Emergency tarpaulin and temporary repairs: what is safe to do yourself
The tarpaulin is almost never the right first move. Here is what is actually happening above your ceiling, and the things that genuinely reduce the damage tonight.
No, and a tarpaulin would not stop what you are watching drip anyway. Water already inside the roof keeps arriving for a day or more after the rain has stopped. A sheet only helps when it is fixed above the breach and dressed under the courses above. Everything useful today is done from inside.
The short version
- A cover over a hole does nothing about the water already in the underlay, the battens and the ceiling void, which is what is dripping.
- The Health and Safety Executive says not to consider going on any roof in poor weather, and puts the wind speed that affects your balance at 23mph. That is a fresh breeze.
- That applies to anyone offering to go up today, us included.
- Pulling the soaked insulation off the ceiling is the most useful ten minutes available to you.
- Never a ladder in wind or rain, and treat every flat roof, garage roof and rooflight as fragile until proven otherwise.
The honest answer
A tarpaulin does not stop what you are watching drip
The water coming through your ceiling tonight is mostly not falling straight through a hole. It got in during the worst of the weather and is working its way back out.
It sits in the sag of the underlay like a hammock, runs along a batten until it finds a nail, tracks down a rafter and soaks into the mineral wool before it reaches the plasterboard. A roof holds a lot of water and gives it back slowly. Put a sheet over the gap and all of that carries on as it was.
So the reason to stay off is not only that you might fall. The job you would be risking your neck for does not do what you want. There is also how a cover has to be fixed to work at all. A pitched roof sheds water by overlap and pitch, so anything laid on top has to start above the damage, tuck under the courses over it and be battened down through its length. A sheet dropped on a hole and weighted with blocks is the opposite: rain runs under the top edge into the roof, the sheet becomes a sail, and loose blocks fall on whoever is below.
Why the advice you are reading sounds so confident
Most of what comes back on this question is American, and it is detailed, well produced and wrong for your house. Tarping is an ordinary homeowner job in parts of the United States because the roof is asphalt shingle on a plywood deck, the pitch is often shallow, and a batten can be nailed straight through a tarp into that deck. Clay or concrete tile on battens gives you nothing solid to fix into, and it is brittle, lapped and steeper. Walk on it and you break more tiles than the storm did.
Before you fetch the ladder
Nobody goes up today, and that includes us
The regulator, not a roofer’s opinion. The Health and Safety Executive’s published position is: “Do not consider going on any roof in poor weather conditions such as rain, ice, frost or strong winds (particularly gusting) or if slippery conditions exist on the roof.” The same page puts a number on the wind: “Winds in excess of 23mph (Force 5) will affect a persons balance.”
Hold on to 23mph, because it is far lower than anyone guesses. Somebody at the back door thinking it has eased off is very often standing in wind the regulator says will affect their balance. Force 5 is a fresh breeze, not a gale. And roof work is almost one in five deaths in construction, among people who do it for a living, in daylight and in the dry.
That applies to anyone offering to go up today, us included. It is easy to accept that you should not climb up. It is harder to turn down a van in the drive offering to sheet it over now. Say no. A firm willing to climb a wet slope in a gale is telling you how it gets work, not how urgent your roof is. If the caller arrived uninvited, there is more on what to do when somebody says your roof is dangerous.
Ladders, and the roofs that will not hold you
The HSE does not ban ladders, and pretending it does costs credibility. It treats a ladder as sensible for low risk, short duration work: minutes rather than hours, level and stable, secured, a competent user. None of that is available in wind or rain, so today the answer is no ladder.
Treat every flat roof, garage roof, outbuilding roof, conservatory and rooflight as fragile until proven otherwise. A rooflight under wet leaves is invisible, a felt garage roof gives no warning before the deck goes, and a conservatory roof will never carry you.
Do this instead
What actually reduces the damage, and all of it is done indoors
Almost all of the cost of a leak is contents, ceilings and drying time, and almost all of it is decided indoors in the first few hours.
- Kill the power to that part of the house. Not the light switch, the circuit at the consumer unit. Water tracks along cables and joists and comes out somewhere other than where it went in, and a downlighter is an open hole with a connector over it.
- Move what can be moved. Furniture, rugs, books, anything electrical. Lift the carpet and the underlay rather than standing a bucket on them: two days of wet underlay costs more than the tile.
- Contain it where it lands. Bucket or bowl, with a tea towel in the bottom so it does not splash.
- Get into the loft with a torch and stay on the joists. The hazard up there is the ceiling, not the height. Look for where the water is arriving, for daylight, and for underlay bellied down and holding a pool. Catch it there, in a container on a board across the joists, and it never reaches the plasterboard.
- Pull the wet insulation clear of the ceiling. This is the one that matters most. Soaked mineral wool holds litres against the plasterboard and turns a stain into a ceiling that has to come down. Gloves and a mask.
- Open the path so it can dry. Loft hatch open, doors open, heating low and steady, a window on the vent.
- Photograph everything before you tidy. Debris on the lawn, the roof from the ground and from an upstairs window, the stained ceiling, the wet insulation. What your insurer will ask for is evidence the material came off during the event.
Do not start a permanent repair. A rebuilt roof before anyone has assessed it removes the evidence, and the Financial Ombudsman Service is clear that whether the storm was the main cause is what these disputes turn on. Leave the ceiling for weeks too, because a skim over damp board cracks through, so the plastering is the last job.
