Leadwork and flashings in Barnsley
Roofline installs and repairs lead flashings across Barnsley: chimney flashings, valleys, aprons, soakers and back gutters. Lead of the right code, in the right lengths, fixed so it can move with the weather and last for decades.
The junctions that keep a roof dry
Lead is used wherever a roof meets something else: a chimney, a wall, another roof slope, a dormer. Those junctions are where most leaks start, because the lead was cut too thin, laid in pieces too long to cope with expansion, or simply sealed with mastic instead of being dressed properly. Good leadwork is quiet. It just works, for fifty years or more.
- Chimney flashings: front aprons, step-and-cover side flashings, back gutters
- Lead valleys, open and secret
- Soakers under slates and plain tiles
- Abutment flashings where roofs meet walls
- Dormer cheeks, flat tops and saddles
- Lead-covered bay window and porch roofs
- Lead-free flashing alternatives where theft is a concern
We work to the codes and lap lengths published by the Lead Sheet Training Academy, the industry body for lead roofing, and we treat new lead with patination oil so it weathers evenly without staining the tiles below.
Every job is photographed before and after so you can see exactly what was done.
Signs your leadwork has failed
Damp on a chimney breast or at the top of a wall inside is nearly always lead.
- Damp on the chimney breast, especially upstairs
- Water staining where a ceiling meets an outside wall
- Lead visibly lifted, buckled or split
- Flashings patched with mastic, tape or cement
- Lead that has slipped down the roof slope
- Cracks along the lead at the fold line (fatigue)
- Staining in a valley after heavy rain
- Lead stolen or missing altogether
- Mortar in place of lead where a roof meets a wall
Leadwork and flashings: your questions
Why does lead flashing fail?
Lead expands and contracts with every change in temperature. If a piece is too long, or fixed so it cannot move, it fatigues and cracks along the fold. Thin lead (a low code) fails faster. Poor fixing lets it slip or lift in the wind. Almost every lead failure we see comes down to one of those three, and all are avoided by doing it to the published guidance.
Lead or a lead-free alternative?
Lead is still the best material for flashings and lasts the longest. Lead-free flashing products have improved a lot and make sense where theft is a real risk or on low-value outbuildings. We fit both and will tell you which suits the job.
How long should leadwork last?
Properly specified and fixed, lead flashings last 50 years and more. Many of the lead details on Barnsley's Victorian terraces are original. The ones that fail early were nearly always installed wrongly.
Trusted roofers across Barnsley
Based in the borough and working across every part of it. Choose your area or just send us your postcode.
Roofers near you
- Wombwell
- Cudworth
- Royston
- Hoyland
- Penistone
- Darton
- Mapplewell and Staincross
- Goldthorpe
- Barnsley and all surrounding villages
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