West Sussex · London and the South East
Elmer Roof Leak Investigation
Tracing where water is getting into your roof across Elmer, with drones and thermal imaging where they help. Get in touch for a price.
- Staining where a gutter or parapet meets the wall
- Damp ceilings under a flat roof
- Damp on a chimney breast
Elmer questions
Does a conservation area affect roof work in Elmer?
Your council is the best source, with Historic England’s list for listed buildings. A change of roofing material may need consent in either case, and councils can also use Article 4 directions.
Do roofs near the sea, like those around Elmer, take more of a battering?
Places near the sea get more wind and more salt in the air than inland, and both are hard on roofs. Salt is hard on nails, clips and metal flashings, while strong wind lifts anything already loose.
Are you insured?
Our cover is professional indemnity plus public liability.
What should I do before you arrive?
Make sure the loft can be reached. Have any photos of the leak ready, and tell us about past repairs. In the meantime, catch the water and keep it clear of lights and sockets.
Does this replace a RICS home survey?
No. Our survey looks at the roof, not the whole building. For the rest of the building, a RICS home survey is a separate job.
How soon will I get the report?
Each package has its own report time. Basic is within 48 hours, Standard is 24–48 hours and Premium is the same day. If you have a deadline, like an exchange date, let us know when booking.
Why isn’t the leak directly above the stain?
Rain that gets in will run along whatever it lands on. On a flat roof it can travel under the covering before it shows. Tracing that path is the heart of a leak investigation.
Roof leak investigation in Elmer
Flat roofs leak in their own ways. Splits, blisters, failed laps, worn upstands and blocked outlets are common causes. Ponding water makes any weakness worse. We check both the covering and the room underneath. Leaks under flat extension, garage and dormer roofs are common. An ageing felt roof is a frequent culprit. If you’ve noticed staining around the chimney inside and wet patches high on an inside wall, we can find out what’s behind it.
Houses in smaller places like Elmer can stand more in the open, so wind and driving rain find any weakness in ridges, verges and flashings. A leak that only appears in certain weather frequently points to an exposed detail. Let us know when it happens when you contact us. The gutters on the most exposed side can overflow too.
You receive the findings by email, ready to forward to whoever needs them. Turnaround is within 48 hours for Basic, 24–48 hours for Standard and same day for Premium.
- Place
- Elmer (PO22)
- Region
- West Sussex
- Price
- From £150 inc. VAT
- Report
- Written, with photos, emailed to you
- Survey days
- Monday to Sunday, daytime
- Insured
- Professional indemnity and public liability
- Telephone
- 07833 053749
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Other services in Elmer
What a survey costs
What a survey costs depends on the time and equipment it needs. That comes down to:
- The height of the building and how the roof can safely be seen
- The type of building, from a house to a block or an office
- If the survey needs thermal imaging or a drone
- Extensions, dormers and garages with roofs of their own
Bigger, taller and commercial roofs take more time to survey, so the price reflects that. The price is confirmed before booking.
Getting in touch
We will normally ask about:
- What kind of property and roof it is
- Where the property is, with the postcode
- Your timetable, such as an exchange date
- The reason for the survey, such as buying, a leak or storm damage
We confirm the exact price before you book, so you know where you stand. Our price is from £150, including VAT. To book, ring 07833 053749 or drop us an email.
Can I check my roof myself?
During heavy rain, look at the gutters from ground level or a window. Water spilling over the edge can be a sign of a blockage or a gutter that has dropped.
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.
What this survey cannot tell you
It’s a careful look at the leaking roof, not the whole story. Its limits include:
- What’s under the covering or behind the plaster
- Leaks that only appear in weather we cannot recreate
- Structural calculations (that is a structural engineer’s job)
If you’re not sure which survey you need, ring 07833 053749 or send us an email and we’ll give you a straight answer. What our survey covers.
