Leak at gable end of roof/skews

[Alastairreid]

Pointing and skew first which helped, then Water proofer a couple of weeks later.
The next option would have been to clad the copes with either lead or zinc.

 

[Kaymo]

Thanks again, really appreciate this conversation, very informative. So looks like it was coming in from both routes then.

Going off on a bit of a tangent here, more out of interest than anything, but I have often wondered why the cement skew starts leaking, and I presumed that movement eventually breaks the seal between the slate and the skew. If so, could that not be repaired with a grey flexible sealer like CT1 rather than ripping the whole thing out?

I mean presuming that the cope and the cement skew are sound, and both were painted with water seal, and the sealing edges of the cement skew were sealed with CT1, is there any reason why that wouldn't work?

Its obviously not as elegant, and probably not as long term as replacing the cement skew with lead, but could it work?

 

[Alastairreid]

The seal between the roof and cement skew parts company through time as the roof moves the skew or stone do not, this in itself should not cause the roof to leak as the skew still tents over the slates.
Ct1 or similar may or may not work but would have a very limited lifespan.

 

[Alastairreid]

 

[Alastairreid]

 

[Alastairreid]

 

[Alastairreid]

 

[Kaymo]

The seal between the roof and cement skew parts company through time as the roof moves the skew or stone do not, this in itself should not cause the roof to leak as the skew still tents over the slates.

In this case what causes the skew to leak, does it become porous?

In my case there are no visible signs of the skew being damaged.

 

[Alastairreid]

It breaks up over time.

 

[Kaymo]

Ok, thanks again Alastair. This has been very informative and given me a lot to think about.

From what I can see there is no visible damage to the skews on my house, they haven't broken up, so I wonder whether it is wise to have them all ripped out. The roofers are quoting £3-4k to cover everything in lead, which will no doubt fix the leak, but it is a lot of money to do something that might be fixed by just waterproofing what is already there.