Spoilt my plastering!

[chriselevate]

I did some work on a project in our master bedroom 6 months ago and I re-plastered some of the walls. On on particular wall I plastered it and god a really good finish... the only problem I've had is that it's now ruined by some damp that's coming!

It takes about 2-3weeks of no rain for this patch to get slightly lighter in colour.

Here's the problem...



I've now spent best part of £500 getting things done to the front of the house by a builder who, each time, thinks he's solved the problem but hasn't.

Here's some photos and information on what he's done.....

1. He's replaced the facia boards with plastic and replaced the guttering.
2. He's taken tiles off in the effected area and has replaced the felt underneath. He said that the tiles are much heavier than the original tiles fitted 60+ years ago and are therefore not sitting flat and the rain is driving under the tiles where the roof is bowed.
3. Re-rendered the cracks that were on the front of the house.











Unfortunatley I'm not very good with heights or ladders so I'm not keen to go up and have a loot myself! Wish I could!

Cheers

 

[Alastairreid]

first thing i noticed in your pics was the daylight which can be seen between the fascia board and gutter, if the builder had renewed the felt at the eaves no daylight would be detectable.

if the water is driving beneath the tiles and breaching the felt at the eaves then this is the kind of damage i would expect to see.

have a word with your builder!

 

[Richard C]

Erm, not sure it is what your expecting form us. It’s obvious you have a damp problem which you are obviously aware of & are trying to fix but it’s nigh on impossible to diagnose what’s causing it from a few photographs. That down pipe joint looks a bit suspect but from your photograph of the inside, the damp seems to far down the wall. The fact it’s that high up would seem to suggest it’s water penetration above the soffit & in all probability getting under a section of the tiles but who knows & why your builder can’t cure it satisfactorily, who knows. It could even be water getting in much higher up & running down the top of the felt until it find its way through a fault/repair in the felt; I assume he put the new section of felt underneath the original & not over the top! Was there a damp problem before he did all of this work for you?

 

[Richard C]

first thing i noticed in your pics was the daylight which can be seen between the fascia board and gutter, if the builder had renewed the felt at the eaves no daylight would be detectable.

if the water is driving beneath the tiles and breaching the felt at the eaves then this is the kind of damage i would expect to see.

have a word with your builder!

Bugger didn't check for replies before posting; that was well spotted

 

[chriselevate]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your replies.... really apprciate your help. It's been at least 6 months now that we've had this annoying problem and it's holding us back from skimming the bedroom and getting it finished and using the master bedroom!

Right....

You say....

first thing i noticed in your pics was the daylight which can be seen between the fascia board and gutter, if the builder had renewed the felt at the eaves no daylight would be detectable.

if the water is driving beneath the tiles and breaching the felt at the eaves then this is the kind of damage i would expect to see.

have a word with your builder!

I've got my builder coming round tomorrow hopefully.... he's got no idea what the problem is and why it's not cured by him re-felting where he took off 3-4 rows of tiles and replaces the worn out, perished flet he found.

You say....
daylight between the fascia board and the gutter? Which photo can that be seen on? I'm not sure I understand exactly what I shuld be seeing here? Is this somethign easily fixed? Do you think this is the cause of all our problems?

If it helps..... the wall that's in question (i.e. the internal shot of the damage) is a stud wall between the bedroom and the ensuite.... I expected when ripping out the ensuite to find lots of damp behind the tiles I ripped off... but.... I didn't.

And from the photo of the inside of the house it looks like the damp is quite high up.... not sure if this indicates that the water is coming from above rather than the front wall of the house etc?

Sorry to be a nuisance.... I've just decided to take the matter into my own hands and find out as much information as I can so when the builder comes round tomorrow I can try to ask him the right q's and see if we can get it sorted... it's gone on long enough now.

Thanks guys,

Really appreciate your help.

 

[marshman]

first thing i noticed in your pics was the daylight which can be seen between the fascia board and gutter, if the builder had renewed the felt at the eaves no daylight would be detectable.

Yep, the felt should be lapped into the gutter.

alastairreid, I bet your good at the spot the difference puzzles.

