Post-storm roof inspection: a homeowner's checklist

The morning after a serious blow, a careful ten minutes with a phone camera from your own garden tells you most of what you need to know — and gives your insurer everything they'll ask for.

Water coming in right now? We prioritise active leaks across Hampton, Twickenham, Teddington and the wider TW and KT postcodes.

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The short answer

After a storm, check from ground level only: look for missing or slipped tiles, debris in gutters, displaced ridge or hip tiles, lifted flashing, and fresh mortar or tile fragments on the ground. Photograph everything before any repair, including dated wide shots, because insurers need to see the damage in context.

Safety first, and this is not boilerplate

Do not go onto the roof, do not go up a ladder in wind, and do not step into a loft with an active water ingress until the electrics in that area are isolated. Every serious roofing injury we hear about locally involves a homeowner on a ladder after a storm. Everything on this checklist can be done from the ground, from a window, or from inside the loft with a torch. If something can only be assessed from the roof, that is what we are for.

Ground-level exterior check

Walk the full perimeter of the property and photograph each elevation. Look for gaps in the tile pattern, tiles sitting askew or lower than their neighbours, a ridge or hip line that's no longer straight, lead flashing peeled away from a chimney or abutment, a gutter hanging loose or full of debris, and a TV aerial or satellite dish that's shifted. Then look down: fragments of tile, slate or mortar on the path, in flowerbeds or on the lawn tell you something has come off even if you can't see the gap from below.

Loft check

On a dry day, go into the loft with a torch and the light off. Daylight through the covering is the clearest sign of a missing tile or torn underlay. Then look for wet timber, fresh drips, water tracking down a rafter, or dark patches on the underlay. Check around the chimney stack in particular. Put a bucket under any active drip and take a photo with the date visible — that timestamp is genuinely useful when a claim is assessed weeks later.

Interior check

Walk every upstairs room and look at ceilings, especially in corners, around light fittings and along the line of chimney breasts. A new stain, a bulging patch of plaster or a bubble in paint means water is already inside. Bulging plaster with water behind it can come down suddenly — clear furniture from below it, and if it's a large area, pierce it deliberately with a screwdriver over a bucket to release the water in a controlled way rather than waiting for the ceiling to fail.

What to photograph for insurance

Insurers want: wide shots showing the whole elevation and the damage in context, close-ups of each defect at maximum zoom, interior damage including ceilings and any affected contents, and any debris on the ground before you tidy it up. Date-stamped is better. Keep the damaged materials if it's safe to do so. Also note the date and rough time of the storm and, if you can, a link to a weather report showing wind speeds for your postcode — several insurers reference a wind-speed threshold when assessing storm claims.

When you need an emergency make-safe

Call the same day if: water is actively entering, a tile or chunk of masonry is hanging and could fall, the ridge line is visibly displaced, or a large area of flat roof covering has lifted. A make-safe is a temporary measure — a tarp, a temporary felt patch, securing a loose element — that stops further damage while a permanent repair is scoped and, where relevant, agreed with your insurer. We keep the make-safe and the permanent repair as separate lines on the quote so the emergency spend is clear on any claim.

What can safely wait

A single slipped but still-in-place tile with no water ingress, minor gutter debris, mortar loss on a verge, and a slightly lifted flashing with no staining below can all be booked as normal work rather than an emergency. We'd rather tell you it can wait a fortnight than charge you emergency rates for something that doesn't need them — and we'll book it in properly so it doesn't get forgotten by the next storm.

Local response

We cover Hampton, Hampton Hill, Twickenham, Teddington, Whitton, Fulwell, Richmond, Kingston and the wider TW and KT postcodes. In storm weeks we prioritise active internal leaks and anything unsafe, then work through non-urgent damage in the order it came in. Send photos with your postcode and we can usually tell you within the hour whether you need us today or next week.

FAQs

Will my insurance cover storm damage to the roof?

Most policies do, subject to your excess, where damage results from a defined storm event. Claims are more often disputed on pre-existing wear than on the storm itself, which is why dated photographs and a professional report help.

Should I tidy up debris before the assessor visits?

Photograph it first, then move anything unsafe. Keep the damaged materials somewhere out of the way rather than skipping them immediately.

How soon should a temporary repair be made permanent?

Within a few weeks. A tarp or temporary patch is designed for 2–6 weeks of service, not a winter, and leaving it longer risks further damage that an insurer may not cover.

Can you attend out of hours?

For genuine emergencies with water coming in, yes. Non-urgent storm damage is booked in the next working days.

Get a fast quote

Family-run and Hampton-based. Tell us what you're seeing on the roof and we'll come and look properly before quoting.

Get a fast quote 07748 750711