Leadwork specialists in Buckinghamshire

Where lead does the work on your roof

Most roofs rely on lead at the joints, not across the slopes. These are the details we're called to most:

• Lead flashing where a roof meets a wall, a dormer or an extension.
• Lead valleys and gutters, where two slopes meet or water collects behind a parapet.
• Chimney leadwork: the apron, step flashings, soakers and back gutter that keep a stack watertight.
• Heritage and church leadwork on listed buildings, period homes and church roofs.
• Bay windows, porches, canopies and dormers, clad in lead and bossed to shape, in one piece wherever possible.

Hand-formed, not bodged

Lead is soft enough to shape by hand and heavy enough to stay where it's put, but it moves with every change in temperature. Good leadwork respects that. We cut every piece to a length it can expand in, fix it so it can slide rather than tear and lap each joint so water has nowhere to go but out.

On site that means bossing (working lead into corners and curves with hardwood tools, so there are no cuts or seams to leak), lead welding where a joint has to be solid and welted seams and wood-cored rolls on lead roofs. Every flashing is wedged into the mortar joint, pointed and finished with patination oil so it weathers evenly instead of streaking your brickwork white.

We use rolled lead sheet made to BS EN 12588 and follow the Lead Sheet Training Academy's guidance on codes, fixings and piece sizes. It's slower than squeezing sealant into a gap. It's also why our lead doesn't need doing again.

Which lead code goes where

Lead is graded by code, which tells you its thickness. Using the wrong code is one of the commonest faults we find on other people's work.

• Code 3 (1.32 mm): soakers only, tucked under tiles and covered by a flashing.
• Code 4 (1.80 mm): most step and cover flashings, chimney aprons and small details.
• Code 5 (2.24 mm): valleys, back gutters, bay roofs and anything exposed or holding water.
• Code 6 to Code 8 (2.65 to 3.55 mm): box and parapet gutters, flat lead roofs and heritage work where the building deserves the heaviest sheet.

What affects the price of leadwork

We don't publish a price list, because two jobs with the same name can be days apart in labour. The cost of leadwork depends on:

• how much lead is needed and which code;
• access and scaffolding;
• whether the base underneath (boards, timbers, mortar joints) needs renewing first;
• how much shaping is involved: a straight abutment flashing is quick, a bossed bay roof is not.

You get a free, photographed inspection and a written quote before anything starts.

Why other roofers call us

Many roofing firms subcontract their lead or avoid it altogether. We have spent over 40 years on it and a fair share of our leadwork comes from other roofers who reach the lead and call Mionlach. We were named On The Tools Roofer of the Year 2025, hold Association of Master Roofers Specialist Contractor status and are members of the Guild of Master Craftsmen.