flashing and soakers

[peland]

Hi
I'm about to embark on a roof replacement on my barn in Devon, and I'm trying to understand flashing where a roof butts onto a gable end wall - most designs I've seen have soakers between the tiles coming up under a cover flashing bedded into the wall. My question is, why have two pieces? Why not simply put a second bend in the soaker and bed it directly into the wall?

 

[AnonymousImport]

soakers are what is seen on old roofs nowdays lead has replaced it, use code 4 it needs to be properly cut into the brick joints and cover the tiles.........ian

 

[AnonymousImport]

Hi Ian, thanks for the reply. What I mean by a soaker is a piece of lead (or copper) tucked under a slate but above the underlying slate, and bent up against the adjoining wall, so water runs down it and onto the slate below. The flashing is then normally a separate piece that's bedded into the wall and folded down over the soaker, but it seems to me that I could save metal by combining the two into one piece. Is there a hidden flaw?! Cheers, Peter

 

[AnonymousImport]

you dont need to put the soakers in just use lead 300mm wide cut into the wall as normal and then fold it over the slates........ian

 

[AnonymousImport]

How do you stop rain driving in under the flashing and dripping down off the edge of the slate?...Peter

 

[AnonymousImport]

if you are doing a roof replacement you will be putting felt under the tiles which old roofs dont have,where it meets the wall leave the felt so it runs up the wall about 4" the lead then comes down over the felt and across the tiles,use a lead beater to form the lead to take the shape of the tiles......ian

 

[DAZB]

Peter, if I were you I would stick to the traditional way of using seperate soakers and flashings because if, for reasons of movement in the lead due to temperature changes etc,the lead cracks and water gets in then you have a bigger job repairing the leak.Ian mentions that you have felt to carry water if it should get in but the laying of a roof is designed so that felt doesn't have to carry water and allowing water to frequently run down the felt will very soon cause problems.It will invariably find a puncture mark in the felt (a stray lath nail maybe) and will be very difficult to detect.Although waterproof to a degree , roof felt that is constantly getting wet and then drying out will soon rot.(From the pen of a time served Roofer)

 

[AnonymousImport]

code 4 lead crack what in your lifetime

 

[AnonymousImport]

ian didnt say the felt was there to carry the water he just said how the job was done and i agree with him -proper time served roofer

 

[AnonymousImport]

how many times have you used soakers in the last 20 years

 

[AnonymousImport]

dazb wants to keep his beak out it dont sound like he read the 1st posting another proper time served roofer.

 

[AnonymousImport]

Looks like I set the cat among the pigeons here! I perhaps should have mentioned that the gable wall is going to be slate hung, so the whole lot will be protected by the slates. I agree with Dazb that the felt shouldn't have to carry water, though if the flashing does its job it shouldn't need to very often - that said, I live in Devon where howling gales are pretty much the norm! I also take the point about repairs being more difficult. The thought process that led to my question ran something like this:
1. The slate hanging should deal with most of the weather except at the bottom, so a soaker (or flashing sticking out from under the hanging slates, which I think will look less neat) is still needed.
2. The soaker should still be able to deal with water running down the gable wall, in case of failure above.
3. I thought of using a render fillet to seal the top of the soaker (apparently traditional for barns), but being hidden from view, if it came adrift it wouldn't get fixed and it'd be vulnerable again.
4. Finally, I thought why not bed the soaker into the wall like flashing, and arrived back where I'd started but with one piece instead of two! Hence my question.
One last thing: we're planning to harvest the rainwater off this roof, so we're using copper instead of lead.
Any comments?
Peter (a highly improper DIY newbie 8^))