Leaking pitched roofing

[Min]

Hi folks
Please can you help.
I have a pitched tiled roof on 1950's end of terrace house. About 3 times in 12 years the roof has leaked in extreme weather - has to be torrential rain with very high wind blowing that side of the roof.

I got some quotes and now am confused.

One roofer says the leak comes through where felt has sagged and rotted at the bottom of the pitch where the angle changes(and is just above where the leak appears in the house). Sounds reasonable - 60 year old felt, and west facing so gets hot afternoon sun. This roofer would remove bottom two rows of tiles and battens, patch in new felt, replace battens and re-bed tiles.

Second and third roofers say who cares about the felt, there's a gap in the tiles higher up. Fix the tiles and the roof won't leak.

Spent ages yesterday inspecting roof with binoculars. Yes there is one gap in the mortar between a ridge tile and the next one down.

But what looks more dodgy is the mortar under the bottom row of tiles, next to the gutter. There are big gaps, many tiles look like they're dropped, and in line with where the leak is, there is a big hole. I can imagine that when the rain is really heavy so the gutter is full, the wind blows the rain in through this gap.

Opinions please. The only roofing experience I've had is slapping bitumen paint on a leaky shed roof.

Many thanks
Min

 

[Nige F]

Can you post some pictures.

 

[Min]

Yes sure. Will take in a couple of hours once the sun has moved round.
Btw, first roofer said he'd fit eve tray too.

 

[Min]

Hope these pics show things clearly enough:

bottom row of tiles_1

• Min
• 8 May 2016

bottom row of tiles_2

• Min
• 8 May 2016

bottom row of tiels_3

• Min
• 8 May 2016

Hole Below Ridge Tile In Line With Leak

• Min
• 8 May 2016

Hole Above Gutter In Line With Leak

• Min
• 8 May 2016

 

[vinn]

You dont appear to have any flashing where the top of the roof meets the wall.
The "holes" in the bottom course of profiled tiles are not a cause of leaks. I'm not familiar with the practice of mortaring in the bottom course and the clay starter tiles to presumably raise the tile pitch? There are better ways of doing this.
Your bottom courses dont seem to have been fixed correctly for the change of pitch - the pitch changes to catch the projecting soffit but the lower roof hasn't been set out to do this.
If you post a photo of the verge it will perhaps show this change of pitch more clearly.

Most modern roofs use eaves trays, and comb filler bird guards as standard with profiled tiles.
The felt will probably need a new eaves strip.

 

[Min]

Here's a pic of the verge

 

[Nige F]

Good photos thanks - where does the water come in ?

 

[Min]

Hi Nige
The water comes into the window recess, about 6cm inside from the glass (going outside to inside), and about 20cm from the window corner (the corner below that inverted triangle bracket on the fascia for the phone wire).
So the water drips onto the window sill. (There are water marks for about 40cm along the top and down the side of the window frame where it meets the wall.)

 

[Nige F]

Thanks, If you look @ the photo of the bracket and follow the wire as it crosses the roof it appears that where the line of wire crosses the tiles - one of the profile "lumps" has a gap round it - more than the other tiles. Is it a gap or just the angle of the photo I wonder. As I see it there is a lot of work involved stripping the whole eaves and replacing the tiles for an occasional leak. I do agree the change in angle is acute and not ideal.

 

[catlad]

I would go with the guy who wants to remove the bottom courses of tiles and replace the old felt and batons as its sure to be shot after 60yrs. I am sure as a matter of course he would re-aline the bottom course of tiles.

 

[datarebal]

The ridge clearly needs stripping off and rebedding.
The hole in the bottom course of tiles is where the sparrows live. (they have to live somewhere)

 

[vinn]

datarebel,
thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I'd convinced myself that i was looking at a lean-to, not a pitched ridge.
It seems so obviously a ridge now that i know - the OP even said it was a pitched roof but still my minds eye told me it was a lean-to.

 

[datarebal]

certain angles it looks like a lean to. I get where you were coming from