it, and whether they'll come back if the first repair doesn't stop it.
Ask to see the cause
A photo of the rusted sheet, the lifted flashing or the cracked tile, and one of the finished job. If the plan is sealant alone, ask how long they expect it to last.
Test it in the next decent rain
Watch the old stain. Under the Consumer Guarantees Act, a service has to be carried out with reasonable care and skill, and if it falls short and can be put right, you can ask the business to fix it within a reasonable time. Most roofers want to come back anyway.
Repair the ceiling last
Only once the roof is sorted and the lining has dried right through. Patching and painting over a wet ceiling traps the moisture, and the stain tends to come back.
Does a leak repair need a building consent?
Usually not. Schedule 1 of the Building Act lets you repair and maintain parts of a building without consent using a comparable product, and replace parts with a comparable product in the same position. Swapping a sheet, a flashing or a few tiles like for like normally fits.
There's an exception worth knowing. The exemption doesn't cover repairing or replacing (beyond maintenance) a part that failed the Building Code's durability rules, for instance by letting water in. Wairoa District Council's re-roofing guidance says like-for-like re-roofing doesn't need consent unless the cladding failed within 15 years. If your roof is fairly new and already leaking, ask the roofer whether consent applies, or check with your council.
Consent or not, all building work has to meet the Building Code. When roofing work on a home needs a consent, it counts as restricted building work, which an LBP (Licensed Building Practitioner) has to carry out or supervise. Our guides to building consent for a re-roof and checking an LBP cover both.
Roof done in the last year or so?
Call the roofer who did it first. Under the Building Act, you can notify a defect within 12 months of residential building work being finished, and the contractor has to fix it within a reasonable time of your written notice. The defect is presumed to be their responsibility unless they prove otherwise.
That 12-month window doesn't shorten the time you have to enforce the warranties the law builds into every residential building contract. Put your notice in writing, with photos and your leak diary attached.
Your share of the job, and the roofer's
You can
- Catching water and moving furniture, rugs and electronics
- Switching power off at the switchboard if water is near fittings
- A dated leak diary with photos
- Clearing a downpipe outlet you can reach from the ground
- Telling the roofer who's been up there lately, such as solar, aerial or heat pump installers
- Reading your insurance policy's wording on sudden and gradual damage
Leave to a roofer
- Anything that means standing on the roof
- Replacing nails, screws, sheets, flashings or tiles
- Membrane repairs on Butynol and other flat roofs
- Temporary covers when more rain is coming
- Anything on a roof that might contain asbestos
When fixing one leak at a time stops adding up
If the roofer finds the same failure all over, such as rust on sheet after sheet, nails lifting across every slope, or decramastic tiles that have shed their chip coating and started rusting, chasing single leaks gets expensive.
That's the time to price a re-roof alongside the repair and compare. Our guide on whether to repaint or re-roof and the restore or replace tool help frame that conversation before anyone quotes.
If it were our roof
We'd leave the ladder where it is, catch the water and keep a leak diary for a couple of rains. Then we'd get one roofer to find the cause and show us a photo of it before agreeing to anything. Replacing the part that failed usually costs a little more than a tube of sealant, but it's the version you only pay for once.
Want a roofer to take a look?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match it with a Find My Roofer certified roofer who specialises in that kind of work, and they call you to quote. Your number goes to them alone.