Had a cold deck flat roof replaced with warm deck Sep 2010. It leaked from the beginning. Roofer has redone it several times but, after a while, the seal around the flashing fails and we're back to square 1. Roofer using mortar on flashing and freely admits he doesn't know what to do. Any suggestions because at wits end.
Leaking flashing on flat roof
- Thread starter asrw
- Start date
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Pictures please.
Pictures to follow but the flat roof is on a garage/kitchen attached to a square box of a brick house. Roofer originally used metal flashing which kept coming out. Insisted he use lead flashing and it was OK for 5 months but in heavy rain now leaks. He has done it again yesterday but waiting for heavy rain.
After recent heavy rain we used Thompsons emergency roof leak over flashing pointing but roofer came next day and redid another section of flashing.
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Sorry new to this. Didn't show images
A
Alarm
Get in someone who does this for a living.
This roofer has glowing references from Permaroof on his website but I do wish we had got another roofer. He tells us he has put thousands of flashings in so he knows what he is doing!!!!
Agreed it's a mess. Leadmate is a better sealant than pointing although pointing works fine if done properly. The lead should be turned into the wall at least an inch preferably with a small upturn at the back and wedged firmly.
The flashing looks like its reused lead, and not much over lap.
What sort of roof covering is that, cant see any tilt fillet, and whats the black stuff been sprayed all over the brickwork.
Did he also do the pointing on the brickwall, totally messed it up.
What sort of roof covering is that, cant see any tilt fillet, and whats the black stuff been sprayed all over the brickwork.
Did he also do the pointing on the brickwall, totally messed it up.
To answer previous question, the black stuff is emergency leak spray which we put on in desperation. The day after we'd done it the roofer came back to redo part of the flashing, some of which is shown in the photos, so we never got to find out if it stopped the leak.
When the new roof was done, the roof line was raised to cater for the thicker insulation. When it leaked the roofer said the wall butting onto the flat roof needed repointing because water must be running down the cavity and into the house and garage. The pointer came when it was chucking it down and said that the pointing needed doing but that the nature of the leak looked like the flashing. The roofer redid the flashing but we had the complete wall repointed and sealed by another company. Because of the weather, the pointers came several weeks later during which the leak got worse. When the pointers arrived they immediately said the flashing had popped out of the wall and this has been the pattern for a year. The roofer redoes the flashing, the leak is cured then it starts leaking again again the problem is the flashing. He is now saying that it is the wall again.
When the new roof was done, the roof line was raised to cater for the thicker insulation. When it leaked the roofer said the wall butting onto the flat roof needed repointing because water must be running down the cavity and into the house and garage. The pointer came when it was chucking it down and said that the pointing needed doing but that the nature of the leak looked like the flashing. The roofer redid the flashing but we had the complete wall repointed and sealed by another company. Because of the weather, the pointers came several weeks later during which the leak got worse. When the pointers arrived they immediately said the flashing had popped out of the wall and this has been the pattern for a year. The roofer redoes the flashing, the leak is cured then it starts leaking again again the problem is the flashing. He is now saying that it is the wall again.
Thankyou
B
bentheleadworker
I hate to break it you that 'Roofer' has not and I repeat not fitted thousands of Flashing's and knows what he's doing. For a start as I think someone mentioned previously, it looks like he has used old (what I would call scrap) Lead to use as your Flashing's on a new flat roof, which is both horrendous practice and thoroughly unacceptable. That flashing is also nowhere near a sufficient width for that kind of detail also the pointing looks extremely amatuerish. Ok so where does that leave me I hear you ask? Well my advise to you is first seek out an experienced, qualified, preferably an LSA registered Lead Worker in your area, I warn you now they are expensive but you will get what you pay for believe me. And contract him to re-do the flashing's. If it were myself 1st thing I would do would be to strip out that scrap lead and then grind out the chase above it and remove all dust with a blower. I would then set-out my Flashing's so they all measure the same (taking into account the laps,min 100mm preferably 150mm¬ exceeding 1.5m in length) and are all what I would call 'aesthetically correct' basically meaning they all look neat&uniform. I would then calculate where my Copper Fixing Clips needed to be placed in order to engage the laps&prevent wind-lift and fix them into brickwork securely. I would then fabricate using 390mm Code 4 Milled Lead enough Flashing's to cover the area and tuck round the corners (which will require Lead Welding) at least 100mm. These Flashing's will have a 25mm return to plug into the chase YOU DO NOT NEED 'A SMALL UPTURN' AT THE BACK as previously stated. I would then trim said Flashing's down so they sit 25mm of the deck then start fitting my Flashing's starting at one end&working my way round. I would secure these Flashing's with Stainless Steel Hall Clips fixed equally depending on the length of my Flashing e.g a 1.2m Flashing would require 4 Hall Clips fixed every 255m and 1 at the lap end. After all Flashing's are installed I would engage all the Copper Fixing Strips leaving a 6mm gap for expansion, apply Patination Oil to the finished work then point in using a purpose made Lead Sealant smoothing to finish. You would then be left with some beatifull, bomb-proof Flashing's that will not only do the job intended but fitted in the way in which I've described will also 'hide' the sins (pointing and Thomsons ERL) committed by said 'roofer' and the home-owner (please don't take that as a dig, you did what you thought best under the circumstances, fair play to you having a go) These Flashing's will last FOREVER that's the beauty of Lead, when fitted correctly it really is a case of Fit and Forget. I hope you have found my advise usefull, apologies if I've rambled on a bit it just really riles me when I see\hear about customers being left in such a pickle after trusting 'roofers' to do their Lead Work when said 'roofer' should just bite the bullet, do the decent thing and pay a Lead Worker to do their Lead Work. Shame you're not in Suffolk as I would gladly have come&done it for you! And by the way I am a LSA registered, City&Guilds 6055 Qualified Lead Worker possessing in excess of 10 years in the trade, I have worked on some of the most prestigious buildings in the UK and have literally fitted MILES of Flashing's (forgive me for blowing my own trumpet I just want you to know this advice comes from someone who knows what he's on about) Good luck asrw I hope you're problem gets sorted, all the best BentheLeadWorker.
Ben look at the dates before replying to posts.
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