A leak from somewhere in the roof it seems.

JustAnotherSaver

So the wife got to the master bedroom at the weekend & started stripping the wallpaper. There was a patch on the wallpaper that appeared damp.
The wallpaper was cream in colour & we suspected a bit of damp due to speckled black bits about the size of your palm. The paper was peeling away a little.

Once the paper came off she was greeted with this...




As this is our first home & we've never experienced anything like this, it's a bit worrying. You get worrying about how the roof is, how the timber is etc, whether this is a big problem or whether it's been almost sorted but the wall is just stained etc. It felt a bit damp when i touched it today though.



This is the front of the house & if you have a look on the fascia board i've marked a red line. This is where there's a black streak running down. In fact the black streak is closer towards the downpipe than i've marked. The wet/damp mark in the bedroom is in the corner where our house (left) meets the neighbours (right).

The wife also had a look in the loft. She could see daylight when she opened the hatch in the region of the damp patch. There's notices in the loft from whoever installed the insulation for us not to walk around (or put our weight rather) in the loft space without crawl boards. It's difficult to tell whether the daylight patch in the loft comes directly above the damp section in our bedroom but from what we can see it appears to be in the region.

Though when she took a photo with flash, she could see the roof tiles themselves quite clearly...




Initially worried, a bit of googling, this is not uncommon for a house built in 1935.


Anyway, your take on the wet patch....? Where would you go from here?

Stooby2

If it's the small red dot on the fascia, then it could be either the flashing (often made of lead) where the two bays meets is leaking, or the hopper for the down pipe is blocked and overflowing into your loft. The tiles don't look right at that point either.

The only way to tell is to get up there and look - or get a roofer in to check it for you.

JustAnotherSaver

Stooby2 wrote: »

If it's the small red dot on the fascia, then it could be either the flashing (often made of lead) where the two bays meets is leaking, or the hopper for the down pipe is blocked and overflowing into your loft. The tiles don't look right at that point either.

The only way to tell is to get up there and look - or get a roofer in to check it for you.

Aside from a noticable split in the lead or a gaping hole, is there any way we could tell if the flashing had failed?

I'll have to dig out a big ladder & get someone with bigger balls than myself to check out that hopper. Not a chance you'll get me up there.

What do you mean that the tiles don't look right at 'that point'? Is that commend based on the photo of the house where you've spotted something, or the 2 photos of inside the loft of the underside of the tiles?


Do roofers generally do free estimates? In other words, have i a chance of getting one of them out to get up there & have a look & give us a free quote?
Or with H&S these days, would they have to spend a week erecting scaffolding to get up there to have a look?

plumb1_2

Yes most roofers give quotes. Its more likely to be a split in the lead valley or a cracked slate. If its the valley don't let them put a patch on it. The slates either side need to be stripped back and a piece of lead inserted where the split is.

JustAnotherSaver

Thanks. We'll have to see if any friends/family/co-workers have dealt with any roofers then to get a recommendation. If not then we'll have to close our eyes & pick one.

Is it a problem with all the perished plaster on the underside of the slate? I don't mean in relation to this leak, i just mean in general. It was obviously supposed to be there & from the photos over time it has perished.

fiesta04

I must ask did you have a full structure survey carried out or did you save a few Quid and only have a BS survey done?

F4

Stooby2

justanothersaver wrote:

What do you mean that the tiles don't look right at 'that point'? Is that commend based on the photo of the house where you've spotted something, or the 2 photos of inside the loft of the underside of the tiles?

The tiles above the mark don't look regular - almost as if they've moved, but it's difficult to tell from the photos. It might just be shadows and the angle of view. If you're not confident, then getting a roofer in is your best bet, as the only way to find out is to get up there.

I_have_spoken

Water can come in and appear at quite distant points so could be flashing on chimney or problems with the ridge tiles.

You & your neighbour should start thinking about a savings-pot for re-roofing and putting on a sarking/breather membrane under the tiles.

JustAnotherSaver

fiesta04 wrote: »

I must ask did you have a full structure survey carried out or did you save a few Quid and only have a BS survey done?

F4

We got a homebuyers survey done. We were told that there was 3 surveys - cheap one that was an A4 sheet telling you sod all. The homebuyers one costing a few £100 i think it was & then a costly one telling you loads.
When we viewed the house it looked fine. Damp in the living room was brought to our attention from the survey & we were fine with that after a quote of £600 to sort it.
It didn't pick up the bedroom though. We could see a patch of wallpaper that had lifted a bit & we suspected a bit of damp, but it was ONLY when removing the wallpaper fully did we see what was behind.
This makes me think (or rather hope) that a lot of the staining could be old & not current. Either way, a problem to some degree still exists.

Stooby2 wrote: »

then getting a roofer in is your best bet, as the only way to find out is to get up there.

What do you guys recommend? Getting in a specialist roofer, as in that's all they do, or would a builder who also does roofing be ok?

I worked for a local builders merchants & still have contact with them. I asked about roofers & was told that there's not so many about (these days), as in specialist roofers. A lot of their contacts tend to be builders who also do roofing as well.

On the survey it also mentioned re-flaunching of the chimney stack, so if a builder was ok for this job then we could tie it in together.

If you'd recommend just going to a specialist roofer then i guess that'd be different.

I_have_spoken wrote: »

Water can come in and appear at quite distant points so could be flashing on chimney or problems with the ridge tiles.

You & your neighbour should start thinking about a savings-pot for re-roofing and putting on a sarking/breather membrane under the tiles.

Our neighbour is selling, so they wont care i guess.

I suppose a good long term idea would be total roof replacement - modernising it with felt & new tiles. This could only span our half though obviously.

Funny you mention the chimney (see my comment i just made about the re-flaunching). The chimney breast is in the middle of the house divide though & this issue is right in the front corner. I could provide a quote from the inspection if necessary. Would you think they're possibly connected when they're quite far apart & there's no trace of water closer to the chimney?

fiesta04

I amazed that the OP and others do not pay out the extra £250 approx. and have a Full Structural Survey carried out.


Buying a house is the most expensive purchase you make and for the sake of £250, to "find out loads" hence possible problems, to me appears silly. If for example, the house costs £150K, what difference does a piddly £250 make. It may have picked up these problems along with others and therefore giving room for lower price or possible non purchase.


Only time will tell.


F4

anotherbaldrick

Where the red dot is there is obviously a valley formed by the 3 roofs that slope to this point. I would expect at this point a lead slate under the roof slates with an outlet dropping to the hopper visible below. I would put money on the slate having split or not being properly tucked up under the roof slates.

PS the cost of the repair should be a 50/50 split with your neighbour as this is a shared RWP/outlet