A temporary roof repair has one job: stop water entering the building while the permanent repair is organised. It is not a smaller version of the real repair, and it is not meant to be left. It is the roofing equivalent of a splint. A good temporary fix is quick to fit, easy to take off without causing more damage, and honest about its limits. A bad one is a plastic sheet held down with a few bricks that blows off the next night and takes more tiles with it. This guide looks at what is worth doing, how it is done properly, and what you can sensibly do yourself from inside the house.
If you only want the first steps from inside the house and the reasons not to go up yourself, the short answer on how to emergency patch a roof covers that.
When a temporary repair is the right answer
Temporary cover makes sense when the proper repair cannot happen straight away. The commonest reasons are practical ones. Matching tiles or slates have to be ordered, the weather is too wet or windy to lay a new covering, scaffold is not yet up, an insurer has to inspect first, or a flat roof needs dry conditions to bond a membrane. In those cases a sound temporary cover protects the ceilings, insulation and timbers while everyone waits, and the cost of it is small beside the cost of redecorating and replacing wet plaster.
It is not the right answer when the problem is slow and recurring, such as a flashing that has been leaking for years. A temporary patch on top of that just hides the fault. It is also not a way of avoiding a repair that is already overdue. If you are unsure whether your situation counts as urgent, our guide on what counts as a roof emergency helps you decide.
Tarpaulins: what they are and how they should be fixed
A roofing tarpaulin is a heavy, reinforced polyethylene sheet with eyelets at the edges. It is much stronger than the cheap blue sheet from a hardware shop, but it is only as good as how it is secured. The wrong way is to nail through the tiles, weight the corners with bricks or sandbags and hope. Nail holes become leaks, and loose sheets flap and chafe, and wind getting under the sheet acts like a sail.
The right way works from the top. The sheet is laid over the damaged area and carried over the ridge so that the top edge is held on the opposite slope. Timber battens are laid along its edges and screwed or nailed into the roof timbers or batten lines through the cut line of the sheet, not through the exposed tile face wherever that can be avoided. The sheet is pulled tight so there is no belly to catch the wind, and its lower edge is carried down over the eaves line so water runs into the gutter and not behind it. The aim is a continuous shed: every overlap runs water downhill, and every fixing is covered.
On a flat roof the approach is different. A temporary sheet can be laid over the opening with the edges turned up and weighted with timber or sandbags, or a damaged area can be covered with a self-adhesive patch if the surface is dry enough to take it. The deck beneath is often the real concern, so we check for soft boards before putting anything on top.
How long a tarpaulin can be left
A tarpaulin buys time, but how much depends on the sheet, the fixing, the exposure and the weather. Ultraviolet light degrades polyethylene, wind works at the eyelets and edges, and any sheet laid on a roof traps some condensation beneath. We go into this in detail in our answer on how long a tarpaulin can stay on a roof. What we tell customers is to treat it as a short-term measure, check it after every strong wind, and book the permanent repair as soon as materials are available.
Other temporary measures a roofer might use
Replacing or refixing tiles on a temporary basis
If a handful of tiles have gone and spare tiles are to hand, the quickest temporary repair is to fix reasonable replacements, even if they do not match, with clips or nails, to restore the covering. This gives a watertight roof and leaves colour matching for the permanent job. Loose ridge tiles are treated the same way: a roofer can bed them back or clip them down for now, knowing that the lasting answer is a mechanically fixed ridge. The point of every one of these measures is that it can be reversed without leaving a scar, so the roofer who comes back for the permanent work finds a roof ready to be repaired and not one that has to be repaired twice.
Patches on lead and flashings
A lifted flashing (the strip of lead, usually, that seals the join between the roof and a wall or chimney) can be dressed back into place and held with a lead-compatible clip or sealant as a holding measure. The permanent fix is to chase the lead into the masonry joint properly and repoint it, which takes dry weather and more time.
Temporary patches on felt and rubber
On a flat roof a torn felt or EPDM (synthetic rubber) surface can be covered with a cold-applied patch or a tape-based repair. These work well when they are laid onto a clean, dry surface and weather-sealed at the edges. They do not work when water is already sitting underneath.
Roof sealants and bitumen paint
Brush-on sealants and bitumen products have a place around small cracks and gaps in sound materials. They are not a cure for a slipped slate, a rotten board or a failed junction. We discuss that more fully in our answer on whether roof leak sealants work. A sealant is a cosmetic fix for a structural problem unless the problem really is a hairline gap.
What you can do from inside
There is plenty worth doing without going near the roof. Place a bucket or tub under a drip and lay a towel around it to stop splashing. Move furniture, bedding and electrical items out of the wet area. If the ceiling is bulging, make a small hole at the lowest point to release the water in a controlled way, standing clear. Lift loft insulation away from the wet spot if you can reach it from the hatch, because soaked insulation holds water against the plasterboard. Switch off the power to circuits near the leak if water is anywhere near a light fitting, and do not use a ceiling light that has water in it.
These measures do not repair anything, but they limit the cost. Our answer on how to stop a roof leak from inside goes through the steps in order.
The risks of a do-it-yourself temporary fix
Most injuries from roof repairs happen on temporary jobs, because they feel small and urgent. A person goes up a ladder in the rain with a sheet and a hammer. The ladder is not tied off, the tiles are wet, and the sheet catches the wind. There is also the question of what lies under the sheet. A cover fitted in a hurry can hide a broken batten or wet timber for weeks, and the damage carries on quietly in the dark. Even at ground level, throwing a sheet over a roof from a window or using a long pole is unreliable and tends to leave the sheet loose. Walking on tiles breaks them, especially older clay and slate, and making an existing hole larger.
A roofer working at height has ladders secured at the top, a harness or scaffold tower where needed, and the experience to see where the covering is sound and where it is not. There is a professional cost to that, but it is usually far less than the cost of an injury or of a second storm tearing a poorly fixed sheet off the roof.
What temporary cover costs, and what comes after
A trade cost guide gives £150 to £350 plus materials as a typical UK range for an emergency call-out, with 20 to 35% added for London and the south east. This is a national figure for orientation only. The cost of a temporary cover depends on the access, the size of the area and whether scaffold is needed. A small cover from a ladder is a modest job; a large cover on a high gable with scaffold is not. Your fixed quote follows the survey, and we say what is temporary and what is permanent on the quote so you can see both.
The permanent repair follows from what is found when the temporary cover comes off. Sometimes the damage is simple and the fix is a few replacement tiles. Sometimes the tarpaulin hides a rotten batten or a wet rafter, and the repair is bigger. That is why we photograph the area before and after, and why we recommend moving to the permanent job without leaving the temporary fix in place for long. If the cause was weather, read our guide to storm damage to roofs for how it connects to an insurance claim, keeping the invoice for the temporary work.
How we handle it
When you call about a leak, we prioritise it, and our first aim is to make the roof safe. We do not promise a time, because we do not know what is waiting ahead of you, but we tell you what is happening honestly. On site we photograph the fault, fit the temporary cover with battens and proper fixings, and tell you what the permanent repair will involve. Repair where repair works, and a clear written quote before anything permanent is done. Our work is covered by a written 10-year workmanship guarantee, and we clear away the offcuts when we leave.
You can find the full range of this work on our page for emergency roof repairs in Basingstoke. To get a temporary cover on, telephone 01256 213956 or send a photograph and the address by WhatsApp.
