Leadwork in Mildenhall: Chimneys, Flashing & Lead Valleys

Leadwork on Mildenhall's older homes

Around the market place and the older streets of Mildenhall, many houses are built in flint with brick dressings, often under clay pantiles or slate. These roofs tend to have tall period chimneys, lean-to extensions and outbuildings that meet the main walls, and every one of those junctions depends on lead flashing to keep water out of the brickwork.

On older properties the original lead is often decades old. Common problems include flashings that have pulled out of the mortar joints, cracked or split lead on chimney aprons and back gutters, and soakers that have slipped or worn through beneath the tiles. We replace what has failed, chase new flashings properly into the joints and repoint, so the chimney or wall is sealed again rather than patched with mastic.

Newer estates and extensions

Mildenhall's newer estates and the houses around the edge of town have their own lead details. Bay window roofs, porch canopies, dormer cheeks and the abutments where a single-storey extension meets the house are all places where lead is commonly used, and where problems tend to show up as damp patches on ceilings or stained walls.

Lead on these jobs is cut and dressed to suit the shape of each detail, with the right code of lead for the job and expansion joints where longer runs need them. That is what lets lead move with the seasons without splitting.

Chimneys, valleys and lead gutters

Chimney leadwork is one of the most frequent reasons we are called out. A chimney needs a front apron, step flashings down each side and a back gutter behind the stack, and if any one of those fails, water can run straight down inside the chimney breast. We can renew the full set, and where the stack itself needs attention we can repoint or rebuild it as part of the same job. Read more about our chimney repairs.

Lead valleys, where two roof slopes meet, carry a lot of water and wear over time. Older houses with parapet walls may also have lead gutters behind the parapet, which need correct falls and drips to drain properly. When a valley or gutter has reached the end of its life, we strip it back, check the boards beneath and lay new lead. You can find out more on our specialist leadwork page.

Signs your Mildenhall leadwork needs attention

Lead problems rarely announce themselves from the ground, so it helps to know what to look for. Inside, watch for damp patches on the ceiling below a valley, staining on a chimney breast, or a tidemark around the top of a bay window. Outside, look for flashing that has lifted away from a wall, mortar that has fallen out of the joints above the lead, or mastic and tape that someone has used as a quick fix in the past.

On flint cottages, water that gets behind a failed flashing can soak into the rubble core of the wall, which is slow to dry out. On newer homes, a leak at an extension abutment can show up some distance from where it started. Either way, the sooner the lead is checked, the smaller the repair is likely to be.

When we inspect, we look at the whole detail rather than just the obvious split. That means checking the soakers under the tiles, the fixings at the top edge, the boards under a valley or bay, and the condition of the chimney itself. You get an honest explanation of what we found and what it needs, with a free written quote.

Covering Mildenhall and nearby villages

From our base in Littleport we cover Mildenhall along with nearby villages including West Row, Beck Row, Barton Mills, Worlington, Lakenheath, Freckenham and Isleham. Many of these villages share the same mix of flint cottages, brick farmhouses and modern homes, so the same leadwork details come up again and again.

We offer free inspections and quotes, we are fully insured, and we answer emergency calls 24/7 if a storm has lifted flashing or you have water coming in. DJW Roofing & Leadwork Ltd is rated 5★ on Google.