Drying out roof timbers

[Stevoon]

Hi,

I have had a problem with my roof with leaks comming in through the hip tiles (and through the undefelt.) I had the tiles rebedded last Friday. I think there is possibly still a leak where the hip/ridge/lead valley meet up. I can't be too sure as I think with the amount of damp timber in the loft the loft is now suffering with condensation. How is the best way to dry these out and how long should it take?

Thanks

Stephen

 

[Alastairreid]

How is the loft ventilated at the moment?

 

[Stevoon]

At the moment there are no roof tile vents etc, but standing in the loft there is a deffinate movement of air.

 

[noseall]

Drying out the roof timbers in not so important as preventing condensation.

Address the condensation. Ventilate. Insulate.

Paradoxically insulating the loft (ceiling) can add to condensation woes within the loft space. so you need to do as Alistair suggests and look at how the loft space is ventilated.

 

[Stevoon]

Thanks for your replies, today being a slightly drier and breezy day it appears the loft is begining to dry, the timbers are going lighter in colour etc. I do still seem to have a leak where the hip tiles on the main roof meet the ridge tiles on the bedroom roof and the lead valley (i.e. the top corner of this) The lead is new and the hip & ridge tiles have been rebedded. Any suggestions as to the likely cause?

Thanks

Stephen

 

[Alastairreid]

If you can get a picture of the external junction it would help.

 

[Stevoon]

Hi,

I have the images as below;-

1. Joint on the Lead Valley side
View media item 54194
2. Joint on the tile side
View media item 54195
3. View of End Ridge tile showing lack of overlap (I spotted this today while up on the ladder taking the photo's)
View media item 54196
Thanks

Stephen

 

[welshsteve]

Stephen,
Looking at your pics the lead valley appears to be flat between the two roof slopes and not v shaped without checking overlaps, width of lead uesd and so on my initial concern would be that having a valley flat like that would leave rain water following the cement bed of the tiles down the roof slope rather than flowing down the center of the valley, this would cause the cement to absorb a greater amount of water and potentially allow it to penetrate into the roof space, again this is just my initial thoughts from looking at your pics, how the cement is mixed can have a big impact on this.

Cheers

Steve.

 

[Alastairreid]

The hip ridge junction looks ok.
Strange way to form the valley but dont think that would cause water ingress.
i'm still not convinced its not condensation.

Dont know what the set up is with that verge, looks like the undercloak has been removed and gobbed up with mortar.

 

[Stevoon]

Thanks for the comments on the valley, that kind of agrees with what the flat roofer was saying.

The verge picture was just to show that the ridge only covers the tiles by about 20mm if that. I wasnt sure if the coverage should be greater? I'm just trying to get ideas before the roofers come back to decide what to do next.

Thanks

Stephen

 

[welshsteve]

I think the valley will be the main culprit,
did you see them carry out the work? another concern I have is the two different colours of the cement, it looks to me that they have just "buttered" the beds up to make it look like they had done more work.
The ridge tiles should cover the roof tiles by 75mm.
At the end of the day if they are willing to come back I would like to think that they would be willing to stop the roof leaking if this is what they were paid for in the first place.

Good luck mate

Cheers

Steve.

 

[Stevoon]

Thanks Steve.

The different colours of the cement are because the ridge tiles & valley were done a month prior to rebedding the hip tiles as orriginally the leak appeared to be through the old valley (and into a flat roof for the porch.)

They did remove every ridge / hip tile and even fitted extra roof tiles under them as the people who had reroofed in the past didnt fit a tile if it was under a 1/2 tile in size.

The lead as relaid onto the existing valley board which appears to be about 9" of wood nailed accross the angle.

I think the roofer is fairly fed up of my job but I'm sure he will sort it one way or another. I just wanted a second opinion that they hadnt missed something obvious.

Thanks

Stephen

 

[welshsteve]

If the valley is costructed out of one piece of board laid across the angle this is an accident waiting to happen, the valley shoud have two pieces of board which will sit with one on each roof slope neatly meeting at the point the two roof slopes meet this forms a gutter when the lead is dressed into it, the lead should be code four (blue tape ) and a minimum of 390mm wide although 450mm may be more appropriate on a shallower roof to increase side lap.

hope this helps

 

[catlad]

Who ever constructed that valley like that has some strange idea's about roofing, and your roofers should have corrected this error before putting the new lead in.

 

[Stevoon]

Thanks, thats what the flat roofer (who was sent out as at one point the leak appeared under the flat porch roof) said. I have had a further look inside the loft today, on the ridge part of the roof the felt has split & fell away from the ridge between a couple of the timbers. Looking through this the joint between the ridge tile & the concrete tile appears wet (to the point it is running down the back of the tiles.) I'm thinking if they replace this felt that will then stop the water getting in or should the tiles be keeping the wet out in the first place? The ridge tiles on that part of the roof are only just covering the concrete roof tiles (the inside edge of the ridge tile is flush with the top of the concrete tile.)

Thanks

Stephen