How to Temporarily Fix Your Roof During a Storm

Trying to fix your own roof is a very bad idea. Not only will you be putting your own life at risk, but you could also put others at risk and do more damage than good if you’re unsure of what you’re actually doing. It’s always better to consult an expert and get in the professionals – even for emergency roofing work.

With that in mind, if you’re faced with a storm and can’t get a professional roofer out that same day, there might be a few steps you can take to temporarily help your roof or at least protect your property inside. As with any advice, we advise you to take extreme care, avoiding working at height on the outside of your roof wherever possible.

Storm at night with lightning damaging roof

Find the leak

Firstly, you’ll need to access your loft or attic space to locate any leaks or major areas of damage. This should be quite easy to find as a leak will no doubt only have become noticeable when it starts to come through in the ceiling of your home, while large holes from fallen tree branches will be immediately obvious. The tricky thing to be wary of is water which flows along your rafters – the leak may take some finding as you’ll need to trace the water back to the source, which may mean removing insulation from the underside of your roof.

Clear up water

When you’re faced with a leak in a storm, one of the few helpful things you can do is to clear up any water which has made its way inside. Whether that’s soaking up puddles in your attic with sponges and cloths or finding a bubble of water in the ceiling of your home (which you should carefully release by poking a small hole in while holding a bucket underneath) this will hopefully help to stop the spread of any water damage.

Cover the roof

While we don’t recommend getting up onto your roof – especially if the weather is still bad – covering the roof where the leak is until you can get professional help might limit the amount of water getting in. This will require you to map out where the leak is from inside the attic space for a rough idea of where you need to cover the roof on the outside. 

Don’t seal from the inside

It might be tempting to try and plug the leak from inside your attic, but we don’t recommend this, since it will usually just force the water somewhere else in your roof space as the real problem is the hole on the outside of your roof. By diverting water elsewhere – to parts unknown – you may incur more repair costs as the damage could be spread, unseen, to other areas of the roof which a professional will need to spend time tackling. If the diverted water isn’t addressed, it may result in mould or rot in the structure of your roof.


When faced with storm damage to your roof, at Roofer UK Network Ltd we provide 24-hour emergency roof repairs. Whether it’s replacing tiles or tackling a sudden leak, we have the skills and the knowledge to carry out safe, professional repair work. We know how important your roof is and never like to see people putting themselves at risk by trying to carry out emergency repairs themselves.

Wherever you are in Watford, Hampstead and Highgate, we’ll arrive at your property quickly to help take care of storm damage to your roof. Contact us today.