DIY Re-roof?

[kingandy2nd]

We’ve had a couple of leaks in the roof at our house, mostly around the flashing, but in inspecting the roof from the loft space the felt has ripped along the line of the joists in two places so not possible to repair from below.

Money is really tight as we’ve stretched ourselves to buy this place.

I’d class myself as a reasonably good DIYer, I’ve got no problems working at height, the pitch of the roof is pretty low and there’s no complicated hips or valleys on the roof to contend with. Span of the roof is about 6 m and the length is 9.5m.

Therefore how difficult would it be to re-roof the property myself? My thinking is that if I get scaffold on both sides of the house, I can remove the old tiles/felt/batons and replace them myself.

I understand that changing the roof will have to go through building regs and I’ll need to upgrade the insulation.

Without wishing to insult any roofers on here, is that all there is to it? I understand it’ll be hard graft, but it sounds achievable to me… or am I missing something?

Thanks
Andy

 

[upstairscharly]

If your doing it yourself it will take longer than a roofer could do it in. You'll need labour to help you as it is hard graft as you say & you need the extra pair of hands. The other thing to consider is if you hit a snag, where something is not standard. This is where roofers earn their money & trust me roofs aren't as straight forward as you'd think. Every roof has it's dark side Do you have any pictures & we may be able to asses how difficult it would be for you.

 

[kingandy2nd]

Yeah I hear what you're saying Charly, that's why I was wondering if there was more too it that I was originally thinking.

Not got too many shots of the roof to be honest, this is one of the more 'complicated' side with a chimney and waste stack. The other side has no interruptions in the tiles.

View media item 51144
What do you think?

 

[upstairscharly]

Hard to see from the photo but they look like Marley Wessex's. It looks a straight forward roof. The best thing is to contact Marley for the correct specifications i.e. clips & correct nail lengths as you'll want to do the job as per manufacturers specifications & undertake the roof with the mind set that you are prepared to call in a roofer if things go pair shaped or get difficult. Are you aware of cement mix ratios, eaves protection, batten gauging? These are things to consider before undertaking.

 

[kingandy2nd]

Thanks again for the words of encouragement

I do know when I get out of my depth, so can call someone in on the job if needed.

I didn't know too much about roofing before tbh, but I found this site http://www.practicaldiy.com/general-building/roofing/roofing-battens.php which seems to give a good overview.

 

[Nige F]

We’ve had a couple of leaks in the roof at our house, mostly around the flashing, but in inspecting the roof from the loft space the felt has ripped along the line of the joists in two places so not possible to repair from below.

Money is really tight as we’ve stretched ourselves to buy this place.

Andy

With respect , why do you feel the need to re roof Is there water coming in where the felt is perished ? . Is the headlap correct for that low pitch - not unknown for roofers to stretch the number of rows actually needed , when house was built , then the (sarking) felt takes the small leaks away for a finite time until it perishes - like charly said , ask Marley

 

[Roofus]

I agree the tiles look like Marley Wessex.
It is very unlikely in need of re-roofing from the picture.
If it's leaking around the chimney check the lead flashing it may have come loose or there may be a broken or cracked tile.
This is most likely in my experience.
Not much goes wrong with this type of roof if the mortar is good to ridge and verges, lead flashings sound and there are no broken tiles.
No need to worry about the felt because if the tiling and leadwork is sound no water will reach it.

 

[kingandy2nd]

Thanks for the input guys.

I'll check out the headlap next time I'm up there as I don't know for sure.

We've got one leak in the ceiling which we can't attribute to the flashing as it's on the other side of the property.

My suspicion is that it's coming through one of the holes in the felt and then running along to the point where it's coming through the bedroom ceiling.

Fortunately we're not living in the property yet, so nothing important is getting damaged, however unfortunately that means we're not there when it rains heavily to be able to attempt to trace the leak.

Perhaps I should get up on the roof, repoint the ridge and re-do the flashings and then see how it goes from there.

Are these self-adhesive flashings any good or should I try and source some new lead?

Thanks again

 

[cotswoldbuilders]

Use new lead, flash band etc are for temporary repairs.

 

[upstairscharly]

Use new lead, flash band etc are for temporary repairs.

this

 

[Roofus]

Agreed, no flashband use lead. Quite likely not necessary if it has just come loose, just re-wedge it and re-point.
Check over roof for broken /cracked tiles first, don't get too close to verges because of disturbing the mortar. Check the ridge are sound.
Not really anything else it could be.
Unlikely headlap is wrong but anythings possible, measuring from the bottom of one tile to the bottom of the course above is an easy way to get the batten gauge they are on at.

 

[Nige F]

good oint about the cracked tile - those concrete tiles can get discrete cracks on the joining ribs - you`ll only find them on close inspection - as to the headlap - I`m talking from experience of a family member`s roof on a block of flats + I witnessed a lot of building work in the 60`s 70`s Not the best decades for quality

 

[kingandy2nd]

Just bringing back up this old post as with the heavy rain of late the roof has leaked again 

I’d been up on the roof a few weeks ago and replaced the lead flashing around the waste pipe and also got a couple of the loose tiles back in place.

I got up in the loft yesterday and in an area central to the roof where the felt has ripped and dropped I could see that the ripped felt was wet so there is clearly a failure in the roof tiles (even though I’ve visually inspected the roof and not found and cracked tiles, and I’ve repositioned a couple that had slipped) which has dripped onto the felt and as the felt has torn it’s leaking into the house.

On very close inspection I could feel damp patches at the base of one tile where it overlapped the other. I didn’t have a tape measure to check exactly, but given my memory of how long the tiles were on the roof, there can’t be much of an overlap on the tiles.

 

[catlad]

That looks a shallow roof you will need at least 4" overlap.

 

[kingandy2nd]

Yeah, the rise is about a meter.... it's so shallow the people doing insultation grants wouldn't fit loft insulation as the roof is too low

I will have to get up there with a tape measure and workout what the headlap is... from what I recall I don't think it's even close to 200mm.