The ceiling that is bulging and heavy with water
Our own view, not published guidance. No regulator publishes a position on this, so take it as what this firm would do rather than as official advice. A ceiling holding a pool can come down as one sheet, without warning, so keep everyone out from under it. The trade approach is to isolate the circuit, put a bin beneath the lowest point of the sag, stand to one side rather than under it, and make one small hole at that point with something long, so the water runs out in a controlled stream instead of the ceiling failing at once. If you are not comfortable with that, shut the door and wait for somebody who is.
Sorting the advice
What helps, what does nothing, and what makes it worse
Most emergency fixes tried from outside or off a ladder do not stop the water, and some add risk. Buckets, a board across the joists, dragging wet insulation clear and clearing the gully all help. Until a cover can be fixed properly, everything that works is done indoors, in the loft or on the ground.
| What people try | Does it stop the water? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A sheet over the hole, weighted with blocks | No, and it adds risk | Rain runs under the top edge, the sheet works as a sail, and blocks fall |
| Foam or sealant squirted at the drip from inside | No | That blocks the exit, not the entry, so it comes out elsewhere |
| Sliding a slipped slate back from a ladder | Rarely, and not today | It lost its nails or hook, so it slips again. Work at height in bad weather |
| Buckets and a board across the joists | It contains it, which is the realistic aim | It keeps the water off the plasterboard entirely |
| Dragging the soaked insulation clear | It stops the damage spreading | Wet mineral wool holds litres against the ceiling for weeks |
| Clearing the gully and the foot of the downpipe | Sometimes, and it is safe | A blocked gully backs water up against the wall, and it is ground level work |
| A cover fixed properly once the wind drops | Yes, if the breach is large | Fixed above the damage, dressed under the courses above and battened |
The exception
When a temporary cover really is the right answer
Sometimes it is. A cover earns its place where the opening is too big to contain indoors: a run of ridge gone, a slope stripped to the rafters, a chimney down through the roof. Rain is then falling into the house.
What a roofer does looks nothing like a tarpaulin and four blocks. Access first, a ladder footed and tied or a scaffold, and a roof ladder over the ridge so nobody stands on the covering. Then a heavy sheet started well above the breach, taken under the courses above it, run past the eaves into the gutter, and battened along its length rather than weighted.
It still waits for the wind to drop, because a cover fitted in a gale leaves in a gale and takes tiles with it. A roofer offering first light rather than tonight is giving you the right answer, and what a named storm and its warning colour mean tells you whether that gap is six hours or three days. Wind lifts a roof rather than pushing it, hardest at the eaves, verge and ridge, which is why one gap becomes several.
Next
What to do once the water has stopped
- Leave the hatch open and the insulation pulled back. Drying takes weeks, not days.
- Ring your insurer and ask what emergency work you may instruct.
- Book somebody you approached yourself, for once the weather settles, and ask for the cause in writing with the price.
- Roof first, then the insulation replaced, then the ceiling made good last. Photograph the finished roof from the lawn and keep it.
If you are still in the first day of a storm, the first 24 hours after storm damage covers the whole sequence. If the weather is only on its way, checking the roof from the ground finds most of what is going to fail.
When you want it looked at properly, that is what our roofing work covers, from one slipped tile to a full re-cover. Thomas comes out and prices it himself and puts it in writing. You can ask for a written itemised quote or describe what you are looking at first. If it can wait for better weather, he will say so.
Questions
Common questions
Can I put a tarpaulin on my own roof after a storm?
No, the Health and Safety Executive says not to consider going on any roof in poor weather, and puts the wind speed that affects your balance at 23mph. A cover also has to be fixed above the breach and tucked under the courses above to do anything, which is not achievable from a ladder.
Why is water still coming through when the rain has stopped?
Because most of it is water already inside the roof. It sits in the sag of the underlay, runs along battens and rafters and soaks into the insulation, then wets the ceiling from above. A roof gives that water back slowly, and a cover over the gap does not change it.
What is the most useful thing I can do right now?
Isolate the electrical circuit for that part of the house, then get into the loft on the joists and drag the soaked insulation clear of the ceiling. Wet mineral wool holds litres of water against the plasterboard and keeps it wet for weeks.
Should I let a roofer go up in the wind to sheet it over?
No, and that includes us. Nothing on the roof will get meaningfully worse overnight that a cover would have prevented, and a cover fitted in a gale usually leaves in the same gale, taking tiles with it. First light is the right answer.
When is a temporary cover genuinely worth doing?
Where the opening is large enough that containing the water indoors is hopeless: a run of ridge gone, a slope stripped to the rafters, a chimney down through the roof. That is scaffold and roof ladder work, once the wind has dropped.
Read next
Related advice
The guides below pick up where this one leaves off, and the roofing page covers the work itself and the places we cover, if you would rather have the job looked at.
Who wrote this
Thomas Hannen
Thomas owns Bournemouth Roofing & Building and prices every job himself instead of sending somebody else. The company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, number 15471719, registered in England and Wales. If you want to talk something through before you commit to anything, the site visit and the written itemised quote are both free.
Free quote
Water coming in and want it looked at properly?
Thomas comes out himself once the weather has dropped, goes over the whole roof and puts in writing what he found and what it would take to put right.