Lead soakers and flashing at abutment - can flashing lay over/on top of the slates as well?

[DIYNotIan]

Hi

My house needs some lead work at an abutment. The wall is stone (random rubble), so it's undulating rather than flat. Also, the wall is rather banana shaped. As such, I imagine the slates won't sit tight up to the wall and there will in fact be various size gaps between the slates and the wall, and these gaps will expose parts of the soakers beneath. I hope that all makes sense!

In all I've seen and read, flashing - when with soakers - tends to be just vertical. In my head it would make more sense to have an L shaped flashing given what I tried to describe above. If it was just vertical, it would almost encourage water into the gaps on onto the soakers. I appreciate that's what they are there for. But with an L shaped flashing, the horizontal section would direct water away from the gaps at the intersections, and onto the slates.

Just wondered what people's thoughts are on this please? As it's not commonly done like that, I just wanted to check I'm not overlooking something.

Many thanks

 

[datarebal]

Using a cover flashing with soakers is fine. It wont cause a problem.

 

[DIYNotIan]

And making the flashing L shaped so that it covers the soaker upstand and some of the slates is ok? Or is that what you meant when you say "cover flashing"?

Many thanks

 

[datarebal]

Using a cover flashing with soakers is fine. It wont cause a problem.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Yes you can do what you want to do but all you are doing is doubling up on the flat leg of the soakers. If you really want to spend the cash, make the soakers wider (so 150 flat x 100 upstand) instead of the usual 100 x 100.

 

[DIYNotIan]

Many thanks for the above. Having asked about and thought about this some more, here's what I'm aiming for:

- Individual soakers beneath the slates, with 75mm upstands and 150mm horizontals ("flat").
- Slate and a halfs for every other slate, instead of using thinner cut slates.
- Flashing in lengths of 1100mm, with 150mm overlaps (so the actual exposed lengths will be 950mm; 4 of which fit the length of the roof perfectly.
- Flashing in upstand only, with NO horizontal pieces on top of the lead. I'll use 150mm width lead for that. So with 25-50mm in the chase, the remainder will be enough to cover the upstand of the soakers. And I won't be stepping the flashing - just straight lines parallel to the roof.

Does that all sound ok?

I think perhaps I was overthinking and over-engineering with my idea to have the Z shaped flashing so that a horizontal section could cover the slates. So I'll do without that now. But for peace of mind I'll use slate and a halfs, and 150mm on the soakers (had originally planned for 100mm). That should keep water from reaching the end of the soakers and creeping in beneath them... Hopefully!

Many thanks

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Its all good except the upstands. 100mm is specified for good reasons.

 

[DIYNotIan]

Great, thank you.

I've not seen 100mm specified for the soaker upstands. Most of what I've read and seen says 75mm. I'll double check though and if so I can either do 100mm/125mm or buy 240mm wide lead and go for 100mm/140mm.

Ta

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Great, thank you.

I've not seen 100mm specified for the soaker upstands. Most of what I've read and seen says 75mm. I'll double check though and if so I can either do 100mm/125mm or buy 240mm wide lead and go for 100mm/140mm.

Ta

You've made me doubt my memory now and you might well be right. The Calder Guide to Leadwork is a good reference, see what they say.

 

[DIYNotIan]

Don't worry, my memory isn't so great either and certainly not improving with age! Just checked Calder and it is 75mm for upstand and 100 for the horizontal. p.15.

Many thanks for your help.

 

[noseall]

You've made me doubt my memory now and you might well be right. The Calder Guide to Leadwork is a good reference, see what they say.

Plain tile soakers are formed from a square 150mm x 150mm piece of lead, bent down the middle.
Note: the eaves course is sometimes different.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Plain tile soakers are formed from a square 150mm x 150mm piece of lead, bent down the middle.
Note: the eaves course is sometimes different.

I went all tight (marley eternits) and had some zinc ones off @hardmetalking who has now vanished boo.

 

[datarebal]

zinc , aluminium both are ok up against the flat surface. if you are going up against rag stone then lead is the way forward. they will easily follow the contours