Roofs we survey in Elmer
- Flat roof details
- Valleys and parapet gutters
- Slate and tile slopes
- Rooflights and dormers
- Lead flashings
- Chimney stacks
- The roof space
What we look for on each type of roof
Parapet and box gutters
A butterfly roof drains to a central valley gutter. If that gutter or its outlet fails, water can come through the top-floor ceiling.
Valleys
Leaves and moss build up in valleys and hold water back. In heavy rain, it can spill under the edges of the slates or tiles.
Roof leak investigations in Elmer: local notes
Elmer is within about 1 mile of the coast, where sea air brings more salt and stronger wind than inland. Wind lifts loose slates, tiles and ridge pieces, and driving rain finds any gap they leave, and salt air slowly wears metal fixings. Listing and conservation areas can both shape what roof work is allowed on an older home. Your council and Historic England’s list will tell you where you stand, ideally before any re-roofing is planned.
If you look after a building such as Bishop Tufnell CofE Primary School, on a building that size, finding the source of a drip means looking well beyond the stain. If you let a flat or house near Ford station, tracing a leak quickly matters when a tenant is living with it. The streets around a church such as St Nicholas Church are often among the oldest in a place, and if your home is one of the older ones nearby, the leak may come from a chimney, a valley or tired lead rather than the covering itself.
Elmer is about 3 miles east of Bognor Regis, in West Sussex. Houses, flats, blocks and commercial buildings in Elmer can all book roof leak investigations, with a written report and photographs every time. We cover towns and villages across West Sussex, large and small. Portsmouth is in our area too.
All of PO22 is within our area for roof leak investigations. We cover properties on Elmer Road, Ancton Lane and East Avenue. Neighbouring places we cover for roof leak investigations include Middleton-on-Sea (1 mile west), Bilsham (1 mile north), Atherington (1 mile north-east), Flansham (2 miles north-west) and Horsemere Green (2 miles north-east). Larger places within reach include Worthing (9 miles east), Bognor Regis (3 miles west), Chichester (8 miles north-west), Selsey (9 miles south-west), Littlehampton (4 miles east) and Shoreham-by-Sea (15 miles east).
Around Elmer
Typical jobs here are in homes near Felpham Community College and the streets around them. The closest station to Elmer is Ford station, about 2.9 miles north-east. Well-known places in the area include Bognor Regis Museum (3.1 miles west) and Bognor Regis War Memorial Hospital (2.9 miles west).
Why get it checked now?
If a leak has been ‘fixed’ before and has come back, the cause was probably missed. We look past the obvious spot and check each likely route. It gives the next repair a far better chance. Around Elmer, a leak in an older house can soak into timbers and plaster, and that is a much bigger job than the original defect.
To find out what your survey will cost, call 07833 053749 or drop us an email with the address and some details. We will confirm the figure before booking.
What you get with us
- Every finding written up with photos
- An independent look at the roof
- Professional indemnity and public liability insurance
- 5,000+ surveys completed
See our cost guide and our case studies.
What we do, step by step
We check the roof from outside and, where it’s relevant and there is safe access, from inside the roof space too. In the loft, the signs we look for are staining, damp, daylight and sagging, as far as the space allows. All in, the survey typically takes about 1–2 hours for most homes, though a hard-to-trace leak can take longer. Being in a smaller place like Elmer doesn’t change how the visit works: outside, inside and from any safe vantage point, in that order. It helps to show us anything you’ve already noticed.
- We help you choose the package that suits the leak.
- A visit is booked for a weekday, Saturday or Sunday.
- We inspect inside and out, starting from the stain.
- Moisture detection and thermal imaging are used where your package includes them and they help.
- The report explains the likely entry point and what needs attention.
Before the survey
- Keep pets in another room
- If it isn’t your property yet, arrange access through the agent
- Leave side gates unlocked
Arrange a survey
Most bookings start with a short call: call 07833 053749 or drop us an email and we’ll ask a few questions about the roof. You will have a price before anything is arranged.