Soakers vs Leadwork

[rideforever]

Hi

I have had different builders advise me to either redo the leadwork alongside a parapet on a Victorian roof, or alternatively to put "soakers" underneath which he described as a L shaped section under the tiles.

Can someone explain to me the difference and which is the better option ?

Other details about this job are on this thread :

//www.diynot.com/forums/roofing-guttering/repeating-leaks-on-victorian-parapet.402327/

 

[joe-90]

Get a few more people out - they love it.

 

[rideforever]

What else am I suppose to do ? Wish it away ?

You are totally unhelpful. It's easy to criticise and offer zero solutions. That's not a hard thing to do.

I have had about 6 people see that roof. All saying wildly different things, no paperwork, no guarantees. Some recommendations, some local, some checkatrade - makes no difference.

It's totally pathetic. Doesn't anyone take pride in themselves anymore ?

I am an engineer myself, and I wouldn't release anything that wasn't iron clad and dependable because I don't want to live my life making sh*t. If I make sh*t then what kind of man am I ?

But it doesn't appear to be a problem for these roofers.

 

[colind86]

It depends what covering is on your roof. If its slate or plain tile more often than not it will be soakered with a cover flashing. If concrete tiles it will be a cover flashing or secret gutter. More infos required .

 

[colind86]

I see the picture now! Your roofs a crap design. Re_do the bottom half of the valley and bring the lead further up the parapet on the bottom

 

[rideforever]

Certainly seems to be a crap design !!!

Basically a roofer told me this morning that soakers and new leadwork is needed alongside the parapet.

Are you saying that the soakers are already in there ?

When you say redo the valley ... can you be more specific ? Tiles / leadwork / lead along the walls / masonry / gutter / drain ?

When you say bring the flashings further up ... not sure what that means ? Does that mean that triangular section should be enlarged ?

One other builder told me that the tiles should go all the way down to the bottom of the triangle rather than stopping 2 feet up ?

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[colind86]

Look at the pictures yourself! The tiles at the bottom of valley are pizzing the roof drainage in a vertical against the parapet. There is no soakers on a 49/ludlow plus! So disregard that idiot! Re-cut the valley leaving adequate drainage at the bottom where the roof meets parapet. Top tip.. Stop searching builders and get a roofer in.

 

[colind86]

Majors even

 

[rideforever]

Look at the pictures yourself! The tiles at the bottom of valley are pizzing the roof drainage in a vertical against the parapet. There is no soakers on a 49/ludlow plus! So disregard that idiot! Re-cut the valley leaving adequate drainage at the bottom where the roof meets parapet. Top tip.. Stop searching builders and get a roofer in.

They were roofing contractors.

I can see that the tiles at the bottom just go straight up to the parapet. I am not sure what else could be there though ?

When you say recut the valley, do you mean recut the line of the tiles next to the guttering ... wouldn't that affect the shape and position of the guttering ?

Wouldn't it be better to lead up the parapet at the bottom of the valley so that as the water flies down it meet metal rather than render ?

I am not a roofer so not very familiar with roof design - and I don't understand what is under the tiles next to the guttering ? Is there some flashing or nothing ?

Thanks

 

[colind86]

Leymans terms! 280 and I ll fix it for ya.

 

[rideforever]

Leymans terms! 280 and I ll fix it for ya.

No you won't !!!! It'll cost you 280 just to get here from Glasgooo

 

[rideforever]

I would really appreciate some advice on this if someone has time. Basically the parapet has been re-rendered now but the dampness is coming through same as ever. I have had a few roofing companies look at it, they have recommended many different things, and I have to give someone a job list, so any advice would be good. The things recommended are :

1. New flashings on parapet
2. New soakers against parapet
3. New drain pipe widened to 4"
4. Create a lead "bucket" down near the drain
5. Lay additional tiles down into the bottom of the V
6. Retile to close up the fibre-glass guttering - apparently the tiles just overlap the guttering 1" although there is no leak in the roof under guttering
7. Retile the lower tiles in the V as their overlap is just 1"
8. "Recut the valley" - someone here suggested that not sure what it means
9. Flash over the top of the parapet


A roofer I say this week offered 1+2 with a 6 year guarantee. So it sounded good - but people here say it's not.

