Minimise water damage

pretamang

Does anyone have any tips for minimising water damage caused by a leak?

We have water coming in through the ceiling (top floor) so I'm arranging for a few roofers to come and quote me for fixing the damage.

In the meantime the damp patch gets bigger everytime it rains (every day at the moment). Apart from keeping a dehumidifier close to the patch day and night, and keeping the room heated to dry it out, is there anything else I can do to minimise the internal damage until the roof is fixed?

Chunks

Can you access the roof space? Do you know the point where the water is getting in from?

If it is a slow leak so to speak you could catch the water in the loft. Need to keep emptying the container obviously, which is a faff of course.

If you have felt below the tile you might patch the breach in the felt as a temporary fix thereby diverting the water down the felt (on the tile side) if you catch my drift.

Guess roofers are busy at the moment but I hope you get it fettled soon.

Dan-Dan

go up on the roof ASAP and see if there is anything you can do whilst you wait for the roofers?

ed110220

I'd get up in the loft or on the roof as soon as I could to try and make emergency repairs or at least put a bucket under the drip if possible. You can get emergency roof sealant that will work even in wet conditions. I don't think drying will do much good unless the leak is very small.

Ed

Owain_Moneysaver

Make a hole in the ceiling under the leak so the water can run through instead of spreading over the plasterboard.

Apple corer is usually good if you have one.

It's easy to patch a small hole but less easy to repair after a whole soggy ceiling has collapsed.

pretamang

Thanks for all the responses.

I should have said before that I have no access to the roof and there is no loft - we are the top floor flat in a converted house so it's really internal damage limitation until the scaffolders and roofers get going.