Soil Vent Pipe

Bry

Hi All,

It my first time posting on the board but have visited a good few times and people always seem to give good advice!!

I was hoping somebody could help me out.

We have a soil vent pipe in our house which leads to a tile vent in the roof and it seems that rain water is getting in, but only over a period of time and into the pipe itself in the attic and not the ceiling of our bedroom. My question is, do I ring a roofer or a general builder?? Anyone know of any in Dublin 15??

Grateful for your advice

pipers

Welcome to the forum,

Wait for rooferpete to respond.

rooferPete

Hi,

It's not unusal for the flashing around the soil stack to give trouble, depending on where you are in D.15 some are made from a piece of lead with a piece of silicone around the upstand.

The majority are aluminium with a rubber seal welded in during manufacture, they work well but break down over about twenty years from UV exposure.

Again depending on location which tells me the age of the house the tiles may be CPI which are no longer made.

Hard to advise on the choice of tradesman you call, many builders will sub the job to a roofer, finding the above combination could be a problem because there is not enough work for both to be involved.

It is unusual that the water is finding it's way into soil pipe, perhaps the felt underlay is carrying the water away for the moment.

.

Bry

Thanks for the welcome Pipers!!

Cheers for the advice RooferPete.

I believe our house is about 4 years old (Rusheeney Village) and I spoke to a builder I know recently who said that maybe the vent tile on the roof might have been put in wrong but like you say, he wouldnt be able to have a look for me.

Since we moved in I checked it a few times and there was no sign of water even after a good few days of rain and I also checked it during some heavy downpour's. Maybe it only leaks at certain times which would be even stranger. Do you know if it would be expensive to fix??

rooferPete

Hi Bry,

Sounds like a wind direction problem, I haven't had reason to be on the roofs in Rusheeny as yet so I can't say for sure.

Regarding prices and costs I have a rule of not commenting on these items because of the fairly obvious, other trades do have access to this site and my costings are a kind of trade secret, nothing personal, I hope you understand.

.

delly

Am i right in thinking that a soil pipe is a vent for the waste water from toilets etc.? If so i may have had a similar experience (which i will now tell on the theory that it is ).

My first house was a mid terrece in Swords. After a few months i noticed a water stain on the roof of the ensuite. After going up to the attic i traced the problem to where the vent came up to the roof. It consisted of a a solid wavin pipe coming up from the side of the house, which was linked to a smaller piece of wavin pipe which was 'midair' so to speak. It was secured on both ends by a small piece of flexible piping using a metal clip which you can use a philips head screwdriver to tighten.

I initially took off the flexible piping from the roof tile to see if i could see where the water was coming in but could not see a thing, even in heavy rain. After much head scratching i eventually traced the problem to the flexible piping which was linked to the fixed wavin piping. It was secured in a way i would describe as an upside down funnel. Therefore the condensation which was forming on the short piece of wavin piping, would roll back down on the outside of the fixed piping and then forming on the top of the plaster board. Once it was resecured inside the fixed pipe, problem sorted .

Just in case i haven't been too clear in my description, i made a diagram:

Please disregard if this has nothing to do with the actual problem, but i have too much time on my hands this evening.

rooferPete

Hi Delly,

Very good sketch and great fault finding, now the big question is, did you advise on the need for mouse traps ?

.

Victor

Bry, I would suggest you try to find out roughly where the water is - daub the area with chalk dust and check every few days.

delly wrote:

Please disregard if this has nothing to do with the actual problem, but i have too much time on my hands this evening.

Saw your pic and immediately thought condensation.

delly

rooferPete wrote:

Very good sketch and great fault finding, now the big question is, did you advise on the need for mouse traps ?

:eek: Jesus, where did that mouse come from, cause its not on the original sketch.

Bry

Sorry for the delay in replying to you all as I went to Germany for the weekend.A bit of a drastic solution to the problem I know but well worth it!!:D

I understand completly Roofer Pete and many thanks for your advice.At least it gives me an idea of what the problem might be when I finally get someone out to have a look at it.

Delly, that a brill drawing.I manged to get a picture of our pipe and will post it here when I work how to do that next!!

Bry