Greater London · London and the South East
Flat Roof Survey in Bow Common
An experienced roof surveyor for flat roof surveys in Bow Common. Over 5,000 surveys and 20+ years behind us across London and South East England.
- Failed seals around rooflight kerbs
- Blistering in felt or asphalt
- Failed upstands where the roof meets a wall
Flat roof survey in Bow Common: what you get
Flat roofs deal with rain in a very different way from pitched ones. Because rain sits on it for longer, a small split, an open seam or a blocked outlet matters more. The surface, the falls, the upstands and the trims are all looked at closely, and we look for signs that water has reached the deck. The aim is to find problems before they show up as a stain on a ceiling. If you’ve noticed raised blisters across the surface and damaged trims at the roof edge, a survey will tell you what’s going on.
London has a lot of flat roofs: rear additions, dormers, roof terraces and the roofs of blocks and offices. They’re covered in felt, asphalt, EPDM rubber, GRP fibreglass or single-ply membranes, and each fails in its own way. In Bow Common, as anywhere in London, the right approach depends on what the roof is made of. Older flat roofs are often felt or asphalt, newer ones rubber or GRP.
Nothing in the report is left vague: if work is needed, the report says so clearly, and where it can wait, that is said too.
- Place
- Bow Common (E14, E3, E1)
- Region
- Greater London
- Price
- From £150 inc. VAT
- Report
- A written report with photos, by email
- When we survey
- Weekdays and weekends
- Insurance
- PI and public liability insurance
- Telephone
- 07833 053749
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
Checking the roof from the ground
You can learn a lot from the ground. With binoculars, look for slipped or missing slates and tiles, gaps along the ridge and leaning chimneys. Never climb onto the roof to look.
During heavy rain, look at the gutters from ground level or a window. Overflowing water can be a sign of a blockage or a gutter that has dropped.
Bow Common questions
Can parking be tricky for a visit in Bow Common?
It can be, so it helps to let us know about permits, visitor bays or off-street space when booking. The visit is then planned around what’s available.
Is my home in Bow Common listed or in a conservation area?
For listing, use Historic England’s list; for conservation areas, ask the council. The answer matters most when a change of material is on the cards.
Can you survey any kind of flat roof?
Felt, asphalt, EPDM, GRP and single-ply roofs are all covered. If you do not know what your roof is, we will identify it on the day.
Do you use drones?
Where it helps and it is safe, yes. Whether we can fly on the day depends on the weather and the airspace rules. We are a CAA-registered drone operator.
Are you insured?
Professional indemnity and public liability insurance cover our surveys. If you need details for a managing agent or a building owner, just ask.
How do I arrange a flat roof survey in Bow Common?
Just call 07833 053749 or drop us an email with the address. After a few questions, we confirm the price and fix a day, weekday or weekend.
Can you survey a flat roof on an office or unit?
Yes. We survey flat roofs on commercial buildings as well as homes. A commercial roof normally takes about 3 to 4 hours on site, longer if it’s large or complex, and larger roofs are quoted for their size.
Flat roof surveys around Bow Common
With Sutton House about 2.4 miles north-west, Bow Common sits in an area with a long building history. Older roofs in the wider area can hide decades of patch repairs, so the detail matters, and a listed home or one in a conservation area may need consent for changes of material. Close to the centre of London, a great many houses are Victorian or Edwardian terraces, many of them roofed in Welsh slate. A butterfly roof with a central valley gutter, tucked behind a parapet wall, is common on these houses. If your home in Bow Common is one of them, lead flashings, party-wall upstands and shared chimney stacks are part of the picture too. Mixed in with those pitched roofs are a good many flat ones, over rear extensions, dormers, garages and shops.
Parking in Bow Common, as in most of London, takes a little planning: tell us about permits, visitor bays or off-street space as you book. For landlords with property near Limehouse station, a flat roof over a rented flat is easy to forget until the tenant reports a leak.
Bow Common is about 2 miles east of Whitechapel, in Greater London. Bow Common gets the same service as everywhere else we work: a careful look at everything that’s safely in view, photos and a clear written report. Bow Common is one of the towns and villages in Greater London where we work for flat roof surveys.
