Am I in the wrong here?

[Kirkyface]

The old gutter pipe on neighbours side has been cut and joined to the new gutter at the boundary, unless fitted correctly it will leak.

The damp could be long standing, was the room re plastered before you purchased?

Blup

sorry; I missed a reply to this. The damp appeared suddenly about 2 months ago. The plaster when we moved in was original lime- we have patched it up in places but it has not been wholeheartedly replaced.

we have had no problems prior to the storm and the neighbour taking off the render. The new roof and gutters have been in place for a year. In the summer we had the most almighty rainfall that flooded a third of the houses in this village, and yet no damp appeared then. This problem, whatever it is, has come on suddenly, which is why I’m not sure the gutters replacement is the only thing going on here

 

[tell80]

OP,
About the refusal to allow work access on the neighbour's roof.
Strange, the law allows such access in certain cases- see the Blg Regs forum above.

Even without access to the neighbours roof the bonding join could have been done much better.

Where exactly inside your rooms does damp present itself? Pics please.

Mackie,
item # 3. With access a dry bonding gutter with an upstand should have been used - as they typically are by people who know what they are doing. Slate to slate no problem.
Using a "flat" bonding gutter typically requires wet work ie mortar - bad practice because mortar fails in time.

The gauge could have been matched to the neighbours gauge - any roofer worth their salt could do that in their stride. What do you mean " the gauge on the rhs could be wrong"?
Thats what being a professional is about. Matching gauge means matching slates.

Item # 2. You dont find cocked up, springing battens a problem? You dont find the possibility that the party wall is perhaps too high & needs dropping a little - a problem? There's even the possibility that they just codged in a thick bonding line of mortar? Or even used one long strip of lead?

Item#4. grp joining strips are typically used with dissimilar coverings.

 

[Nige F]

T
I do not know for certain what is beneath the roof tiles at the join of our two houses. I’ve taken a look in the loft and there is no damp that I can see there; indeed the only damp we are seeing is downstairs, both sides of the party wall. There is nothing upstairs or in the loft.

I’m alarmed that Tell80 suggests the roof is shoddy- I am very concerned about this. ............ they’re set on pinning the blame on us and aren’t being reasonable.

Tell is a right doom monger - he's had several user names on here over the years - argues with tradespeople here then goes away and comes back under a new name . He's an American - called you mom , his first entity had the stars and stripes . Take him with a pinch of salt. Good luck with your neighbours too.

 

[Kirkyface]

Oh ok, thank you. I’ve hitherto been very happy with the roof, and I’m not looking to change it if it isn’t causing problems. I will though keep an eye on it if the workmanship suggests it is less than optimal.

the damp is in the downstairs room at the front of the house- on the ground floor right underneath the gutter join. It’s there on both sides of the party wall but substantially worse on the neighbour’s side. I’ll post a pic when I have one. Oddly, it is not anywhere upstairs or in the loft- rainwater cascading down the brick courses from the gutters, or through files from a leaky roof, would surely cause damage upstairs, wouldn’t it?

Also, we had the worst rainfall here in living memory in July- honestly it flooded the entire part of the village and was absolutely biblical; Ive never seen rain like it. And yet then, no damp at all. This problem coincides with the render being taken off next door. The damp appeared within days of that and so to me it is blindingly obvious that there is something else going on.

so it sounds to me like the non-flowing gutter is only part of the problem. Of course if we’ve caused that I’m happy to put it right if we can, but I can’t help thinking there must me something else going on that we can’t be blamed for. I just want the neighbour to be reasonable about it but sadly he isn’t being at the moment.

I was thinking of getting either buildings control in, or commissioning a drainage survey to tell us definitely and impartially what is going on- what do you think? We already called the original roofer back and I’ll ask him when he’s here to lower the gutter a bit to allow next door’s water to drain.

 

[datarebal]

I’m alarmed that Tell80 suggests the roof is shoddy-

Ignore this , it is twaddle .