leaking roof

cormac1990

Recently we've been getting leaks right across the back of our house and cant figure out what the problem. there has been engineers and architects out but they can't figure it out either. the slates are tegral thru tone slates and are nearly 20 years old. I'm wondering whether anyone has any advice or if anyone has experienced similar problems.

AckwelFoley

Hi Cormac,

We will need you to take some photos of the leaks internally and Pics of the outside of the house close to the roof to give us some thing to study before we can mahe an assment

roofer

it could be any amount of things, like snyper said- more info. maybe an experienced reputable roofer would be better than an engineer. after all he deals with these things on a daily basis.

sinnerboy

is the leak constant , or just during rain

might be a leaky rad in floor over ....

muffler

Always the possibility of condensation if no obvious holes in roof or leaking pipes found. As stated some more info and pics but its better to have it checked first hand and yes a good experienced roofer could be very useful.

cormac1990

We had a roofer in with 25 years experience who said he'd never seen this before. It only leaks when it rains so its not a rad anyway.

AckwelFoley

cormac1990 wrote: »

We had a roofer in with 25 years experience who said he'd never seen this before. It only leaks when it rains so its not a rad anyway.

So the leak is down low, ie no higher than breast level?

roofer

a complete stab in the dark.maybe the leak has always been there and the felt has just deteriorated allowing the water to get in the house. the batton centres might be too far apart allowing blow back. this would be invisible from the ground. i repaired a roof recently with this problem. the pitch wasnt too shallow and the batton centres were right for the pitch but water still blew back under the slates. from above the roof looked grand, when i removed the slates the extent of the problem showed itself. the battons and felt were soaking wet right across the width of the roof. blowback. these slates were also about 20 -30 years old

cormac1990

roofer wrote: »

a complete stab in the dark.maybe the leak has always been there and the felt has just deteriorated allowing the water to get in the house. the batton centres might be too far apart allowing blow back. this would be invisible from the ground. i repaired a roof recently with this problem. the pitch wasnt too shallow and the batton centres were right for the pitch but water still blew back under the slates. from above the roof looked grand, when i removed the slates the extent of the problem showed itself. the battons and felt were soaking wet right across the width of the roof. blowback. these slates were also about 20 -30 years old

That sounds very like our problem. The batons are soaked at a certain height right across the back of the house but at the front where the pitch isn't as shallow their is no leak and the batons are dry. What would have to be done to fix the problem?

roofer

if that was the problem the slates, battons and felt would have to be lifted the batton centres shortened and the slates put back on. unfortunately you would have to buy new slates as second hand tegrals are no good. does the shallow pitch run into a steeper pitch? the point of contact at these two pitches could also be a weak spot. if this was the case the repair would not be as complicated. the pitch must be over the recomended minimum pitch for tegral slates.
cheers:)