Efflorescence on brickwork

PierremontQuaker03

Hi, how long does efflorescence take to show thru brickwork. Not used the shower in our new en-suite (Loft conversion) for a couple of weeks. When the shower was installed a couple of months ago there was a leak, but could it take that long for the water/ moisture to come through the brickwork? There is no signs of a water leak in the house. Or could it be rain water from the guttering? I have pasted three after pics a before pic - any advice?

Doozergirl

That looks like a big leak.  If it's like that on the outside, it must have flooded the house?  I wouldn't expect an internal leak to show externally. 

It takes as long as it takes to dry out, but have you looked at the guttering when it's raining?  It's a bit of a coincidence if your shower is in exactly the same place as that guttering junction.  With more roof (loft conversion) comes more water off it.  Is that swan neck junction and the stop ends around it coping? 

neilmcl

I'd definitely have a look at the guttering and the roof slates in that corner. It won't take long for your brickwork to look like that from an external source of water.

PierremontQuaker03

Doozergirl said:

That looks like a big leak.  If it's like that on the outside, it must have flooded the house?  I wouldn't expect an internal leak to show externally. 

It takes as long as it takes to dry out, but have you looked at the guttering when it's raining?  It's a bit of a coincidence if your shower is in exactly the same place as that guttering junction.  With more roof (loft conversion) comes more water off it.  Is that swan neck junction and the stop ends around it coping? 

its always been an issue that corner and the guttering coping - we have had some heavy rain in the last few weeks so it might be that which has caused it and the fact that the water cannot drain away quick enough, I thought by renewing it all it would fix the problem. here is another pic...

stuart45

Sometimes a deep flow gutter can help when taking rainwater from another roof.

FreeBear

Is there actually an end stop in that lower level gutter ?

From the last image, can't see any clips to indicate that there is.

As per stuart45's comment, I'd suggest looking at some deep flow guttering and re-route the downpipe so that you don't have it running horizontally above the roof. Also gives you the opportunity to get rid of duct taped joints.

ka7e

Is the guttering actually capped at the wall end and does it need to extend right under the soffit? It might help if you can introduce a slight fall on that piece, though as mentioned a deep flow gutter might be needed.

neilmcl

Looks like water is back flowing to the end at the corner and overflowing, causing your problem. Doesn't look like the guttering between those two roof sections has been thought out properly at all.

Doozergirl

That shoe outlet is just pointing at the wall!  You can see the staining on the brickwork where it's pouring off the bracket underneath. 

It's not rocket science, you just need someone with a half decent idea of how water flows.  It looks like the single storey extension prevents an original gulley from being used, so it's diverted to another one.  That's not ideal when you've also added more roof area.  Compounding that,  you're expecting the guttering on the tiny catslide roof to carry it all to one downpipe.  

Not an expensive job to sort, but a valuable one.  

stuart45

I had a similar problem with a job the lady had some damp problems in the corner with. The masonry paint and OPC pointing made the problem worse. Changing to a deep flow gutter, taking all the paint off with a needle gun and a lime repoint solved the problems.

Slinky

We had to have deep flow gutters fitted when the standard ones on our extension couldn't cope with the rain coming off 2 roofs.  That solved the problem. We've moved house since and there was no question about using deep flow when we had the gutters replaced here. With climate change and more instances of sudden heavy rain showers it just made sense to go with the biggest ones we could get.