how to sort this flashing ?

[Bo G]

Hello All,

We've just bought our first property, 1940s bungalow, (with kitchen extension and bedroom extension on two sides, leaving middle bit as utility room, all on rear). After stripping the wallpapers in one of the rooms, we found condensation/mould in one of the corner.

Though there is no direct leak or soaking wall, I just thought of checking the roof, got up there and found what you see in the picture below.

The picture below shows the flat utility room (pipe sticking out) with original roof(with steeper pitch) ending on the left bottom corner of the photo. The bedroom extension is the shallow pitched roof, which ends where the step ladder is placed on the right hand side in the photo.

Flashing is all over the place it seems, and what you see as plaster, has lead flashing behind it. There is lot of silicone filled in the tiles and seems it hasn't been done professionally or at least with some care. Near the last two tiles on the right, silicone seems to have over flown like wax from candle...

Also, there is a lot of plaster filled in between the tiles, resulting in misalignment.

I've been thinking of using flashband to temporarily create a better flashing and weatherproofing in this patch. But, would be really keen to understand how to go about flashing/waterproofing this type of corner on roof.

I've never worked on tiles/roof before but have a diy mindset and so thought of looking in to the matter and came across the forum.

Hope to learn and do some good work.

Thanks
GJ

 

[vinn]

Did you have a mortgage survey before buying?

The long view might be to strip & re-roof everything but without seeing the whole of the rear roofs, esp the flat roof, it would be difficult to advise you.
What i can see on your photo is that it wouldn't be profitable to do a patching job unless it was an emergency repair.
Difficult to believe that its not got some kind of penetrating damp eg. how is that pipe boot working?
Is the flat roof a lead flat?
What you refer to as plaster is sand and cement mortar.

As i said, the long view might be to strip and re-roof everything but first get a professional roofer in to give you an opinion. It might be best to redesign all the roofs as pitched roofs?

 

[Bo G]

Hello,

Thanks a lot for taking time and replying. Much obliged..

Yes, we did have a survey, and I thought the same when I looked at this 'attempted' job, but well 'surveyors' only report what they can see and 'always recommend' specialist surveys. And us being first time buyers were bit pushed to finish asap...

Long term(next 3/4 years) plan is to build a rear extension and also have loft conversion(with hip/gable upgrade), which is when we plan to re-roof from scratch, and possibly use some metal sheet roofing with tiles.

With above plan in mind, I was thinking of removing mortar(thanks for guidance) which currently is stuck to lead flashing behind it(mortar). And though I have my doubts, I think behind this mortar/lead there is some sort of wall, because I couldn't see any light coming inside the loft.

Also, directly below this patch work we've stripped all the wallpaper over easter weekend and so far (which I think is because of condensation in room due to moisture trapped in between loosely stuck synthetic wallpapers and wall) there are no visible water droplets or dampness in the corner of the wall.

If there is some sort of wall behind this mortar/lead curtain, I am thinking of re-plastering/skimming the wall with some waterproof additive to make it weather resistant. I was thinking of cleaning the tiles as much I can without breaking them and ger rid of any mortar/silicone residues.

Once above is done, I am thinking of putting some lead flashing where there are straight corners and then cover the tiles from top-side-under-down manner with flashband after using primer.

With all these diy I am hoping that the repair would last until we start our bigger project.

I could call in professional roofer, but budget is tight and trying to learn and do it as best as I can.

I've attached more pics to give bit more perspective to these part of the roof.
Pic below shows the overall rear roofs, with flat on the left(kitchen), utility with plastic/polycarbonate roof, and on right the 'patched roof' side.

 

[vinn]

As i said above, dont do anything unless its to repair a leak or you might make matters much worse. Plus, to do anything useful, you would have to partly work off the plastic roof.
What purpose would it serve for you to carry out your proposed bits & pieces of repairs?
Have you climbed behind the area(s) of interest in the shallow pitched roof space, and looked for penetrating moisture? Photos of the mouldy/condensation in the room below might be of some use?

Where you butt up to your neighbour's barge board there seems to be another odd bit of flashing. Maybe its worth going onto their flat roof and investigating how that side of your low pitched roof is flashed and finished?
Your gutters & rain water down pipe seem to be all over the place?

There are perhaps dangerous possibilities to you as a DIY'er working on these seemingly simple roofs but this is, after all, a DIY forum ...
If possible wait for the new roof. The design would probably have to be worked out with your neighbour?

 

[Bo G]

Hello,

Thank you once again for your inputs.

I'll get some more photos today and hopefully it would give better idea on plastic roof, and flashing near neighbor's property. As the extensions in the rear of both the properties are not joined, the little length of roofing in that area is alright. But, I'll get some photos today.

I'll also take some photos from inside the roof and the room right under it with condensation.

Gutters and rainwater pipes are all working fine, and I've cleaned them up, apart from one portion, but that falls on the side of utility room and doesn't lead at all.

And the reason I want to carry out the job I wrote above is to make sure that it is all properly air/water tight and not loose lead/mortar hanging in the patch work. I could put flash band on top of what I see right now, but don't feel it would be right way of doing it, even if temporarily.

Let me take some photos and post here.

Thanks
BG

 

[magicmushroom666]

If it doesn't leak, why not leave it alone until you get the chance to replace the lot. Disturbing that lot isn't likely to make things better.

 

[Bo G]

Hello @vinn and @magicmushroom666,

Just spent day at the doing some basic diy and also took these photos from within the loft.

I can say that there is no visible water seeping through, nor is there any dampness on those wooden beams supporting the roof.

So water is definitely not going through the 'patch' work, but when there is no light in the loft, I could see lot of light coming through small openings in the area where 'patch' work has been carried out on the outside. Also, as you can see in the 2nd photos, where the roof meets the gutters, there is lot of gap, but I've filled it with 'pink wool' in the seen in the photos.

@magicmushroom666 agree, that there is no need to touch it especially when there is nothing wrong, but I want to make it bit air tight to avoid cold rooms, mind it, this bungalow is all solid wall and suspended floors, so air flow is bit too much it seems, especially places where there is no carpet or vinyl(airing cupboard etc).

And now that I've seen it, I feel that I shouldn't ignore it. I chipped off some mortar which had come loose, but the area was too little and not as bad as I initially thought it was. There is solid wall behind the patch work and what seemed loose was just the lead/mortar in small patch.


I am hoping to put some mortar/plaster tomorrow and fix the lead in bit better. Then after it is set, going to use primer and flashband to make it bit more air/water tight. I think it is not as bad as I initially thought, but still would want to make it better than what it is currently.

Open to any suggestions and advice. I can leave it as it is but, would prefer to do something about it, and not be worried every night.

Thanks everyone.