Lead & Zinc Dormer Roofing
Traditional code lead and standing-seam zinc for dormer roofs, cheeks and flashings. A hundred-year material, correctly sized and correctly fixed.
Lead & Zinc Dormer Roofing — indicative geometry
What a lead & zinc dormer roofing actually is
Lead fails from thermal movement, not from age — which means bay sizes, code thickness and fixing centres decide whether a dormer roof lasts thirty years or three. We work to Lead Sheet Association guidance on every detail: welted bays, correct laps, chase depths and clip spacing. Standing-seam zinc gives a similar lifespan with a lighter, more contemporary line.
Specification at a glance
| Lead codes | Code 4, 5 and 6 to LSA guidance |
|---|---|
| Bay sizes | Sized to code and orientation |
| Zinc | Standing seam, natural or pre-weathered |
| Substrate | Ventilated deck with separation layer |
| Design life | 60–100 years lead, 60+ zinc |
| Typical duration | 5–10 days per dormer |
How we build it
Everything is priced from a measured survey, not a phone call — which is why our quotations tend to be the ones that still hold at the end of the job. Every lead & zinc dormer roofing job runs the same seven stages — survey and feasibility, design and consent, scaffold and protection, structure, weatherproofing, glazing, then finish and sign-off.
If the property is in a conservation area or the dormer faces the road, a full planning application is needed. We prepare the drawings and handle the submission either way.
What is included in the price
- Measured survey, structural calculations and full working drawings
- Planning application or lawful development certificate, and the building regulations application
- Scaffold design, erection, weekly inspection, hire and dismantling
- All structure, weatherproofing, flashings, gutters and cladding
- Glazing with escape-compliant opening lights where required
- Building control inspections and your completion certificate
- Waste removal and making good
Where this goes wrong elsewhere
The two failures we are called to fix most often on lead & zinc dormer roofing are undersized or incorrectly lapped flashings, and a vapour control layer that stops at the first awkward junction. Neither shows up for a winter or two. Both are cheap to do properly at build stage and expensive to correct afterwards.
Book the survey, get the fixed written price, and decide in your own time. Nothing about that process commits you to anything.
Related work
Lead & Zinc Dormer Roofing by county
Where we do this work
Specialist teams across 74 counties. Pick your area for local detail, or browse every town.
How a dormer gets built
Seven stages, in this order, every time
The sequence matters. Most dormer problems come from doing one of these out of order — glazing before the flashings, or opening the roof before the materials land.
Survey and feasibility
A specialist measures the roof, checks ridge height, span and structure, and confirms whether you are inside permitted development.
Design and consent
Measured drawings, elevations and sections. We submit the planning application or lawful development certificate and the building regulations application.
Scaffold and protection
Scaffold designed, erected and inspected. Temporary weather protection over the work area before anything is opened.
Structure
Ridge beam and floor steels craned or manhandled in, new joists laid, the dormer frame built and sheathed.
Weatherproofing
Deck, insulation, membrane or lead, cheek cladding, flashings and gutters — the dormer is weathertight from this point.
Glazing
Windows fitted square, sealed and drained, with escape-compliant opening lights where required.
Finish and sign-off
Plaster, electrics, decoration and making good, final building control inspection and your completion certificate.
FAQs
Lead & Zinc Dormer Roofing — your questions
Will my roof be open to the weather?
No. The roof is only opened once the scaffold, temporary weather protection and materials are all on site, and the dormer is made weathertight — structure, deck, membrane and temporary glazing — before the crew leaves at the end of the opening-up phase. We do not open a roof on a Friday afternoon.
Can you build a dormer on a bungalow?
Usually yes, and bungalows often give the best results because the spans are wide and there are no party walls. The deciding factor is ridge height: you generally want at least 2.6m from the top of the ceiling joists to the underside of the ridge. We measure this at survey before committing to anything.
Why is my dormer leaking?
In our experience the window itself is the cause less than a fifth of the time. Far more often it is the apron flashing at the dormer front, the lead soakers where the cheeks meet the roof slope, the back gutter behind a pitched dormer, or a split at an upstand in the flat covering. Water then tracks along a rafter and appears somewhere else entirely, which is why we trace the path before quoting.
What insulation do dormers need?
Current building regulations want around 0.15–0.18 W/m²K for a new dormer roof and 0.18 W/m²K for the cheeks and front. In practice that is a warm-roof build-up using 100–150mm of PIR insulation above or between the structure, with a continuous vapour control layer on the warm side. Getting the VCL continuous matters more than the insulation thickness.
Do you handle the planning application?
Yes. We prepare measured drawings, elevations and sections, submit the application or the lawful development certificate, and deal with the case officer's queries. On conservation and listed work we also put together the heritage justification the application needs.
Is scaffolding included in the price?
Yes. Every quotation we issue includes scaffold design, erection, weekly inspection, hire for the programme and dismantling. Scaffold appearing as an extra afterwards is one of the more common complaints about dormer work, so we price it in from the start.
Can you convert an existing Velux loft to a dormer?
Yes, and it is usually a shorter job than starting from scratch because the floor, staircase and services already exist. We verify the existing floor structure and any previous building control approval first, then cut and form the dormer into the finished room. Expect the room to be out of use for three to five weeks.
Find out what your roof will take
A free measured survey tells you what is achievable, what it needs, and what it costs — before you commit to anything.