First-time house renovation

andrew-b

Oh the flashing where the dormer meets pitched roof might not be as relevant as i thought .
If you look at your picture here ..the VPU carries on down to the roof below..so no need for it to overlap any flashings. Though i also noticed what looks like a tear in the material (just above first batten up above the loose tiles to left of man in flourescent colours) - could have taped it up before tiles went on though - if thats a tear where else is there a tear that may also let water in?

TomsMom

Thanks Andy. Where that tear is is just above where the second leak came through onto the floor. I will make a note of all this and show the picture when they come, they will know if they taped it up. I had never looked at the photos so closely.

If the rain had blown under the slates and got in through the tear, would it be possible for it to run down inside the wall as OH suggested (as in internal gubbins such as insulation etc., not the painted finished wall you see) and find it's way out at floor level, or would there be evidence such as a damp patch on the painted inside wall itself do you think? (God, that's a bit garbled, hope you understand.)

I'm off to have a closer look at other photos, will make a coffee first as it might be a long job!

TomsMom

Andy, I've selected a few more photos and added them to my blog. Not sure if they give a better idea. There is what looks like a patch of black tape on the slope under the middle window???? If so it maybe suggests that they did patch any tears they knew of???

andrew-b

Not sure it helps much or not either..the black tape at least shows they repaired tears but who knows whether the tape is actually suitable. But then again if water gets behind the tiles and pools on a baton water could possibly get in through nails holes..but surely you'd need loads of water to penetrate for it to become a problem. Unless the problem stems from further up and water is finding its way downwards and escaping around the window corners.

The last picture on the inside shows the blue VPU was fitted before window though whether they've torn it in the window fitting is impossible to say. Gives more of an idea of the depth of the lead flashing into the window at the side - i'm still not convinced it's even necessary and my hunch is that it's in some how related..my theory is if water gets in sideways between flashing and tiles there's nothing except gravity stopping it getting round the edge of the window to the inside..though again i'd have thought alot of water would have to penetrate to cause a problem. Still a lovely view out of that window beyond the car park!

Easy to say in hindsight but maybe it would have been better if the dormer had been rendered rather than tiled as no batons to worry about assuming the planners had allowed it!

TomsMom

Thanks for your thoughts Andy.

I've just been talking to OH and he too seems to think that the flashings on the sides of the window are connected. He doesn't think the rain could blow up under the bottom flashing or slates but with the kind of freak weather we've had the last few days he thinks the rain could very well have been blown onto the side flashings and it was so heavy and winds so strong then possible to have got in that way.

My thinking is if this is what's happened then the rain would trickle down inside and come out at floor level. But with the polythene sheet between the insulation blocks and plasterboard, how do damp patches appear on the wall under the window inside? Something to do with the corners? Coming in at the corner, under the window sill then trickling down between the polythene sheet and plasterboard? All sorts going round in my head!

It's a good job my DD came to stay last weekend, she slept in the loft and I went up on Monday to collect towel/bed linen and saw the wet floor. I probably wouldn't have known about it for a while otherwise, and the tidemark on the floor wouldn't have been as noticeable. Good job we hadn't got around to carpetting the floor!

When the weather is better (has been today so hopefully continues for a few days) then they'll be back and there's lots of evidence to show them so I'm sure they'll do their very best to find a solution. I'll also ask why they put flashing all around the window rather than just the bottom. And if they mention Tyvec again I'll remind them what they did use and what the difference is.

Oh, and the planning officer wanted slates hung on the dormer, thought it would blend in with the roof better.

andrew-b

Unless its actually the windows themselves are the problem...maybe check any drainage holes at bottoms of frames arent blocked? Or where the lead meets the sides of the windows.

Not really much else can be done without further investigation though. I get the feeling it may take a few attempts of patching up before you really find out the cause of the problem. It'll probably turn out to be something really minor in the end!

ukmaggie45

Hi Folks, our vendor drove down from Oban on Thursday, and we met with her and one of her brothers at the house. It was a bit too dark to get out into the garden, but it was nice to meet them and have a bit of a chat. The house was bought off plan by vendor's Dad for her Mum in 1956.

Brother had dug over the garden with their Dad, and found lots of bones, including monkey bones. They took them to the Museum to find out what they were. The estate is on the site of Liverpool Zoo, which was in the grounds of a house called Rosemount , the zoo closed in 1938 I think, after a chimpanzee called Mickey escaped - there's an exciting account of it all here.

And there's press cuttings about the zoo and its subsequent sale here.

