Lead in modern roofing
Do roofers still use lead?
The short answer
Yes. Lead is still fitted on new roofs and used in repairs, mainly where a roof meets a chimney stack, a gable wall or a dormer window, and in valleys, gutters and some flat roofs. Lead sheet is graded by thickness into numbered codes. Other materials, such as zinc, flashing tape and sealants, do some of the same jobs, and the right choice depends on the building, the detail and how long you want the work to last.
Where lead is still the usual choice in roofing, where other materials take over, and how a roofer decides between them.
Yes, and mostly at the joints
Lead has been a roofing metal for centuries, and it has not gone out of use. Walk round a house built last year and you may well find some. You find it where tiles or slates run out: at a chimney stack, up against a higher wall, round the sides of a dormer window, and along the valley between two slopes. At each of those, water needs a sealed path, not a lap between two tiles.
It also lines gutters and covers small flat roofs, such as a bay window top. Royston Lead's brochure matches each code to its uses, from soakers at the bottom of the range to heavy sheet for parapet gutters. A soaker is a small bent piece of lead tucked beneath each tile or slate along a side wall. A box gutter is a lead-lined channel between two roofs or behind a parapet.
Our guide to lead flashing covers where each piece goes. A roofer who works on older houses handles lead every week.
Why it keeps its place
The reasons are practical. A roofer can work sheet lead around brickwork and tile profiles with hand tools, and it stays where it is put. At a joint it can often be re-used once the old pointing is cleaned out. It also lasts: MyJobQuote says correctly fitted lead flashing can pass 80 years, and 100 years in the higher codes, while Less gives a lead flat roof 50 to 100 years.
Set that beside other flat roofing, where Less gives EPDM 30 to 50 years and torch-on felt 10 to 20. A material meant to be fitted once makes sense when getting to the roof means scaffolding.
On older and listed buildings the original covering is often lead, and renewing it in lead keeps the roof as the people who built it left it. Our guide to lead codes explains the weights plainly, from code 3 at 1.32 mm up to code 8 at 3.55 mm, so the numbers on a quote mean something to you.
Where roofers use something else
Lead is not the answer to every detail, and several alternatives are in regular use, each with its own place.
- Zinc. A sheet metal used for roofs and cladding, which its maker, VM Zinc, says can last over 100 years.
- Flashing tape. A self-adhesive strip, quick to apply and used for small or awkward repairs.
- Sealants and mortar. They bed or point a flashing; they do not replace one.
- Single-ply and felt. Used on flat roofs, where a membrane carries the weather.
The choice turns on the detail, the building and the budget. A quick fix to stop a drip and a flashing meant to outlast the next owner are different jobs. Our answer on flashing tape against lead compares the pair, and our guide to lead flashing alternatives goes further.
What we fit and why
On our roofs, flashings are dressed in lead, and it is part of how a job is finished. We choose the code to suit each detail. In Royston's table, code 4 appears against flashings and soakers as well as valleys and dormers, while heavier sheet is listed for parapet and box gutters, so one detail never dictates another's sheet.
Lead goes on in short lengths so it can move, it is fixed so the edges hold down in a gale, and the joints are pointed with care. Sealant is kept for the places it suits. When tape will do for a small repair, we say that. When a chimney wants new lead, we say that instead.
The call is made at the survey, from photographs of your own roof. You are told what we found before any money is discussed, and then comes a written quote that ends in one figure. Our lead roofing and leadwork page lists the lead work we take on.
Questions to put to a roofer about lead
If a roofer proposes lead, a few questions are worth asking. Which code is going on, and why that one for this detail? How long will each piece be, and how is it held down? Will the joint be pointed in mortar or finished another way? And what happens if the wall behind it is crumbling?
A roofer who has fitted lead before answers those without hesitation. One who has not may steer you toward sealant, which can hold for a while but does not do a flashing's work. The answers tell you more than the price does.
Prices are worth checking too. Our guide to lead roofing cost gives typical figures from published guides, each with its source and date, so a quote can be set against something solid. Whoever quotes, find out if scaffolding and VAT are inside the number. A roofer happy to explain that is usually happy to explain the rest, and the explanation is as useful as the price. Keep the written quote, and the photographs that came with it, in the same folder as your other house papers.
Related questions
Roofers and lead queries
Is lead roofing old-fashioned?
No. It is an old material, but it is still the usual answer at chimneys, walls, valleys and gutters. Other products are used where lead does not suit the job or the repair is small.
Can I ask for something other than lead?
Yes. Tell us what you have in mind and we will say whether it suits the detail. On a listed building, the council's conservation officer may have a view on materials, so ask them first.