If it's leaking right now
Catch the water
Put a bucket under the drip, move furniture and lay towels down. If the ceiling is bulging, keep out of that room.
Make the electrics safe
If water is anywhere near light fittings or power points, switch the power off at the switchboard. Stay off the roof, wet or dry, and out of the ceiling space in the dark.
Take photos
Photograph the stain, the drip and the outside of the house from the ground. Your insurer and the roofer will both want them, and dates help.
Work out whether it was sudden
A storm or a tree landing on the roof is the kind of sudden event house insurance is meant for. Rusted iron and worn-out flashings count as wear and tear, which policies commonly exclude.
What's behind Christchurch roof repairs
The nor'wester
Christchurch has about 20 strong wind days a year, and gusts above 94 km/h on about 2 days. Wind gets under loose ridge capping, lifted flashings and sheets with popped fixings, and the damage often turns into a leak days later in ordinary rain. After a gale, walk around the house and look for anything sitting proud.
Where the chimney used to be
The 2010 and 2011 quakes brought down unreinforced chimneys across the city, and each gap had to be roofed over. Those patches have now weathered 15 years of nor'westers. If a leak sits near where a chimney once stood, that's where we'd want the roofer to look first.
Loose tiles on the hills
BRANZ found heavy concrete and clay tiles in the hill suburbs were often knocked off their battens because they weren't tied down, or the ties had corroded. With a tiled roof on the Port Hills, ask the roofer to check fixings across the whole roof, not just replace the one broken tile.
Wood burner and pellet flues
The 2023 Census found 17.55% of Christchurch homes use a wood burner and 2.9% a pellet fire. Every flue through the roof needs a flashing that keeps water out while the flue expands and contracts with heat, and a perished flue flashing is a classic slow leak.
Hail
Christchurch records hail on about 6 days a year, more than most Canterbury stations. After a hailstorm, check skylights, clear roofing over decks and any old brittle sheets from the ground, and photograph cracks before they start leaking.
Who pays for the repair?
For quake damage, the claim goes through your home insurer, which handles the Natural Hazards Commission part on most policies. The NHC excess is $500 per home for building damage that happened on or after 1 July 2024. For storm damage, NHC covers only land, so the roof is a matter for your private insurer. Read does insurance cover roof leaks? before you lodge anything, and storm damage claims if a gale did it.
Most repairs using a comparable product are exempt from building consent under Schedule 1. Work that doesn't need a consent isn't restricted building work, so it doesn't legally need an LBP. The catch: Schedule 1 doesn't cover repairing a part that failed the Building Code's durability rules by letting water in, and roof cladding is expected to last at least 15 years. If a younger roof is leaking because the cladding failed, ask the council before the repair.
What makes a repair bigger or smaller
A single cracked tile or a lifted flashing can be a short job. It grows when the roofer has to hunt down matching tiles for an older roof, re-fix tiles across a whole slope, redo an old chimney patch properly, or set up scaffolding on a steep or two-storey house.
Ask for the cause, the fix and the materials in writing, with photos, so you can compare two quotes like for like.
Ask before the roofer starts
- What do you think is causing the leak, and how will you confirm it?
- In your view, is this quake damage, storm damage or wear, and will you put that in writing for my insurer?
- Will you check tile fixings or roof screws across the roof, not just the wet spot?
- How will you flash around the flue, the skylight or the old chimney patch?
- Will you send photos of the problem and of the finished repair?
- Is the price fixed, or by the hour plus materials?
What we'd do about a Christchurch leak
We'd pay for one proper look at the whole roof rather than a quick patch on the obvious spot, and we'd ask for photos. If the house had quake repairs, we'd dig out that paperwork so the roofer knows what was done and by whom. And if the roof is near the end of its life, we'd ask straight out whether the repair money is better saved towards a re-roof.
Want a roofer to take a look?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match it with a Find My Roofer certified roofer who specialises in that kind of work, and they call you to quote. Your number goes to them alone.