Really appreciative of all comments & you must have thought me rude not to come back ... I got an endoscope to take pix in loft (but had to relearn how to get it to work & to get it to go where I wanted - not easy. In the end I taped a long thin batten to it. That part of loft isn't boarded, so had to lay some (boards), which also took time. It's also very low towards the end & had plenty of cobwebs. Got some reasonable pix, which don't look (to my untrained eye) as if timbers are sodden/damaged. But they are too confusing to post here. I also took the endoscope outside in case there was an access hole small enough for the camera where the new 'ply' is. No such luck. A new roofer will drop in 2moro after 12 to have a look. So, I hope he may unscrew the ply so I can take photos of what's beneath. Depending how much time he has, I will show him (parts of) this thread & raise idea of PVC/lead & changing neighbour's gutter ends (with permission, of course) & other ideas people have kindly thought of !
Bobasd raised interesting point: (neighbour unwittingly ...): 2016 photo seems to show a longer gutter not stopping short as it does now. At one point all the neighbours were into putting bird bristle things into their gutters to deter wood pigeons (didn't make the slightest difference), & he did have s.o. up a ladder for that, so maybe a change was made then.
You've all supplied lots of info which I need to look into properly. I rang my 'original roofer' (of last Thursday) & asked him not to send decorators tomorrow because of the rain. That'll give time for an informed view from 'second' roofer tomorrow. Either way, getting decorators in seems vastly premature, so I will prob. try to extend scaffolding period as I think JohnD suggested above. Will update later on. Tx again, Zena
Bobasd raised interesting point: (neighbour unwittingly ...): 2016 photo seems to show a longer gutter not stopping short as it does now. At one point all the neighbours were into putting bird bristle things into their gutters to deter wood pigeons (didn't make the slightest difference), & he did have s.o. up a ladder for that, so maybe a change was made then.
You've all supplied lots of info which I need to look into properly. I rang my 'original roofer' (of last Thursday) & asked him not to send decorators tomorrow because of the rain. That'll give time for an informed view from 'second' roofer tomorrow. Either way, getting decorators in seems vastly premature, so I will prob. try to extend scaffolding period as I think JohnD suggested above. Will update later on. Tx again, Zena