Pontypridd sits where the Rhondda meets the Taff, with housing climbing the valley sides above both rivers. It is a town that knows what heavy rain can do — Storm Dennis in February 2020 caused serious flooding here — and that experience is worth carrying into how you think about a roof.
A roof is the top of a drainage system. It collects a large area of rainfall and hands it to gutters, downpipes and drains. On steep ground, where water moves fast and arrives somewhere quickly, the question is not only whether the roof is sound but where everything it collects is going. T & T Roofing South Wales repairs storm damage across Pontypridd and the surrounding valleys.
Below is what we are most often called to in Pontypridd, roughly in the order it comes up. If what has happened to your roof is not on the list, call anyway — it is not an exhaustive list, it is the common ground.
An average house roof collects a surprising volume of water in heavy rain, and all of it has to leave by a small number of downpipes. In prolonged rain the whole chain is working at capacity at once: valley, gutter, downpipe, gully, drain.
A storm attacks that chain in two ways simultaneously. It delivers more water than usual, and it delivers debris — leaves, twigs, moss knocked off the covering — that blocks the narrowest points. When a gutter or a gully cannot cope, water goes over the side and down the wall, and the damage that follows is to the building rather than to the roof.
After a storm, look down as well as up. A quick check of gutters, downpipes and the gully at the bottom of each pipe tells you a great deal, and all of it can be done from the ground. If water is running down a wall in the rain rather than through a downpipe, that is worth reporting to us specifically.
Much of Pontypridd's older housing runs in terraces stepping up steep ground — Graigwen, Trallwn, Hopkinstown and the streets climbing away from the town centre. Stepped terraces create a particular feature: where one house's roof steps up above its neighbour's, there is an exposed vertical face and a junction between the two.
Those step junctions rely on flashing, and flashing is a service-life component rather than a permanent one. They are also awkward to see from the ground and easy to miss, which is why a leak between two stepped properties can go unattributed for a long time.
The valley terraces are predominantly slate. Slate is durable; the nails holding it are not, and repeated saturation shortens their life. Once a nail fails the slate slides, which on a steep valley-side roof means it can travel some way and dislodge others on the way down.
Where the surrounding fixings are sound, replacing the lost slates and securing the area around them is the right repair. Where they are failing across the slope, we will tell you that rather than sell you a patch that lasts one season.
Terraced properties with rear extensions and outhouses have valley gutters where the two roofs meet, and those valleys carry a great deal of water through a narrow channel. Blocked or failed valleys are among the most common causes of a storm leak with no visible damage from the street.
Older valleys were lined in lead; many have been patched over the years with mortar or mastic, and those rigid repairs crack as the roof moves. We assess the lining and the fall as well as clearing the blockage, because clearing alone treats the symptom.
The ridge is the most exposed line on any roof and has nothing above it for protection. Mortar-bedded ridges lose their bond to thermal movement over decades, so a ridge tile can be sitting loose long before a storm dislodges it.
On a stepped terrace on a valley side, a displaced ridge tile has a long way to fall and can reach a neighbouring property. If you can see one out of line, treat the ground below it as unsafe and call us.
Stacks stand clear of the roof in the fastest air and take weather on all four sides. Storms find loose pots, cracked flaunching, open mortar joints and flashing lifted at the base where the stack passes through the covering.
Water can also track down inside a saturated stack and appear at ceiling level looking exactly like a roof leak. We assess the stack and the covering around it together for that reason.
Flat roofs on extensions, outbuildings and commercial premises fail at their edges under wind and at their outlets under water. A blocked outlet in prolonged rain leaves standing water, which puts weight on the structure and finds any weakness in a seam.
We assess felt, EPDM and other coverings along with the drainage, which on a flat roof is frequently the actual problem rather than the covering itself.
Where materials are loose or water is entering, the immediate work is reducing the risk and limiting further damage. On steep ground, access is often the deciding factor in what can be done on the day, along with the weather.
We will always be clear about whether what we have carried out is a temporary measure or the permanent repair.
We inspect, identify the roofing work required and provide a written quotation. Where the cause is drainage capacity rather than something the wind removed, we say so, because a claim built on an inaccurate description of the cause tends not to survive scrutiny.
Whether the damage is covered is a matter for your insurer and the terms of your policy.
That points to a blocked or overflowing gutter, or a blocked gully at the bottom of the pipe. It is worth reporting specifically because it is a drainage repair rather than a covering repair.
That pattern often means water going over a gutter and saturating the top of the wall and the eaves, rather than coming through the roof covering.
On stepped terraces, where one roof rises above its neighbour there is a vertical face and a flashed junction between them. Those junctions are hard to see from the ground and are a common source of unattributed leaks.
Only from the ground or a properly footed ladder on level ground, and not while it is windy or wet. On a steep valley-side street it is often not a sensible job to attempt.
Treat the area as unsafe, tell your neighbour and call us. A ridge tile on a stepped terrace has a long way to fall and can reach the next property.
That is usually capacity rather than a hole — a blocked valley or an overwhelmed gutter. It changes where we look, so tell us when you call.
Yes, Pontypridd and the surrounding valley communities. Tell us where you are and we will confirm.
Five guides written specifically for Pontypridd. We are publishing these in batches rather than all at once, so some are still being written — those are marked, rather than linked to a page that is not there.
We cover fifteen areas from our base in Neath. If yours is not listed, call and ask — the list is where we work most, not a boundary.
Tell us what the weather has done and what you can see from the ground. We will assess the roof, explain what needs repairing and give you a free, no-obligation quotation.
Tell us what the weather has done and what you can see from the ground. We will come back to you — usually the same day.
If water is coming in now, please call rather than email — 07766 547309.