Any advice would be great. Thanks.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Have you had a look to see what's happening where the tiles are almost hitting the parapet wall (3rd pic, or 4th one where the greenery was) while the hosepipe is running- and ideally with a sprinkler bar to give you a reasonable flow across the roof.

My guess is that the exit for the water in that corner is too small so with any appreciable rainfall the water level will get high enough to overflow the fibreglass/lead valley and penetrate the wall. Plus the water spanking straight off the tiles onto the wall won't be helping.

The cover flashing on the tiles (Pic 1) also looks odd- there should be at least 4" of flashing up the wall and then an inch into the mortar beds as well as the 6" on top of the tiles. If your builder has rendered over the flashing then that's a very strange thing to do.....

And are there any coping stones on top of the parapet wall? Or slates or anything to keep the rain off?

Whoever said best bet= strip and redo is probably right but I reckon if you can improve the water flow through that nasty corner, sort the cover flashing on the tiles and (maybe) set some coping stones/slates on top of the parapet wall you'll solve most of your woes. Putting a 4" downpipe in won't help the water clear if its trying to get through a half inch wide channel from the valley so for me that's probably the critical one- depending on the rainwater simulation above though 'cos I might be completely wrong.....

Have fun

 

[rideforever]

Thanks for that.

I could ask for :

> flashings all redone along the parapet quite tall at the wall especially down the bottom

> coping stones - well they are £4 a piece at Wickes so looks cheap, not sure what the implications are

> the tiles down the bottom have been slightly trimmed already

> some of the tiles at the bottom of the V have a 1" overlap, so this could be improved to 3"

... anything else ?

Not sure if the guttering needs to be narrowed by replacing and recutting the tiles in that area, or whether the tiles should go all the way down the V rather than that exposed V shaped leadwork

I haven't been up there myself, I don't what the layout is of the flashings right in the corner of the V - if there are flashings wall too ... ideallly you would want a kind of seamless lead funnel in that corner

No soakers then ?

Any views ? What kind of money would you expect for that ?

Cheers

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Howdo,

If the lack of overlap on the tiles isn't causing any problems (if you can see the underside of the roof then again set the hose going and go have a look) then you could leave them be.

From the photos I suspect (might be wrong) that you get water backing up which means it gets above the level of the valley covering (quite likely if the valley is fibreglass- the ones I've seen are quite shallow). Have you tried a good hosing of the roof and see if water builds up in that corner yet? If you are getting water backing up then you HAVE to enlarge the exit route for it- yes a seamless channel is the idea but it has to drain freely.

Soakers- I'm happy to be corrected but I didn't think they worked all that well with profiled tiles. The cover flashing looks wide enough (to cover 2 tile ridges), where i'd be suspicious is if the flashing doesn't continue up the wall- if it doesn't then any water caught on the lead can soak into the masonry.

Coping stones- £4 each sounds cheap til you work out how many you need, bit like ridge tiles! Plus carrying them up to that position won't be fun. You'd probably want a hip iron at the end of the wall (to stop the things sliding off) as well. If its brick I'd be tempted with a mortar bed and some slates. Or go even more low-rent, get a length of fibreglass secret gutter and screw it to the top of the wall upside down- all you're trying to do is stop water ponding on the top and soaking in or running down the wall and soaking in- reduce the time water is in contact with the wall and you reduce how much can soak into it.

Cost-wise no idea, I'm doing this for fun and to keep me out of mischief. (Didn't anticipate having to do a full reroof on my project house so nothing in the budget to pay someone else to do it!)

Enjoy....