leaking eaves (again)!

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exactly as last January, my gutters have filled with ice, causing an ice dam on the roof and resulting in water seeping in, running down the inside of the exterior wall and dripping in through window/door frames. If i go in the eaves I can see some timbers are wet and the top of the plasterboard as well.

Thought this might have been because of a "bad winter" one off type thing, but looks like it's going to happen every winter so I'll need to fix it permanently.

i have flush eaves, no soffits/fascias, gutters are attached directly to wall. Roof looks to have plastic eaves vents, some kind of fibre board, felt on top of that then concrete tiles. house about 25 years old

I notice that in some parts there is a lip of felt in the gutter, some bits it is behind the gutter and in some places the felt has deteriorated and broken off.

I assume this is part of the problem and the remedy would be to strip off the first couple of rows of tiles, replace the felt with the lip going into the gutter?

Anything else that should be considered?

my gutters are one continual length with one standard size downpipe, they don't have much fall which is not a problem normally, i am planning on replacing them so will look to try and get a 2nd downpipe or use higher flow gutters which may help.
 
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Use a Marley deep flow gutter system, and install an eaves tray, should get no more trouble.

Also, fit plenty of clips, this weather is only going to get worse in thecoming years.
 
and install an eaves tray, should get no more trouble.

as i understand it the purpose of an eaves tray is to stop the felt sagging?

wondering if i would need an eaves tray as my felt is sitting on top of boarding?
 
But the felt must then hang into the gutter? If it does, has it eroded at all?

It could also be your guttering, it may have been installed too high up the fascias.
 
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This is a big problem with flush eaves, and the main cause, as SAS has said, is that the felt has rotted and now instead of water running off the tiles and underfelt into the gutter, it is just not running into the gutter

You need proper plastic eaves trays to form the drape into the gutter, and these wont rot

Even blocked/overflowing gutters should not cause water to track back behind the bricks as it will just run down the face and the wall

Most likely this water is getting in above the gutter due to the rotted felt
 
aye, I mentioned in my original post that the felt looks to be damaged or not in the gutter so based on what I can see and what you describe that definitly seems to be the main problem.

would it be overkill to replace the first strip of felt with higher quality stuff and install eaves trays as well?

thinking of a belts and braces approach and having the tiles off I might as well?

I'm pretty confident I can fix this myself if I get the right stuff. Have been looking at manufacturer literature for this kind of thing. the trickiest thing i think will be getting the interlocking tiles off. have managed before to do it when i replaced my velux and added a couple of extractor vents.

cheers guys.
 
Slide the course of tiles up that are above the row you wish to take out, makes it all the easier, and yes, I would definately install new felt aswell as the eaves tray.
 
The existing felt may be OK and just rotted at the edge. IN which case you may be able to fold it back and install the tray and then relay it over the tray

Felt( or membrane) is usually cut/kept back so that it does not project past the tiles, and its just the plastic eaves tray with remains exposed

Personally I can't see any value in installing "higher quality" felt as once felt is under the tiles it will last for many many years - its just any exposed bits that degrade whatever grade it is

Generally, push the second row of tiles up and remove the first row to access the eaves

If you are replacing the felt, then push the 3rd row up and remove the first two rows and laths

If you have profiled tiles, then get the eaves trays with the prefixed comb fillers to keep the birds out
 
had a closer look from the inside and have drawn a quick sketch of how it is constructed just in case it makes any difference.

Because my roof is boarded then felted I can't actully see into the area boxed in pink on my drawing. The green line I've drawn is the eaves vent, looks to be Redland redvents. As you can see, my roof timbers don't extend to the exterior of the house.

thanks again for the advice.

 
You need to get rid of that flat bit, by fitting some timber fillets to the rafters, or a board on an angle to give a slope

The back (ie top edge) of the plastic eaves trays can be nailed to the rafters and the front can just be left to lay on the wall as the tiles will hold it down
 

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