 

[chriselevate]

Is likely to the cause of my problems? (99% chance or much lower?)

Is it easy to solve?

I know it's hard to say but is this the fault of my builder who should have known this and not made this mistake?

Cheers

 

[marshman]

Have you been out and looked to see if its daylight we can see or the white underside of the felt / membrane ?.
did you have the damp before his work ?.
and finding where the rain is getting in can be a nightmare.

 

[chriselevate]

Have you been out and looked to see if its daylight we can see or the white underside of the felt / membrane ?.

Which photo is it that it can be spotted on? I can post up a large quality version of the photo so it can be zoomed in on. Unfort due to my difficulty with ladders I can't handle going up myself to look. I've got ladders round the back of my house but I know that if I go up them I'll come off. It's one of my limitations!!!! Grrrrr!

did you have the damp before his work ?.

Yes the problem was there before the work. We had the gutter and facia done after he did a good job with the bit at the side of the house (see the second photo) so decided it was a good thing to replace the manky old and crusty stuff that was up there.

But in the attempt to solve the problem of this wet patch he took off the tiles in that area and replace the felt underneath for £100. He said that really.... it needs doing right the way along the house as paying him £100 now was only a patch up job but in the future we need to consider doing the whole of that front section.

and finding where the rain is getting in can be a nightmare.

Yes you're right.... but.... that's not what I want to hear but I can see your point... it's always the nightmate of many people I hear!

Thanks again

 

[joe-90]

I think your builders an idiot. He's replaced the fascia which didn't need doing and left the cast iron drain pipe. Judging by the cracks radiating away from it I'd bet good money that that is where your problem lies. Replace your downpipe and I'm sure your problems will disappear.

 

[chriselevate]

I think your builders an idiot. He's replaced the fascia which didn't need doing and left the cast iron drain pipe. Judging by the cracks radiating away from it I'd bet good money that that is where your problem lies. Replace your downpipe and I'm sure your problems will disappear.

I have to admit that the cracks were there before the builder carried out the work of replacing the facia and I'm not sure that the problems lie where the cracks are/were.

The cracks were cut out and filled a good few months ago now and that's not made things any better/worse. Surely replacing the cast iron down pipe would have just incurred more costs and ones that would be uneccesary?

Cheers

 

[joe-90]

Cast pipes rust out at the back where they don't get any paint. I can't believe you couldn't pay £20 for a new one.

 

[NickB_99]

Yep, the felt should be lapped into the gutter.

The second and fourth pics down seem to show a gap between the guttering quite well.
It does look like there is no daylight in the area the OP said got replaced, so maybe just that bit has been lapped over.

I had some roof work done a couple of months ago. Some damp was showing in the felt in places visible from inside the loft. Turns out that a lot of the tiles were broken across the roof (think our previous owner went up to do some DIY to an aerial a few years ago and had been a bit heavy footed. Roofer replaced about 20 broken ones (all the breaks were all hidden). Battens also had to be replaced in places as they'd rotted. Been letting water down to the felt for a long time. So the problem area could be further afield and higher up.

Might be worth another opinion with a roofer (if your guy is primarily a builder). May have more specialist experience with roofs
(not wanting to to upset any of the builders who may be reading this )

On the damp on the inside, also looks a bit like a tiny bit of the damp is about 1 ft or so along the top of the internal wall. So may not be local to the corner where it looks worst.
Not sure if this is of any help!

Good luck with the detective work - hope you get it fixed.

 

[NickB_99]

If you look at pic3, is there a join in the soffit and some strips placed underneath. Could water run down the soffit on this join and find its way in here or perhaps round underneath on a strip near the edge?

I'm no roofer.....maybe someone with more exp can comment if it's normal.

 

[chriselevate]

Is it worth moving this post to the roofing forum as you suggested?

I'm just sooooo depsperate to get to the bottom of this problem and I guess as we all are.... very annoyed to spend money on unecessary sollution that's now been costing me £500 only to be left with a leaking problem.

How can this thread be moved if this is the case?

Thanks