Roof and spouting repairs in Napier

What we do, and what we do not

This is worth saying plainly, because the old version of this website was not clear about it. We repair roofs. We fix leaks, replace flashings, and repair, replace and clear spouting and downpipes. We do not do full re-roofs or new roofing.

If we look at your roof and the honest answer is that patching it is throwing good money after bad, we will tell you that and you can get a roofing contractor in. We would rather lose the job than take money for a repair that will not last.

Leaks

Water is a nuisance to trace because it runs along purlins and framing before it comes through a ceiling, so the stain on the gib is often nowhere near the actual hole. Most leaks turn out to be at a penetration or a junction rather than in the middle of a sheet: flashings, vents, chimneys, valleys and skylights. Those are all repairable.

Spouting and downpipes

Spouting fails slowly. Brackets let go, the run develops a sag, water sits in the low spot and the joint eventually gives up. The symptom is a waterfall over the edge in heavy rain and, in time, damp where the water has been landing against the cladding.

Because we also lay the stormwater drainage, we can follow the problem the whole way: spouting, downpipe, the connection into the ground and the drain that takes it away. A surprising number of overflowing gutters turn out to be a blocked stormwater line rather than a roof problem at all.

Before winter

Hawke's Bay gets long dry spells and then a serious dump of rain. The time to have spouting cleared, checked and repaired is before that, not during it. A morning's work in autumn is cheaper than a ceiling repair in winter.