Roofers in Tallaght.
Roofers for Tallaght and the estates around it, from the old village by the Dodder out to Kilnamanagh, Old Bawn, Firhouse, Jobstown and Killinarden. We look at the roof, put a written price on the repair and send you photos when it is done.
Most Tallaght houses went up from the end of the sixties onwards, and a lot of those roofs are now needing the same handful of repairs.
We repair them: loose ridge and hip tiles, failed verges, cracked and slipped tiles, worn flashing at walls, chimneys and roof windows, valleys, and the leaks that come from all of those. Repairs only, never re-roofs.
Ring or send a photo from the street. There is no call-out fee for the look, we get there the same week on most repair calls, and the written quote follows within 48 hours.
Tallaght roofs and how they age.
Up to the 1960s Tallaght was a village with a few thousand people. The 1967 Myles Wright plan picked it out as one of the new towns for the west of the county, and building on high-density estates started around 1969. Within thirty years the old townlands, Jobstown, Old Bawn, Killinarden, Kilnamanagh, Firhouse, Belgard and Kingswood, had become one suburb. That speed matters for the roofs: thousands of houses were built in the same few decades, with the same methods, and they are reaching the same stage together.
Most of those houses are two-storey semis and terraces roofed in concrete interlocking tile, their ridges and gable verges bedded in sand and cement. The tiles themselves hold up well. What gives way is everything around them. Bedding mortar shrinks and cracks until a ridge tile rocks when you touch it; verge mortar drops out in lumps onto the path; and the bitumen underlay of that era goes brittle where it runs into the gutter, so the bottom row of tiles feeds water onto the fascia instead of into the gutter.
Then there is everything added since. Porches, kitchen extensions with lean-to roofs, attic conversions with roof windows and dormers. Each one put a new junction against the original roof or wall, and each junction relies on a strip of lead or a flashing kit. When those were fitted in a hurry, that is where the damp patch on the ceiling comes from.
Under the mountains.
Tallaght sits at the foot of the Dublin Mountains, higher than most of the city, and the estates climb the slope towards Killinarden, Jobstown and Old Bawn. The houses further up have less shelter, and rain that arrives sideways on a south-westerly finds every gap at a verge or an abutment. On those roads the usual faults are ridge tiles lifted or loosened after a windy night, verge mortar washed out on the exposed gable, and water tracking in along the top of a lean-to where the flashing has pulled away from the wall.
Where a ridge or a verge has been repointed and has failed again, mortar is not the answer for that roof. A dry ridge or dry verge system fixes each tile mechanically, and we will say on the quote which one we think your roof needs and why.
Repairs we take on in Tallaght.
Each job is priced from photos taken on the roof, with tiles and slates matched to what is already there.
- 01Ridge and hip tiles lifted, rebedded and pointed, or refixed on a dry ridge system
- 02Verges repointed, or fitted with dry verge caps on gables that keep losing their mortar
- 03Cracked, slipped and missing concrete tiles replaced and clipped down
- 04Eaves underlay renewed at the bottom course where it has perished, with an eaves guard so water reaches the gutter
- 05Lead flashing renewed where porches, extensions and dormers meet the house
- 06Roof windows reflashed where the original kit has failed
- 07Chimney stacks repointed and flaunched, and the lead around them renewed
- 08Valleys cleared, patched or relined
- 09Leaks traced from the attic and the roof and the entry point repaired
- 10Gutters and downpipes cleared and refixed, fascia and soffit repaired
Getting onto a Tallaght roof.
Most of the semis have side access, which makes it easy to put up a ladder or a tower for two-storey work. Mid-terrace houses are done from the front garden or the back, and the quote says which. If a job needs a scaffold tower, that is written in from the start so you know what is arriving.
From the call to the photos.
The same crew looks at the job, quotes it and does it. You get before and after photos when it is finished.
- First01.
Ring or send a photo.
Tell us the estate or road and send a photo of the roof from the street or the back garden. A clear picture is often enough for us to say what the fault is.
- Then02.
A look and a written quote.
We call out the same week on most repair calls, with no call-out fee, photograph the fault from the ladder and send a written quote within 48 hours.
- Next03.
The repair.
Ridge, verge and tile repairs on a Tallaght semi are usually a half day to a full day on site. Chimney and valley work takes longer, and the quote says how long.
- Last04.
Before and after photos.
When the work is finished you get before and after photos from the roof, so you can see what was done without climbing up.
Repairs, not re-roofs.
We repair roofs in Tallaght; we do not strip and replace them. If what we find from the ladder is a roof where the underlay has gone along every slope or the tiles are failing across the whole thing, patching it will not last. We will show you the photos, tell you plainly that it is a re-roof, and point you to a re-roofing contractor instead of quoting you for repairs.
Roofing questions.
Anything else, ring 085 781 4603.
Which parts of Tallaght do you cover?
All of it: the village, Kilnamanagh, Belgard, Kingswood, Firhouse, Old Bawn, Jobstown, Killinarden and the estates in between, along with the rest of Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare. If you are unsure, ring and ask.
The ridge tiles on my 1970s semi are loose. Do I need a new roof?
Almost never for that alone. Loose ridges on houses of that age come from the bedding mortar failing, and the fix is to lift the ridge, rebed it or fit a dry ridge system. We check the tiles and underlay while we are up, and tell you if there is anything else.
Water is coming in. How quickly can you get to Tallaght?
Tell us water is coming in when you ring and we come as early as we can. In the meantime, a bucket under the drip and a photo of the ceiling and the roof above it help us arrive with the right materials.
Can you fix a leak where my extension meets the house?
Yes. It is a leak we see often on houses of this age. Usually the lead flashing along the wall has pulled out of its joint or was never chased in properly, and renewing it is a repair, not a new roof.
More on roofing.
Or go back to the main roofing page.
Get your job priced properly.
Send a photo from the ground if you can, or we come out and look from the ladder. One written price inside 48 hours, no call-out fee and no pressure to go ahead.