Roofing...

GreeBo

Hey,
bit of a leaking roof at the moment.
Its a lean-to roof at the front of the house.
I think the leak is along the valley (where the roof meets the house) , question is, how does the lead at the top of the valley sit with regards to the ridge tiles?
Should it be under it, under the flashing at the top of the roof?

cheers!

roofer

hi greebo
i assume the roof runs into the gable end of the house with the ridges running into the wall. if that is the case the flashing should go under the last ridge.almost all of the time the flashing goes underneath any ridges. just make sure to put a return welt on the lead to direct the water down the roof.

GreeBo

Hey, I dont fully understand your description so here is a similiar pic

So its a lean-to roof which turns the corner, giving a ridge.

My 2 questions are:
1) Does the flashing in the valley go over the batons but under the tiles or should it be from the wall to the top of the tiles?
2) at the very top of the ridge (where it meets the house wall) which bit overlaps which? I guess the horizontal flashing overlaps the end piece of the valley lead?

Hopefully Im being a bit clearer (but I doubt it! )

roofer

thats better. htis is why i wont quote over the phone, i always get the wrong picture.
anyhoo the lead under the window goes on top of the tiles. the valley lead you are referring to is sloping down the wall (on the pitch we cant see). we would call this the tray. this would go over the battons but under the tiles. it would be acceptable to go on top of the tiles aswell. i personally prefer under the tiles. the lead on the front under the window is called the apron. the apron should overlap the tray at least 3 inches.

GreeBo

roofer wrote: »

thats better. htis is why i wont quote over the phone, i always get the wrong picture.
anyhoo the lead under the window goes on top of the tiles. the valley lead you are referring to is sloping down the wall (on the pitch we cant see). we would call this the tray. this would go over the battons but under the tiles. it would be acceptable to go on top of the tiles aswell. i personally prefer under the tiles. the lead on the front under the window is called the apron. the apron should overlap the tray at least 3 inches.

Cheers,
so for the lead in the valley (the tray), does this just rely on a return to stop the water running down under the tiles onto the felt?
How do you not crush the return where it passes over the baton?

Last question (;)), how do you seal where the top of the ridge meets the flashing? Is it just bedded/pointed on the same way the ridge tiles are to the rest of the tiles?

Cheers for your help.

roofer

hi greebo
your tray should be about 5 inches out from the wall. your tile should be tight to the wall aswell. most of the water will run down the tile. you will only get run off from the wall onto the lead and a little bit from the edge of the tile.the five inch tray will account for any water that gets down there. with the slope on the roof the water will run down the pitch .never accross it unless there is a bitch of a wind. this is where your welt comes into effect. when laying the tile over the lead to avoid crushing the welt you would knock the offending lug off the top of the tile. it is also a good idea to put another batton between the existing battons to support the lead.
the top of the ridge is pointed, as close to the wall as you can get.
i think that about covers it, if you want any more info just ask.:)

GreeBo

roofer wrote: »

hi greebo
your tray should be about 5 inches out from the wall. your tile should be tight to the wall aswell. most of the water will run down the tile. you will only get run off from the wall onto the lead and a little bit from the edge of the tile.the five inch tray will account for any water that gets down there. with the slope on the roof the water will run down the pitch .never accross it unless there is a bitch of a wind. this is where your welt comes into effect. when laying the tile over the lead to avoid crushing the welt you would knock the offending lug off the top of the tile. it is also a good idea to put another batton between the existing battons to support the lead.
the top of the ridge is pointed, as close to the wall as you can get.
i think that about covers it, if you want any more info just ask.:)

Cheers dude!
Ok, well the lead is probably about 4 inches wide, but only about 1 inch is covered by tile, i.e the tiles are about 3 inches from the wall of the house. I thought it was a bit weird but all the other house are the same ( I checked!) I think they just ended on a tile or half tile.
I guess i dont fully get it, but wouldnt another baton throw out the height of the tiles? or is it just on one rafter or something?
Also, I guess you need to nail the tile on if you knock off one of the lugs?
It sounds like I need to at least get a few extra tiles and replace the half tiles that I have...


