Major Leaking Roof

[alprod]

Hi Guys,

I have a pretty big problem with my roof leaking but I do not know how to fix it. I have already paid a roofer to fix it but in my opinion he didn't even get close to fixing it. He told me the problem was that i needed some flashing replaced, some slates replaced and some pointing done. This has not helped.
I'll upload as many pics as I can to try and explain whats going on.

The walls on my loft conversion are getting really wet. From the pics you can see that the water must be getting in from pretty high up on the roof as the water marks are almost at the ceiling.

I'll start with the left side of the house.

Here is the left side of house:

Left

• alprod
• 3 Jun 2008
• 1

Left

• alprod
• 3 Jun 2008
• 1

The left stain is the back of the house and right hand one is the front of the house.

Now here is the pics of roof on the left hand side from the front and rear.

Rear:

Left Rear

• alprod
• 3 Jun 2008
• 2

The stain on the wall is around the 3rd slate down

Left Rear

• alprod
• 3 Jun 2008
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Left Rear

• alprod
• 3 Jun 2008
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Untitled

• alprod
• 3 Jun 2008
• 1

Left Rear

• alprod
• 3 Jun 2008
• 1

This pic shows some flashing that the roofer repaired but this is halfway down the roof and below the stains. Also he hasn't done it very well as the water pools in it which you can see.


Front:

Left Front

• alprod
• 3 Jun 2008
• 1

Rear

• alprod
• 3 Jun 2008
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Left Front

• alprod
• 3 Jun 2008
• 1

Can you tell from these pictures what might be the problem?

I think it might be the ridge of the roof as if you look carefully they are not flush and the mortar is cracked and missing from between some of them.

 

[alprod]

Ok, now for the right hand side of the house.

Here is the internal pics, all the damp is on the front of the house:

Right

• alprod
• 3 Jun 2008
• 1

Right

• alprod
• 3 Jun 2008
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The damp is not much higher than about 2 or 3 slates up from the back of the chimney stack

Untitled

• alprod
• 3 Jun 2008
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Untitled

• alprod
• 3 Jun 2008
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Untitled

• alprod
• 3 Jun 2008
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In this pic, you can see the ridge are quite far apart. Also the flashing at the back of the chimney stack just pools the water.

Untitled

• alprod
• 3 Jun 2008
• 1

What do you think?

I have already paid £320 to a roofer who told me it was couple of small bits of flashing and some slates. This hasn't helped at all.

Any assistance would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Al

 

[Leadman]

Hi, great photos, well with out having a look at the roof my self i have seen a few broken and split slates that could possibly cause some leaking but it seems a pretty bad leak to me.
Personally i would say its your back gutter on the chimney and the flashings at the top left hand side behind the chimney in the first photos, the lead in the back gutter does'nt look to come far enough over the slate to me(could just be the angle of the photo) and the flashings behind the chimney look like the original ones and it could be leaking in on the soakers(the lead under the flashings).
Hope this helps
Dave

 

[alprod]

Thanks for the response lead man.

I think the back guttering goes under the slates so it goes up a little higher. Should the back gutter go over the tiles?

Do you think the top ridge isn't to bad then? How easy is it for water to penetrate the ridges?

 

[Roofer]

The stepped flashing has been done wrongly; the cover flashing looks to have been done in separate pieces which do not have sufficient lap. Also you can see that the upstand of the soaker can only be about 25mm - nowhere near enough!
I would suspect that water is also getting in where the top of the wall meets the ridge, there should be a lead 'saddle' there.
All-in-all there's quite a lot of work required to get it right - sorry.

 

[alprod]

Cheers roofer, what about the right hand side of the house, where do you think the water is getting in as that is in an even worse state inside.

 

[joe-90]

You can prat about looking for leaks for ever from the outside. If it were me I'd cut access holes in the plasterboard walls and actually get it the loft space where the water actually leaks. When it rains - go in with a torch and see where it's coming in. When its sorted you'll have to spend a couple of quid on a piece of plasterboard for a simple repair.

 

[steveroof]

use a torch! Its clear as day the steps are well wrong they angle bout 45 degs off the roof these are more straight up if not going back the way. the box gutter is not slated correct and the split in lead sets it off well.

 

[alprod]

Cheers Steveroof,

Are you talking about the left or right side?

What do you mean the step flashing should be at 45 degrees?

Is the guttering thats not slated correctly this one?

Left Rear

• alprod
• 3 Jun 2008
• 1

This is the bit i just got fixed! I'm gonna kill that bloody roofer