Noticed some water dripping through one of the ceiling lights in our 1st floor bathroom during the last thunderstorm. Have been up in the loft & disconnected that specific light fitting, all the rest continue to work. In the loft above there is a grey papery membrane above the joists & beneath the tiles of the pitched roof; the lower layer of this membrane appears to have been badly fitted; it has a slight sag in it which during dry days seems to contain a tiny residue of water. The sheet of membrane in question is not well attached to the higher layers of membrane at one end & during thunderstorms clearly this sag fills up with water & eventually leaks out of one end down through the insulation onto the plaster board beneath.
Its obviously been going on for some time as when you peel back the insulation & sweep away these odd “shreddies” type lumps that also seem to act as insulation throughout you can see the top of the plasterboard is black from the standing water waiting to drip through the ceiling hole into bathroom below. From the bathroom beneath the plasterboard appears fine & shows no discolouration (yet!).
As a temporary solution I have been able to mould a piece of lead flashing as drip tray in the loft to funnel any leaks from the membrane down through the ceiling hole into a bucket, this works well so far but is only needed during heavy rain, light rain does not seem to drip.
The area of the roof above all this is inaccessible from a ladder (or I’m not athletic enough to make the leap!) but I have been able to get a camera up there & can see no visible sign of damage, gaps or missing tiles. I suspect it will need an inspection from scaffolding to find any leak, but I’m not sure what you do about the membrane inside? I’m pretty ok at DIY but suspecting this will have to be an insurance claim.
Any help / advice gratefully received. Cheers.
Its obviously been going on for some time as when you peel back the insulation & sweep away these odd “shreddies” type lumps that also seem to act as insulation throughout you can see the top of the plasterboard is black from the standing water waiting to drip through the ceiling hole into bathroom below. From the bathroom beneath the plasterboard appears fine & shows no discolouration (yet!).
As a temporary solution I have been able to mould a piece of lead flashing as drip tray in the loft to funnel any leaks from the membrane down through the ceiling hole into a bucket, this works well so far but is only needed during heavy rain, light rain does not seem to drip.
The area of the roof above all this is inaccessible from a ladder (or I’m not athletic enough to make the leap!) but I have been able to get a camera up there & can see no visible sign of damage, gaps or missing tiles. I suspect it will need an inspection from scaffolding to find any leak, but I’m not sure what you do about the membrane inside? I’m pretty ok at DIY but suspecting this will have to be an insurance claim.
Any help / advice gratefully received. Cheers.
