leaking garage roof with oddly pitched roof

[low drains drifter]

Untitled

• low drains drifter
• 10 Jul 2014
• 1

Untitled

• low drains drifter
• 10 Jul 2014
• 1

Untitled

• low drains drifter
• 10 Jul 2014
• 1

Untitled

• low drains drifter
• 10 Jul 2014
• 1

Untitled

• low drains drifter
• 10 Jul 2014
• 1

I purchased a garage many years ago that is part of a block of 4 garages; the backs of 2 of the garages join onto the backs of the other 2. Water leaks into the back of the garage between the join of the roof and the wall and I would like to find a solution to this. In the photograph mine is the garage with the white door. To be fair, the guy that sold me the garage told me that the roof was leaking. Over the years, there have been attempts to repair the roof with limited success. I would like a permanent solution to the problem. The problem lies with the roof pitch which goes the opposite way to normal meaning rain water travels to the back of the garage. There is a middle gully to drain off water but water finds its way into the back of my garage and gets worse when leaves clog up the gully. The easiest solution is to add a further covering to all the garage roofs but for this to be effective all 4 garages need to be done and not sure if all owners would agree with this. Also, I’m not sure I wouldn’t be looking at repairing this in years to come. Another possible solution is to remove the roof, add layers of bricks to change the pitch of the roof and have water draining off the front of the garage. The problem with this is that the asbestos sheeting on the roof overlaps with the next door garage. The person that made this suggestion said he would use a grinder to cut through the sheets but I was horrified at this suggestion and I wouldn’t let someone be exposed to the risk of inhaling dust from grinding asbestos sheeting. Someone suggested building a garage within the garage – perhaps not as daft as it sounds as the walls are quite high. Anyway, has anybody got any thoughts on how to get me a dry garage?[/img]

 

[kbdiy]

I would have thought the solution lies in the lining of the gutter rather than the condition of the roof itself, although it may be there is insufficient overhang and water is running back along the roof into the garage. Can you tell what the gutter is lined with? Without removing the mesh and investigating further I'm not sure how you can resolve this.

 

[low drains drifter]

I would have thought the solution lies in the lining of the gutter rather than the condition of the roof itself, although it may be there is insufficient overhang and water is running back along the roof into the garage. Can you tell what the gutter is lined with? Without removing the mesh and investigating further I'm not sure how you can resolve this.

not sure if it is lined with anything but it is at the top of the gutter where the water leaks in.

 

[kbdiy]

In which case it's probably running back under the roofing as the pitch is very shallow.

If there was some way of adding a drip to stop it running back but drip into the gutter instead, I think that would solve it. A bead of clear sealant under the bottom edge would do it but access will be the problem.

 

[low drains drifter]

In which case it's probably running back under the roofing as the pitch is very shallow.

If there was some way of adding a drip to stop it running back but drip into the gutter instead, I think that would solve it. A bead of clear sealant under the bottom edge would do it but access will be the problem.

what about a new gutter with an overlap over the roof that fitted inside the existing one?

 

[ree]

Is that a hopper head leading down to a rusty, broken RWP? If thats the case then fix the RWP.

The joist in pic 5. appears to be a replacement.

I should live with it - whatever you do up on those roofs might cause more damage, or even an accident.

Building inside the garage is a non-starter for many reasons.

 

[low drains drifter]

Is that a hopper head leading down to a rusty, broken RWP? If thats the case then fix the RWP. - the RWP gets clogged with leaves and then this backs up the water in the gutter which adds to the problem. water just finds its way into any small crack.

 

[ree]

If you are saying that the water discharges from the hopper down the wall as best practice, rather than using the RWP then its wrong.

You could fix a leaf guard, say a balloon guard, in the hopper and clean it out every so often - but dont have water cascading down a wall.

Use a black plastic RWP.

 

[alan333]

Is all the water from all four roofs supposed to run to the gutter, then to one end of the gutter and down through one small hole into the broken downpipe arrangement? If so, then the water will fill the gutter in heavy rain, and run back under the flashing under the sheets. Even if there's a downpipe at both ends it's probably not enough.

Somehow allow the water to get away easier. To illustrate my point - if you cut away the stopends on both ends of the gutter, the water wouldn't "dam up" high enough to get under the flashing, but would gush over the ends instead. I'm not suggesting you angle grind away here due to potential asbestos risk etc, but it looks like the existing stopend/outlet is fitted inside the gutter. Could it be changed for something which gathers the water externally to the garage, like fitting a proper external hopper or something at both ends?

Some of that asbestos-looking stuff isn't asbestos BTW, but you don't know for certain unless you have it tested. While doing any work on this type of roof I'd wear a mask and constantly wet the area with a hose. If your roof was mine - I'd have a good look at unbolting the ends (carefully, slowly, and wet) and changing them as above, then if that wasn't possible I'd look at cutting away some of the height of the stopend (by hacksaw, carefully, slowly, and wet), thus allowing the flow away into some form of external hopper. Then if all else failed I'd look at getting a new gutter with free-flowing water exit.

Disclaimer... If you're worried about an asbestos risk, then get the pro's in.