Stay safe while you look
Stay off the roof, wet or dry. Water near a light fitting or power point means switching off at the switchboard before anything else. A bulging or sagging ceiling can give way, so keep everyone out of that room, and call 111 if storm damage puts anyone in danger.
How to get a useful answer
Pick the spot where the water first appears, not where it pools on the floor, then pick when it happens. Over the next few downpours, note whether it drips in steady rain, only in heavy rain, or only with wind from one direction. A roofer can do a lot with that note.
Why it's a lean, not a diagnosis
Water that gets past the roofing runs along underlay, purlins and framing before it drops, so the stain can sit well away from the gap. The leak finder plays the odds on where that kind of leak usually starts.
It also can't rule out things that aren't the roof. Marks that show up on cold, dry mornings point more towards condensation, which our guide to condensation or a leak helps you sort out. And on homes built from 1988 to 2004 with flat roofs, minimal eaves or a complicated roofline, water at a wall may be getting in at a junction or through the cladding.
What you can check, and what to leave
You can
- Look at the roof from the ground or an upstairs window, with binoculars if you have them, for lifted flashings, missing screws, cracked tiles or sagging spouting (gutters).
- Watch the spouting in heavy rain from somewhere dry, and note any water spilling over.
- Put a bucket under the drip, and photograph the stain each time it grows.
Leave to a roofer
- Tracing the leak on the roof itself, from safe access.
- Lifting flashings, replacing fixings or sheets, and resealing around chimneys, skylights and flues.
- Anything on decramastic, cement sheet or other brittle roofing, which can break underfoot or contain asbestos.
Where we'd go from here
Use the result to describe the leak, not to choose the repair. Tell the roofer what the leak finder suggested, when it leaks and what you've spotted from the ground. If water is coming in fast, start with our emergency leak guide. If it can wait a few days, how to find a roof leak has more clues worth gathering first.
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.