Leaking roof

[bobbylimbo]

Hi

We've just bought our first home and have recently noticed a quite severe leak in our bathroom ceiling (which the £500 surveyors report didn't pick up incidently I am concerned about this as I don't want it leading to any more damp problems in the house - how should I go about fixing this? It's a single storey extension at the back of the house . . about 10 years old with a very gently sloping tiled roof. I have checked the tiles and the down pipes and these seem fine, but about an hour after it starts to rain, we get a continuos dripping in 3 places . . on the exterior wall/ceiling join. It has caused a brown stain about a metre wide and water bubbles under the paint . . . how serious is this and what should I do to fix it? Please help!!

Thanks

 

[legs-akimbo]

Not allways possible to pick up on things like this so no blame on the surveyor, water is a thin man so they say and as often as not the point of entry is not allways the point of the leak above. Sounds as though it may be a simple failed flashing or mortar joint holding the lead which is a simple problem to address. Problem with tiled roofs on a slow pitch is there needs to be a good head lap on the tile (closer battening) or wind can blow that thin man below the tile and in the house, do you know what type of tile you have on the roof as some are not fit for a shallow pitch?

 

[TexMex]

Another possibility is an incorrectly installed cavity tray. If the original house had a cavity tray above an existing door or window opening, (complete with weep holes on the exterior wall). When the new extention went on, these weep holes may now be just above the new ceiling.

 

[DarrellE]

Sounds like cavity problems to me. The wall saturates and the moisture runs down the cavity of the wall and out again at the first exit place it can find, usually at the top of a door or window frame. We had a similar problem when our conservatory was built. One solution is to check the cavity tray if there is one.

A solution which worked for me was to coat the wall above the building with a water seal product or alternatively masonry paint.

 

[legs-akimbo]

Not that many recently constructed houses have flat roofed additions as they are so frowned upon in recent times and only modern type houses utillise such construction methods as cavity trays, while it is remotely possible this is the problem, in the dozens and dozens i have been called to over the years the problem is invariably with roof coverings or water ingress behind flashings and through the decking.