Repair or Replace Your Roof?
Most roof repairs in Stockport cost £280 to £600 and are done in a day. A full re-roof typically runs £7,000 to £18,000. Here is how to tell which one your roof actually needs, symptom by symptom, from a roofer whose rule is simple: if a repair will do, we repair.
The rule of thumb
A roof needs replacing when its faults are spread across the whole covering rather than concentrated in one place. One slipped tile, one leaking valley or one failed flashing is a repair, whatever the roof's age. Tiles slipping in different places, underfelt crumbling in more than one spot, or fixings failing across a slope mean each repair only buys time before the next one, and the arithmetic tips: repeated £280 to £600 repairs stop making sense against a £7,000 to £18,000 re-roof that resets the clock for decades.
Symptom by symptom
| What you are seeing | Likely fix | Typical cost | What tips it to a re-roof |
|---|---|---|---|
| A few slipped, cracked or missing tiles | Refix or replace the tiles | £280 to £600 | Tiles slipping repeatedly across the roof: usually nail fatigue, and each fix buys months, not years |
| Ridge tiles loose or mortar falling out | Re-bed or convert to a dry-fix ridge | Within the repair range | Ridge, verges and flashings all failing together on an older roof |
| Leak at a valley or around the chimney | Valley or flashing repair | £280 to £600 | The underfelt beneath is crumbling wherever it is exposed |
| Felt flat roof blistered or split | Patch, or re-cover in EPDM or GRP | Re-cover from £100 per m² | Felt was only built to last 15 to 20 years; past that, patching is chasing water |
| Daylight visible in the loft, or damp patches moving around | Proper survey first | A visit before any figure | Widespread underfelt failure: the covering has to come off to fix it, which is most of the way to a re-roof |
| Tiles crumbling, going porous or growing green across the roof | Usually a full re-roof | £7,000 to £18,000 | Surface erosion cannot be repaired tile by tile; moss alone is cosmetic though, see the moss guide |
Two honest caveats. First, a survey beats a guess: we quote in writing after seeing the roof, never from a description over the phone. Second, if a surveyor has already flagged your roof during a house purchase, that is a different situation with its own playbook, covered in survey says the roof needs replacing. And if it is raining into the house right now, skip the reading and call our same-day emergency repair line.
Repair or replace: common questions
How do I know if my roof needs replacing rather than repairing?
The tell is spread, not severity. One dramatic leak from a slipped tile is a repair. Faults appearing across the whole roof, tiles slipping in different places, underfelt crumbling in more than one spot, fixings failing across a slope, mean each repair only buys time before the next, and a full re-roof becomes the economical choice.
Is it worth repairing a 50 year old roof?
Often, yes. Age alone does not condemn a roof: plenty of Stockport roofs from the 1960s and earlier are structurally sound and worth repairing. What matters is the condition of the covering and the fixings. We come and look before we quote, and if a repair will do the job properly, a repair is what we recommend.
How much more does replacement cost than repair?
Most roof repairs in Stockport cost £280 to £600 and are done in a day. A full re-roof of a terrace or semi typically runs £7,000 to £18,000 over six to nine working days. That gap is why we never recommend replacement while repair is still economical, and why repeated repairs on a failing roof eventually stop making sense.
Not Sure Which You Need?
Get an Honest Answer, Free
We come and look in person, quote in writing, and if a repair will do the job properly, a repair is what we will recommend.