Lead work – lead burning – lead repairs

Although we are not fully fledged lead work contractors, we do have sufficient skills for many lead tasks, and we carry out the work to a high standard.

We fit roof ridges, valleys, and carry out all manner of lead repairs, such as those shown below.

In the event of a particular lead job being beyond us we can, and do, bring in lead work sub-contractors to assist.


Lead burning

The owner, who is writing this right now, has a bit of a fascination with lead burning, so bought all the kit and watched lots of videos, and did lots of trying, in order to try to learn it. I am far from being a “lead-burner” but I’ve learned enough to have done some jobs that have looked really nice and that I and the clients have been pleased with.

Please click on the link below to view a 2020 job that involved the fabrication and installation of a lead roof vent.


This steeple roof lead had a single large crack in it which did not merit full replacement of the roof, so we lead burned a piece of code 6 lead over the problem area.

The fact that we we were able to do the lead burning saved the church a bit of money in this instance. We were able to carry out this small task as part of a larger contract on the church. Bringing in a dedicated lead work contractor to do it would have added a fair bit of money to the cost.



Lead pipe for a church overflow

In this job I first had to create a code 8 lead pipe, and then install it. What’s below will show the making of the lead pipe.


Code 8 lead caps lead burned onto the roof of a stately home to connect a new lightning conductor to the roof



Leadwork at spire head

The following pictures show a contract carried out at the head of a slated spire in Galashiels, in the Scottish Borders.

The lead work was part of a larger contract to repair the head of the spire after the weathervane had blown clean off the top of the structure in high winds.

Removing the existing lead from the head of the spire.


Preparing the timber-work at the head of the spire for insertion of the new centre rod (the centre rod is the stainless steel rod that will hold the weathervane in place – securely this time).


Timbers securely bolted back into position and centre rod inserted.


Lead work completed.


A close up view of the lead ball below the weathervane.


The final result. Lead work completed, weathervane painted with high quality exterior metal paint (the client did not opt for gold leaf), and lightning conductor in place and bonded correctly to the air termination (weathervane in layman’s language).