The short answer
Leadwork is the sheet lead fitted to the joints and junctions of a roof where tiles or slates alone cannot keep the rain out. It includes flashings along walls and chimneys, soakers between courses, valley gutters, the covering of bays and dormers, and lead-lined gutters. Lead suits the job because it is heavy, bends by hand and can last for over 80 years.
Leadwork is the waterproof metal at the edges of a roof. Once you know the handful of parts, a lead quote or survey makes much more sense.
Flashings and soakers
Where a roof slope ends against something upright, like a chimney stack or a side wall, there is a gap that tiles cannot close. Lead closes it.
What is a flashing?
Think of a flashing as a ribbon of lead: its top edge is pushed into a groove in the wall, and the rest is dressed down to lie over the roof covering. Water that runs down the wall lands on the lead and is carried onto the slope. The part tucked into a groove in the brick is held with wedges and sealed with pointing. Aprons, step flashings and back gutters are all flashings in particular places on a chimney or a stepped wall.
What is a soaker?
Each row of tiles or slates that finishes at a wall gets its own soaker, a small piece of lead folded like an L and laid beneath it. One leg lies flat under the tile and the other turns up the wall, where the flashing covers it. Soakers keep the edge of a slope tight. Royston Lead lists its Code 3 sheet for soakers only, while Codes 4 and 5 serve flashings. Read more in our guide to types of lead flashing.
Valleys, bays and gutters
Some roof joints carry far more water than a wall edge, and lead is used there as a channel as much as a cover.
What is a lead valley?
An inside corner where two roof slopes meet and pour their rainwater into one line is a valley. A lead-lined valley is a sheet laid in that corner, with the tiles or slates trimmed to overlap its edges. Because the whole slope drains into it, the lead used is heavier, and Royston lists Codes 4 to 8 for pitched valley gutters among the uses.
What are bays and gutters?
The small roof over a bay window is often covered in lead dressed over a flat or sloping deck, with rolls to carry water away. Lead is also used to line box gutters, hidden channels that run between two roofs or behind a parapet wall, and parapet gutters. These carry a great deal of water, and a fault in them can drain into the house.
Dormer cheeks, the side walls of a dormer window, are another typical use. Lead is wrapped round them and over the dormer roof in a single weathertight skin.
Why lead is chosen, and its weights
Lead has been used on roofs for a very long time because it does things other materials cannot manage as well.
What makes lead suitable?
It bends without cracking when it is dressed properly, takes the shape of tiles, stone and brick, and does not rust. Over time it forms a grey surface skin that protects the metal under it. Per MyJobQuote's guide (Sep 2026), lead flashing "can last for over 80 years", a floor rather than a pledge.
Lead is sold by thickness in numbered codes, from Code 3 at 1.32 mm up to Code 8 at 3.55 mm in Royston Lead's brochure. A higher code is a thicker, heavier sheet. Thin code for a soaker, thicker code for a gutter: the right weight for the position matters, and our page on lead codes lists each one.
Lead is not the only metal that can do these jobs. Zinc is an alternative in some places, and we compare the two in lead against zinc. Lead stays the usual choice where a flexible, hand-formed joint is wanted.
What goes wrong, and what to expect from a roofer
Leadwork asks for care. Done well, it sits quietly for a lifetime. Done badly, it becomes the most common source of leaks around a chimney.
What are the usual faults?
Lengths cut too long, fixings that hold the sheet too stiffly, thin lead in the wrong place and pointing that has crumbled are the usual causes. The first two are the ones that split sheet across its folds. Sealant used in place of proper dressing is another.
What should a good job include?
It should include the correct code of lead for each position, sensible lengths with proper laps, secure but not rigid fixing, clean pointing at the wall and a tidy finish. You are told the plan for every working day, and you see pictures of the work as it goes.
We begin by surveying the actual junctions, and a single total goes to you in writing afterwards. If any part of the lead is hidden behind tiles, you are told, along with what we expect to find when it is lifted. The whole service is set out on our lead work page.
More on leadwork basics
Is leadwork the same as flashing?
Flashing is one part of leadwork. Leadwork is the wider term for all the lead on a roof, including flashings, soakers, valleys, bay and dormer coverings, and gutter linings. People often say flashing when they mean any of them, which is fine in conversation, but it helps to know which part of the lead is the one that has failed.
Do I need leadwork if I have a plain tiled roof?
A plain slope with no walls, chimneys, dormers or valleys needs none, but few houses are that simple. A chimney, a side wall or a dormer each brings a junction that needs lead or another metal to stay watertight, and a survey finds every one of them.
The full picture: Lead work in Taunton ยท More short answers