Yesterday we went back at 10am and stayed till about midday, when the Oxfam furniture van arrived to take some of the remaining furniture.

We went round as much of the back garden as we could manage - the far end is very overgrown with brambles, will take ages to chop them all down, really looking forward to seeing what we find amongst them! Lots of loverly plants - azaleas, and a magnolia, a camelia, lots of roses, clematis, primroses, grape hyacinths and crocuses, forget-me-knots, a grape vine (! :j), ceanothus (sp?) and loads of other stuff I've forgotten...

Oh yes, a japanese quince in the back garden (we had 3 tiny quinces off it) as well as the quince in the front garden, which is just coming into flower. :j Our vendor helped us gather up the fallen quinces from the front, the quince bush fought back, and I've got several gashes in my arm from the battle! :rolleyes: Our friend Pat will be really chuffed to have the quinces.

Vendor told us about her cousin who lived down the road at no 32. Was talking to a neighbour on the drive, large lady beautifully made up with perfect nails etc, when suddenly she disappeared! :eek: House was on the site of the bear pit, and the builders had just covered it over!

Very nice to know was that when she was small, and there were currant bushes and veggies growing in the garden, that they were more or less self sufficient for veg. :j As her Mum and Dad got older, the fruit bushes were replaced with ornamental bushes, mainly evergreens, as they were easier to maintain.

We're hoping to exchange next week, with 2 weeks to completion. Wow, it's all a bit over exciting!

Got back home after viewing, picked up our mail, had statement from credit card, yet another unauthorised transaction on it (last was only this March) :eek: Took ages to get through on the phone, and now am waiting for new card to arrive, so no shopping for me for a week or so. Thank goodness I'd ordered seeds, garlic and onion sets already!

I am completely shattered this morning after all the excitement. Can't wait to get going in that garden! :j Haven't a clue what we'll do with the house yet. Guess next step is to get an architect, and I haven't a clue how to go about doing that. Scary stuff. My mind's in a whirl!

TM, so sorry to hear about all your leak problems. Here's hoping it will be relatively easy to sort out. I wonder if there's sufficient mastic around the windows? We always get water coming in round living room window if there's heavy rain with a strong wind on the side of the house. I'm pretty certain the mastic needs taking out and replacing, but you know how it goes - there's always something else needs doing first! :rolleyes: We'll be having a good go at getting it sorted once we're out of the house and into the new one.

Helping-hubby, so sorry about the loss of your trees. Hope that a reasonable compromise can be reached. How about planting some nice holly bushes at the end of your garden? Extra security too with all those prickles!

Hope you're all knuckling down to the DIY this weekend, and I'm looking forward to seeing more photos!

Maggie

TomsMom

Oh Maggie, what an interesting post - I'm all excited here! I love the bit about the beautiful lady disappearing. You'll have to mind where you're walking :rotfl: .

There are tales, from years ago, that a circus came to town here and was parading through the town when an elephant died - just in front of the church not far from the restaurant we used to own on the main road near the harbour - and that it couldn't be moved so it was buried where it fell. Googling for evidence of this I didn't find anything but I discovered that we apparently have a sea monster - we've lived here for over 15 years and that's the first I've heard of it!

Your "new" garden sounds lovely, and how wonderful to have a magnolia tree. I'm sure you will have many happy hours working in your garden and it sounds as though it has the potential to be very productive for you. I spent an hour on Friday getting rid of some dead stuff and general tidying up, ended up with a bad back again (doesn't take much :rolleyes: ) so am hobbling about a bit at the moment.

Thanks for mentioning mastic around the windows. Something else I can mention to the builders when they come. I'm sure they'll say that everything was done properly and perfectly (people don't like being questioned do they, they take it as criticism so I'll have to be careful how I say everything, OH is much better than me in these situations!). But there is enough evidence so they will hopefully get to the bottom of it.

ukmaggie45

Aaargghh I just did a really long post and it disappeared when my browser stopped responding.

It was mostly a rant about our awful experience getting double glazing installed back in November (they were months late getting to us) 1980 when I was 8 months pregnant and DD1 was 2 and a half and we ended up having to go stay with my parents (nightmare). So not that relevant, and prob best it disappeared into the ether!

Anyway, just in case any of you want a nosy at our project, there are some pictures up on Flickr. Fingers crossed for a simple exchange and completion!

Maggie

TomsMom

Oh Maggie, stunning views, stunning garden. I can just picture you making that garden your own. I love the leaded (?) lights to front door/hall windows. I can see why you've fallen in love with the house. Holding my breath that everything goes smoothly and completion goes ahead on time and without any hitches.