A leak from somewhere in the roof it seems.

anotherbaldrick

Your neighbours roof looks like more of a balls up than your roof. Yours does look as if there is a stop end on the valley gutter with hopefully an outlet behind. Your neighbours looks as it the valley is open fronted and the rain just spouts out down the fascia into the hopper.

JustAnotherSaver

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

Your neighbours roof looks like more of a balls up than your roof. Yours does look as if there is a stop end on the valley gutter with hopefully an outlet behind. Your neighbours looks as it the valley is open fronted and the rain just spouts out down the fascia into the hopper.

Are we talking about the first photo here? Sorry i'm trying to see what you're on about but i'm missing it. I don't see any guttering (aside from hopper & down pipe) or an outlet behind (only outlet i see is hopper & pipe).

I asked the wife & she thinks you're referring to the lead on the left (our side) actually being folded over the fascia, but not on our neighbours (right side) & that in the middle, it's open.

Oh & to answer an earlier question, the fascia boards are uPVC & not wooden like i originally thought.



Whether the wife is right in guessing what you're saying or whether she's wrong, here's a question...

The lead spans our side, dead centre AND the neighbours side. It all impacts on each other.
So the question is, with the lead sitting on THEIR side, are we allowed to have this whipped off & put right? How are the legalities with something that spans both owners?

Or do we just say sod it, this is impacting on our house, we don't care whether you agree or not, we're getting this fixed?

anotherbaldrick

A lead gutter/flashing sits in the valley formed by the junction of the three roofs, this valley gutter is joint ownership between you and your neighbour as it serves both properties. As I said before you need to involve him and agree a solution and share costs.

JustAnotherSaver

Fantastic if they play ball & are happy to split the bill. If that's the case then i don't need to return here & say what next.

However....

* If they say they're not bothered as they're selling the house & it's the new owners worry, not theirs .... what next?
* If they say, "we don't want you touching any of our slate/lead, now piddle off ... what next?

If i pay for the entire thing then so be it. I just want it sorted. My main concern is in the event they say don't touch any of our slate. We don't want you doing anything up there & risking damage to our roof etc.

I know it's what ifs & i haven't yet approached them, BUT...what if? Can i get the work done if they say no, even if it's joint ownership?

A bank account can be joint ownership, but often you need the other persons say so to close the account.

I_have_spoken

The work may fall under the Party Wall act which refers to 'party structures', parts of buildings in different ownership.

Or the deeds may setout repairs that are 'common good' to the semis.

anotherbaldrick

Have you said Hello to your neighbour yet ? If so did he growl at you ?

JustAnotherSaver

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

As I said before you need to involve him and agree a solution and share costs.

No we haven't said hello yet. Well, we've met the wife in passing & said hi but we haven't properly met, no.

Still, there's no harm in arming yourself with knowledge beforehand. Nothing wrong at all with that.

The bit in the quote though...

As i've just said, we've never met, we don't know each other. What you're essentially saying is...

We knock on their door & say hi, we have a roof issue which you happen to share. We're deciding to get this fixed & we want you to pay half.

Not the best of first meetings.

To be perfectly honest, i'm not really bothered about them paying half, or any towards it. I don't like hassle. Yes it'll mean more cost to us, but so be it. I don't want our first meeting to be me going round there & saying give me some money. I know what i'd tell someone if they said that on a first meeting, even if they were right. It's been going on for a while, that's obvious. I'd imagine they know about it & have accepted it.

We'll need to speak to them, yes i agree, but as far as i'm concerned, this is just to say that we have this issue & we're wanting to get it fixed & ask if they're ok with that as it's spanning the split onto their section too.

anotherbaldrick

Remember they have probably got a damp problem in their bedroom just the same as you have ( I would put money on it ). In which case a joint discussion might be welcomed.
Better to start by just introducing yourself and exchanging your first names, how long you lived here , yes we've come from ???? etc,etc Oh and just to let you know we have asked a roofer to look at the valley gutter and RWP at the front as we seem to have a bit of damp there.
You can leave it there until you get the full SP from the roofer.

To follow up on an earlier point, if the valley gutter is totally shot and the leadwork has to be replaced it probably cannot be done without disturbance to the tiling on the neighbours roof so it makes good sense to be on talking terms.

plumb1_2

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

To be perfectly honest, i'm not really bothered about them paying half, or any towards it. .

Firstly you dont know what leaking, get a roofer to inspect it, and tell you what the issue is. It could be the valley or cracked slates.

Secondly go around to you neighbors, and introduce yourself. Personally i would do this when i first moved in, explaining there might be noise ect while you move in Most people are nice?
Explain to them your problem, they might have had the same issue in the past.
So get yourself round tomorrow, and stop wasting your time here posting when you could be having a cuppa with them.;)

JustAnotherSaver

Well good news really.

The roofer says the wet patch in the bedroom is old. The wall he says is dry (i guess i was feeling it cold & thinking it was a bit damp then). It chucked it down yesterday with winds too, so i guess you'd have expected a bit of something showing but there was nothing new. If anything the patch is just lighter.

He went on the roof & said that they've tucked the lead under the slate & this is a patch but is ok as it's not leaking.
He said we've a few slipped tiles, so he sorted some of that out. He took some sealant gun up on the roof too.

Said we have a few ridge that will need tending to over time but are fine for now.

The chimney needs sorting, not asap, but sooner rather than later. £150 should have the flaunching sorted.

I'm happy with the visit, but as i know nothing about roofing, i just accept what they say, just like with the damp man in the living room.