I had someone out a couple of months ago to "fix a leak" and they replaced some of the lead and repointed the ridge. However the house is very exposed to a driving wind/rain and last week I discovered the leak that prompted this thread.
I was mad :mad: and already had the floorboards up in the room above where the water stain was (in the hall) and there was a hell of a lot of water.
The lintel (across the hall) was soaked and dripping onto the plasterboard causing the stain.
I had the guy back and he reckons its not the roof but the window sill.

So, I investigated
I cut off some of the plasterboard below the window and exposed the brick. Long story short, I cant tell where its coming from. From the pic you can see that the external windowsil is basically some redbricks on their side. From the inside, if I move the damp proof membrane back I can see that the brick is very wet, but Im guessing this is normal and thats why they DPC is there?
However the wall also starts to get wet lower down. Its a 9" cavity block wall, rendered on the outside. The window sill is about 6 inches above where the lead is set into the render.

Long story short, I dont know who I need to call, a roofer, a builder or get the nice people in Senator back (windows are only in 2 years).
Any ideas or even who I need to call?

I will try to post some pics when I get a chance.

Thanks for reading this far!

GreeBo

The pics:

The devastation I caused:

Closeup of hole on left, block seems dry but you can see a small wet area on the top of the block, under the dpc. dpc has condensation on it and far side + brick are very wet.

Right hand side, block is wet.

Underneath right side, lintel is very wet, dripping.

Left side, block is still dry but mortar looks wet.

The exterior of the window ledge. Im worried that the bottom of the window is not sealed to the window ledge properly. If I pull the DPCback, in a couple of areas I can "see outside"...

Again, but with flashing.

Showing gap between flashing and window ledge

The valley.

roofer

hi greebo
sorry about the delay. first things first. there should be more than 1 inch cover on the lead. looking at the photos i think it is very possible the water is getting in through the windowsill. that is where i would start. you should not be able to see outside underneath the sill. it looks like the flashing is intact. was the problem there before the new windows went in? with more of the water coming on the right side of the window i would think the water is coming in under the sill. i would call senator, the dpc is doing its job, i dont think the window is.
cheers:)

GreeBo

Hey,
What I dont get is that if it is getting in under the window, why its getting past the DPC? I thought thats what it was there for...to stop water soaking through all the blocks...
However, should there be visible drains for this DPC to expel any water or should it just be funneling it out onto the render?

We got the windows jsut after we moved in but there was a leak before the windows in the same area. Problem is that lead was in a bad state at the time aswell...

Cheers!

roofer

hay
i would get someone independant to check both the lead work and the window. it could be that the plaster coat is too thin, this is not likely but i wouldnt rule it out. if the dpc is taking that much water it should have somewhere to escape. usually a windowsill would have an overhang and the dpc would be let out under this.there is a few possibilities but you would need to eliminate each one as you go. there is a silcone subsatance you could try on the brick windowsill. it looks like water and is applied like paint and is clear. it forms a water repellant on the brick not allowing the water to penetrate. i have used it on an old blown chimney that was leaking and it worked quite well.it sounds like a tricky leak that requires a good deal of investigation.:)

GreeBo

roofer wrote: »

hay
i would get someone independant to check both the lead work and the window. it could be that the plaster coat is too thin, this is not likely but i wouldnt rule it out. if the dpc is taking that much water it should have somewhere to escape. usually a windowsill would have an overhang and the dpc would be let out under this.there is a few possibilities but you would need to eliminate each one as you go. there is a silcone subsatance you could try on the brick windowsill. it looks like water and is applied like paint and is clear. it forms a water repellant on the brick not allowing the water to penetrate. i have used it on an old blown chimney that was leaking and it worked quite well.it sounds like a tricky leak that requires a good deal of investigation.:)

Yeah I was planning on getting some of that waterproof stuff for all the brickwork on the house, seems like a good idea... Now that I have the window board off I can see that the water is literally running in through the window, it seems to me that this cannot be right, the water is flowing in through a joint in the window, soaking the inside of the ledge and pooling in the DPC. Either the DPC has a leak or is not able to escape outside and so the water is soaking into the 9" cavity and eventually making its way to the lintel and down onto the plasterboard below. I am having them (Senator) back tomorrow and demanding a new window and new door or its court action.:mad: