Water leak problem when it rains.

anotherquestion

Hi folks,

I have a bungalow type house where the original  wooden soffits and facia were covered by upvc a good number of years ago and the horizontal spouting and downpipes were also replaced with a metallic type, so not plastic.

I also had windows replaced nine years with pvc ones, where the top of the window is actually more or less hitting the bottom underneath soffit, These windows are held in place by that foamy kind of stuff that expands.

I need to add here that the felt from the roof does not overlay into the horizonal roof guttering, I do think if it did I wouldn't have this leakage problem during mainly stormy weather, but definitely not all the time.

The problem, some rain can come in at the top of one of the windows at the seal where top of the window meets a another piece of upvc at a right angle inside house. Also some water leaks down at the back door, seems to be running along the upvc soffits.

Am I right in thinking here that the roof felt should be running into the horizontal spouting gutter on roof, they seem to be ok and water runs freely along them. I get the impression that water is getting into the space, between the tiles and the gutter and then simply finding its way into the facia and soffits, through the foam that is holding window in place, making its way inside.

I have run a little sealant along that top of window and will see if that helps, but is there anything that I can use in the mean time that maybe could be put under the felt to extend it, so that there is no space between existing felt and gutter. Would another piece of felt do, or something better, its a tiled roof.

Thanks for any advice. 

stuart45

You could get some felt support tray, also known as eaves protectors. You might find the felt has perished at the eaves, so you might have to strip back a few courses of tiles and renew some felt and fit the eaves protectors. 
Quite easy on a bungalow.

koalakoala

Are the gutters kept clear?

anotherquestion

Thanks for the helpful replies, I just checked roofs and gutter again, the tiles actually run into the gutter, but the felt doesn't There are openings at the bottom of the tiles, due to their shape, so probably rain water is blowing into these openings during a storm as it seems to happen at times like that.

Yes the gutters are clean.

Thinking maybe if I just tried to block those openings at bottom of tiles that go into gutter over the window area with bin liner bags or so, it might help.

Swipe

The openings are required for ventilation. You'll need to remove a few tiles from the bottom and maybe the second row and take a look where the felt stops or get up in the loft and see if you can see from there.

andy5000

stuart45 said:

You could get some felt support tray, also known as eaves protectors. You might find the felt has perished at the eaves, so you might have to strip back a few courses of tiles and renew some felt and fit the eaves protectors. 
Quite easy on a bungalow.

100% this - eaves protectors are basically rigid plastic sheets that slide up under the tiles and hopefully under what felt is still there to direct water off the tiles and into the gutter. If you lift the bottom tile up carefully as far as you can you may be able to see what's going on with the felt and where it stops. If the felt has rotted out more than a few inches as suggested above it'll mean stripping the tiles back until you hit waterproof felt - a job for a roofer really.

anotherquestion

Thanks, in addition to the above problems, I now notice some water stains on the kitchen ceiling, and on looking in to loft I see a small hole in felt, and where the water is running down the wood and wetting the loft wooden floor, just above where kitchen is, so that needs to be sorted asap.

As regards the felt support trays, eaves protectors, are they of a universal size or shape, or do I need a particular shape that fits my roof, I would need them to run along whole length of back of house about 26 feet.

Also do them come in long lengths or just shorter measurements, and what sort of price for them.

Really appreciate all the info you guys are telling me, thanks a lot.

Swipe

Here's a pack of 5 Eaves Felt Support trays from Screwfix.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/eaves-felt-support-trays-5-pack/36622

26 feet = 7.9.25 metres

Length of Pack (Combined) 7.5 m

Length of Single Piece 1.5 m

One pack should be enough even if it doesn't quite span the whole length.

Remove a few tiles first and have a good look before purchasing to see what you are dealing with. 

Edit: People in the Screwfix reviews are saying you can buy for much cheaper elsewhere such as local builders merchants. Have a google. Here is an example where the price is much lower (shipping is extra) and you can buy individually:

https://www.buildingplastics.co.uk/felt-support-eaves-protector-tray-15-metre-35788-p.asp

anotherquestion

Thanks for that, just checked local builders so £2.74 each.

anotherquestion

Ok guys just another question about fixing a leak in felt from inside the loft, have got a guy lined up to have a look, and hopefully he will do a good job as last work he did for me was fine on a leak.

I'm not totally familiar with the terminology for roof parts, but on watching some videos I see where is it possible to fix a small hole on felt with flashing tape applied correctly inside the loft, however the leak I have is a hole in the felt directly on top of the rafter wood that goes up at an angle. Am I right in thinking that would be very difficult to fix from inside the loft, and will require tiles to be remover on outside and new felt to be laid.

Many thanks.

Swipe

Yes, that would need to be done properly from the tile side if you have no decent access from underneath. The felt is there as a last resort and shouldn't really be seeing any water at all if your roof is sound so you must be getting water coming through the tiles higher up. I'd get the roofer to identify that source too when he visits.