Fix the Way In, Not the Way Out
Water that gets through a roof rarely drops straight down. It runs along the underlay, down a batten, across a purlin, and falls at the first point something interrupts it. The stain on your ceiling marks where the water finished. The leak is somewhere upslope, sometimes several metres away.
That is why so many roof leak repairs in Cape Town do not hold. A tile above the stain gets replaced, the invoice gets paid, and the next cold front brings the stain back. Nothing was done wrong except the place.
We start inside, in the roof void, where water leaves tracks on the timbers that point back to where it came from. Then we go up and repair that point. Where the source is not obvious, we say so and find it properly before charging you for a repair that may be in the wrong place.
Where Roofs Actually Leak
Flashings. Where the roof meets a wall, a chimney, a parapet or a dormer. Mortar flashings crack, metal flashings lift, and sealant at the junction perishes in the sun. The most common source we find.
Ridges and hips. Cracked bedding and missing pointing let wind-driven rain in along the top of the roof.
Valleys. Corroded valley metal, or valleys blocked with leaves so water backs up and spills sideways under the tiles.
Fixings and laps on metal roofs. Perished washers, corroded screws, and end laps that the wind pushes water through.
Upstands and outlets on flat roofs. Membrane terminated short at a parapet, or an outlet that cannot clear a downpour.
Penetrations. Vent pipes, geyser flues, aerial brackets, satellite dishes and solar mounting. Each one is a hole through the roof that somebody had to seal.
Gutters. A blocked or back-falling gutter overflowing behind the fascia enters at the wall plate and looks exactly like a roof leak.
Temporary Now, Permanent When It Is Dry
Being straight about this saves you money.
In driving rain, the useful work is containment. Sheeting over a failed area, clearing a blocked valley, refixing a lifted sheet or tile so the water stops coming in. That holds a roof through a front.
The permanent repair is different. New bedding, a re-dressed flashing, a membrane patch or a sealant joint all need a dry surface. Done wet, they fail, and the next repair costs more because the failed material has to come off first.
So we contain it now, come back on the first dry day for the permanent repair, and show you which part is which on the quote.
Why Cape Town Leaks Wait for a Front
Roughly 70% of Cape Town rain falls between June and September, on north-westerly fronts at 50 to 65kph. Rain moving sideways reaches places vertical rain never does: up under tile overlaps, behind flashings, over the top of upstands.
That is why so many roofs here leak only in a storm, and why a fault can sit hidden for months. The summer south-easter loosens a ridge tile or lifts a sheet edge in December, and the first front of winter finds it.
A leak that has shown up once will show up again, usually worse. March and April are the months to have it repaired properly, before the rain tests it.
