Hi, and apologies for my first post being a question but I am really needing a bit of expert advice on my roof.
We've lived in our house for almost a year, through torrential rains and really severe cold. With no leaks or damp. However very recently, overnight a small patch of damp plaster was obvious in the upstairs bedroom. The damp patch made the paint bubble up, but although it was approximately 3-4inches square, it only spread from the join between the wall and the celing down the wall - but not along the ceiling. We've had another couple of much smaller patches at different spots along the wall but again nothing on the ceiling.
Anyhow, I've been up into the loft to have a look at the roof from the inside to see if there were any obvious leaks. It's a slate tiled roof on a house that is approximately 100yrs old, and we've no knowledge of whether it has been replaced in that time.
My observations were as follows:
- It appears that all of the major joists running horizontally across the width of the loft are damp on their top surface. These are the joists that are above floor level. They aren't 'wet', but do feel slightly damp to the touch.
- The thinner slats that run down the length of the roof, from the peak to gutter, are also damp. Some are damp all over, some again on the top surfaces only. They vary in their dampness, and I checked 3 out of the 5 or 6 up there. Again none were soggy or really wet, but mainly just again damp to the touch.
- A large number of slates are either slightly, almost imperceptibly damp, or glistening, on the loft side. Now this is only the underside of the slates on the outside of the roof, not the slates that are completely exposed to the inside of the loft. You can only see a few inches square of the damp tiles between the others where they overlap. I repeat, the vast majority of the surface area of tiles in the loft are dry - only the small overlaps between are damp.
- The roof from the outside has indeed got several cracked tiles. Some are very seriously cracked and look in some cases as if they are cracked their full width. This is my view from the road outside. However the rest of the roof looks like it's in good condition, far better than the bodged and repaired neighbours.
- There is no obvious signs of dripping water in the loft. The dust and grit etc on the crawl boards and junk, is also completely dry, and from what I can see the insulation is also dry - although I can't really tell right under the smallest space at the gutter side of the roof.
We've now had three estimates:
1. Full roof redone, minus felt, £2500 - "porous slates letting water through".
2. Replace half a dozen cracked tiles, £250 + VAT.
3. Full roof redone, £6000. Also offered to do cracked tiles instead for couple hundred as a short term fix.
We've got some more guys coming out to look, but as the first three have such wildly different opinions I'd just like some expert knowledge on slate roofs - specifically how they should be on the inside of the loft (should they be damp feeling? Condensation?) and could a few cracks cause this or could the whole lot need replaced due to becoming porous?
Apologies for the massive post, but any help would be appreciated!
We've lived in our house for almost a year, through torrential rains and really severe cold. With no leaks or damp. However very recently, overnight a small patch of damp plaster was obvious in the upstairs bedroom. The damp patch made the paint bubble up, but although it was approximately 3-4inches square, it only spread from the join between the wall and the celing down the wall - but not along the ceiling. We've had another couple of much smaller patches at different spots along the wall but again nothing on the ceiling.
Anyhow, I've been up into the loft to have a look at the roof from the inside to see if there were any obvious leaks. It's a slate tiled roof on a house that is approximately 100yrs old, and we've no knowledge of whether it has been replaced in that time.
My observations were as follows:
- It appears that all of the major joists running horizontally across the width of the loft are damp on their top surface. These are the joists that are above floor level. They aren't 'wet', but do feel slightly damp to the touch.
- The thinner slats that run down the length of the roof, from the peak to gutter, are also damp. Some are damp all over, some again on the top surfaces only. They vary in their dampness, and I checked 3 out of the 5 or 6 up there. Again none were soggy or really wet, but mainly just again damp to the touch.
- A large number of slates are either slightly, almost imperceptibly damp, or glistening, on the loft side. Now this is only the underside of the slates on the outside of the roof, not the slates that are completely exposed to the inside of the loft. You can only see a few inches square of the damp tiles between the others where they overlap. I repeat, the vast majority of the surface area of tiles in the loft are dry - only the small overlaps between are damp.
- The roof from the outside has indeed got several cracked tiles. Some are very seriously cracked and look in some cases as if they are cracked their full width. This is my view from the road outside. However the rest of the roof looks like it's in good condition, far better than the bodged and repaired neighbours.
- There is no obvious signs of dripping water in the loft. The dust and grit etc on the crawl boards and junk, is also completely dry, and from what I can see the insulation is also dry - although I can't really tell right under the smallest space at the gutter side of the roof.
We've now had three estimates:
1. Full roof redone, minus felt, £2500 - "porous slates letting water through".
2. Replace half a dozen cracked tiles, £250 + VAT.
3. Full roof redone, £6000. Also offered to do cracked tiles instead for couple hundred as a short term fix.
We've got some more guys coming out to look, but as the first three have such wildly different opinions I'd just like some expert knowledge on slate roofs - specifically how they should be on the inside of the loft (should they be damp feeling? Condensation?) and could a few cracks cause this or could the whole lot need replaced due to becoming porous?
Apologies for the massive post, but any help would be appreciated!
