Hi All,
A question I hope somebody out there can please help me with so I can decipher whether this is normal or whether I am getting builder bs!
I am self-building and have had a roofing gang felt/lathe and roof my new house including installing four veluxs and two dormers as well as the attached garage. Therefore, as you can imagine, theres been a fair amount of leading as well as using lots of fibreglass valleys. I know a fair amount about things but, as this is my first big build, do not know whether I am being bs'd or whether it is normal builder 'shortcuts' that any of them would do anyway to be honest.
Firstly, the veluxs, all leak at the top. This is because a) the ridges are not gobbo'd on yet (weather!) and b) the felt has just been cut and veluxs put in. Now, when I say they leak, I mean that theres water there at the moment...its not a torrent. But then again...if and when the tiles are finished I expect them to be fine. The point is that if they're leaking now then they will again if the ridge or any tiles fail in the future above them. What I want to know is that, when I was looking through the Velux manual (which I retrieved from the bin they threw it in) I saw that apart from the flashing kit (which I also supplied) there looks to be something which looks like a 'drip tray' (I have heard it called a nappy before?)....is this supplied as normal or is it an extra you have to purchase? Basically I want to know if they've just not fitted it or whether it would have been up to me to buy (I didn't know about it to be honest). Obviously it doesn't seem right that they're leaking already and not a good omen! When I mentioned it to them they tried to make out it was perfectly normal until the ridge was on. I then said that what was the point of the felt then...to which they just tried to BS me (which didn't work but as they're already all done/in I wanted some advice and roof done first before I get annoyed or not!) Any advice appreciated. I don't want to seem harsh if noone ever bothers to fit the tray/I should have supplied it and noone ever extra felts it too.
Secondly.... although the roof is not 100% tiled I have two leaks. The first one is on a dormer at the rafter which joins the main roof. This seems to be half a cupfull of water over a week. Now this would seems to be coming through a valley (i.e. under it) and into the dormer. As above, I want to know whether, in reality, I should be getting funny on the base of the felting job. This dormer is 90% tiled (the ridge tiles are missing at the back where it meets the house main roof tiles and leading/valley and there is also a small raked tile or two that needs adding on the valley to make sure dormer water goes into the valley...I imagine they will gripfill these in place) and again if theyre letting in water I worry about the felting. Again, what do you think? The other dormer, where the raked tiles are in place, does not leak at all.
Lastly, second leak (and a big one) is on the valley between the house and attached garage (imagine a big L-shaped attached garage). The valley intersection on the back of the garage and the ridge is not yet tiled (everything else is) and I assume (not being able to get into the garage 'loft' as access hole not yet cut) that water is coming down the main roof and finding its way into garage. Again, bearing in mind what I say below, what do you think? Should I expect the roof and valleys to be waterproof just with the felt or not?
All in all, on the face of it, it really does look like a fantastic tiling job (perfectly cut valleys, neat leading etc etc) which is 90% finished, plus the gobbo. Am I over-worrying? Obviously I know that they cannot felt everything perfectly (or assume that!) to stop water getting in on valleys when things aren't finished but, being my house, I do worry. A builder friend, on his own house extension with one twin valley, years ago said (when water got in during construction) that you can never waterproof valleys with felting etc. I have no doubt all will be fine when completely tiled and I have the intention of making sure theres no water coming in before final payment but I do worry about the felt as a method of secondary protection. Am I being too picky? This has been the build from hell and I just dont want any more problems (or at least be able to catch them early anyway!). Honest opinions always appreciated.
Kind regards
DW89
A question I hope somebody out there can please help me with so I can decipher whether this is normal or whether I am getting builder bs!
I am self-building and have had a roofing gang felt/lathe and roof my new house including installing four veluxs and two dormers as well as the attached garage. Therefore, as you can imagine, theres been a fair amount of leading as well as using lots of fibreglass valleys. I know a fair amount about things but, as this is my first big build, do not know whether I am being bs'd or whether it is normal builder 'shortcuts' that any of them would do anyway to be honest.
Firstly, the veluxs, all leak at the top. This is because a) the ridges are not gobbo'd on yet (weather!) and b) the felt has just been cut and veluxs put in. Now, when I say they leak, I mean that theres water there at the moment...its not a torrent. But then again...if and when the tiles are finished I expect them to be fine. The point is that if they're leaking now then they will again if the ridge or any tiles fail in the future above them. What I want to know is that, when I was looking through the Velux manual (which I retrieved from the bin they threw it in) I saw that apart from the flashing kit (which I also supplied) there looks to be something which looks like a 'drip tray' (I have heard it called a nappy before?)....is this supplied as normal or is it an extra you have to purchase? Basically I want to know if they've just not fitted it or whether it would have been up to me to buy (I didn't know about it to be honest). Obviously it doesn't seem right that they're leaking already and not a good omen! When I mentioned it to them they tried to make out it was perfectly normal until the ridge was on. I then said that what was the point of the felt then...to which they just tried to BS me (which didn't work but as they're already all done/in I wanted some advice and roof done first before I get annoyed or not!) Any advice appreciated. I don't want to seem harsh if noone ever bothers to fit the tray/I should have supplied it and noone ever extra felts it too.
Secondly.... although the roof is not 100% tiled I have two leaks. The first one is on a dormer at the rafter which joins the main roof. This seems to be half a cupfull of water over a week. Now this would seems to be coming through a valley (i.e. under it) and into the dormer. As above, I want to know whether, in reality, I should be getting funny on the base of the felting job. This dormer is 90% tiled (the ridge tiles are missing at the back where it meets the house main roof tiles and leading/valley and there is also a small raked tile or two that needs adding on the valley to make sure dormer water goes into the valley...I imagine they will gripfill these in place) and again if theyre letting in water I worry about the felting. Again, what do you think? The other dormer, where the raked tiles are in place, does not leak at all.
Lastly, second leak (and a big one) is on the valley between the house and attached garage (imagine a big L-shaped attached garage). The valley intersection on the back of the garage and the ridge is not yet tiled (everything else is) and I assume (not being able to get into the garage 'loft' as access hole not yet cut) that water is coming down the main roof and finding its way into garage. Again, bearing in mind what I say below, what do you think? Should I expect the roof and valleys to be waterproof just with the felt or not?
All in all, on the face of it, it really does look like a fantastic tiling job (perfectly cut valleys, neat leading etc etc) which is 90% finished, plus the gobbo. Am I over-worrying? Obviously I know that they cannot felt everything perfectly (or assume that!) to stop water getting in on valleys when things aren't finished but, being my house, I do worry. A builder friend, on his own house extension with one twin valley, years ago said (when water got in during construction) that you can never waterproof valleys with felting etc. I have no doubt all will be fine when completely tiled and I have the intention of making sure theres no water coming in before final payment but I do worry about the felt as a method of secondary protection. Am I being too picky? This has been the build from hell and I just dont want any more problems (or at least be able to catch them early anyway!). Honest opinions always appreciated.
Kind regards
DW89