Surveys in E14, E3 and E1 work the same way as everywhere else we cover. If you need a flat roof survey at a property on Market Way, Knapp Road and Thomas Road or anywhere close by, we can help. Close by, we survey roofs in Limehouse (1 mile west), Bromley (1 mile north-east), Mile End (1 mile north-west), Poplar (1 mile south) and Canary Wharf (1 mile south). Further out, we also cover London (3 miles south-west), City of Westminster (6 miles west), Marylebone (5 miles west), Kensington (8 miles west), St Pancras (4 miles west) and Walthamstow (5 miles north).
Local landmarks in Bow Common
Around Bow Common, our work takes us to homes and buildings near Stebon Primary School, The Widow's Son pub and Bartlett Park, among other places. Bow Common’s nearest station is Limehouse station, about 0.8 miles south-west. Nearby you’ll also find Tower of London (2.4 miles west) and St Clement's Hospital (0.6 miles north-west). Not far away are Tower Hill and Hollow Pond.
Towns and villages near Bow Common
Other services in Bow Common
Different roofs, different checks
Rooflights and upstands
We do not walk on rooflights or fragile sheeting, and we treat older rooflights as fragile. They’re inspected from safe positions and recorded with photographs.
GRP fibreglass
Movement in the deck or a thin layer of resin can lead to cracks in GRP. We record any cracking and any signs of the deck moving.
How it works
You don’t need to do much on the day. Point out anything you’ve noticed, such as stains, drips or loose pieces, and we will get on with the inspection. A typical survey takes an hour or two for an extension, garage or dormer roof, and around 3–4 hours for a commercial flat roof. For a visit in Bow Common, parking and access are the things to plan: let us know about parking, the floor the property is on, any shared entrance and loft access. We then look at whatever is safely visible from ground level, windows, the loft and, where it is safe, the roof itself.
- First you give us the address, what the roof covers and any leaks you’ve noticed.
- The roof is inspected from safe viewpoints, and from the roof itself where that is safe.
- Every part of the roof we can see is checked: covering, falls, upstands, outlets, trims and rooflights.
- We check the rooms or spaces under the roof for staining where we can reach them.
- You get a report with photographs and our recommendations.
How to prepare
- Note where any stains or damp appear
- Keep pets out of the way during the survey
- For flats, check roof access has been agreed
Booking a survey
Surveys can be booked for weekdays, Saturdays or Sundays. To arrange a day that suits you, phone 07833 053749 or send us an email with the address and the days you’d prefer.
Related advice
What a survey costs
What a survey costs depends on the time and equipment it needs. That comes down to:
- The use of thermal imaging or a drone
- Roof area
- Basic, Standard or Premium
- The type of building, from a house to a block or an office
Thermal imaging and drone inspection (where applicable) come with the Premium Survey, which starts from £400, inc. VAT. We can help you choose the package that fits what you need to know.
Getting in touch
If you can, have these to hand when you contact us:
- What made you get in touch
- Where any leaks, stains or damp patches show inside
- Where the property is, with the postcode
- Pictures from the garden or a window, if you have them
When you are ready to go ahead, phone 07833 053749 or send us an email. From there it is a case of choosing a package, agreeing the price and fixing a day, weekday or weekend.
When to book a survey in Bow Common
The surface of a flat roof heats up and cools down far more than the rooms below. This constant movement works at laps, seams and board joints, which can open splits and cracks over the years. Older coverings that have lost their flexibility are the most likely to suffer.
It is worth booking a survey if you’ve seen:
- Gaps at upstands and abutments
- Edge trims that have lifted or split
- Outlets that hold water back
- Dips that suggest the deck is deflecting
If you look after a shop, office or commercial unit, for example near Surrey Quays Shopping Centre, the flat roofs over shops and commercial units are worth checking before a leak, not after.
What to check before booking
- If they fly a drone, whether they hold a CAA Flyer ID and Operator ID
- Which viewpoints they use to see the roof
- Will they check the loft as well as the outside?
- Which limits apply to the survey
What happens if roof problems are left?
By the time a flat roof leak shows indoors, water has already passed through the roof build-up. We can pick up worn covering and failing details sooner, so you can plan the work rather than react to it. Many older London roofs have only old felt under the slates, or no underlay at all, so once the slates or flashings let water past, little stops it reaching ceilings. Left unchecked, water soaks into timber and plaster and the damage spreads.
All our prices include VAT. Prices start from £150, including VAT. You will know the price for the job before booking.
Why us?
- Plain-English reports with photos
- Visits on any day of the week
- 98% customer satisfaction
- 5,000+ roofs surveyed
See what a roof survey costs or what we found on two real jobs.