Very damp in the loft..

[robwizard]

When I asked about pictures he suggested he could go back up and take pictures to demonstrate what he was saying, but to be honest I didn't have much time and what he had said kind of tied in with what I could discern from being in the loft, tied in with what you had suggested in your previous reply.

The issue is certainly with both stacks, perhaps I wasn't clear enough, but yeah he will be doing work on both stacks, with the rear being considerably worse than the fore. The stacks are on opposing sides of the ridge as is demonstrated in the interior photos above.

The first job he did was to sort out a leak on the extension we have at the back of the house. The first guy that came out was probably not, in my opinion, an actual roofer, and was just recommended by a guy I work next door to. The job he did seemed fine for approx. a year the started leaking again. When the new feller came along, he invited me up onto the roof to see what had been done, which was basically wrapping a pipe over and over with bitumin tape and shoving flashing tape everywhere. He then removed this and the slates surrounding the pipe and fitted the appropriate apron type thing and replaced the damaged slates. When he was explaining the current issue with the chimney stacks he made reference of the other job, in that the problem had likely been there for a while but had been badly bodged in the past and had finally given way.

 

[datarebal]

I see no reason to doubt your guy. However back gutter is obviously faulty. The timber supporting the BG needs replacing too.
It looks like the trimmer for the rafter is missing /rotted away. I wouldn't be leaving it like that!
I am sure there isn't much ventilation and seeing as you have bitumen felt 1F then it should be considered.
The area where a felt side lap appears to be hanging down is probably surplus felt not cut off during fitting

 

[robwizard]

Thanks @datarebal , could you elaborate on the rafter trimmer? I'm not familiar with that term. Should I try and stuff that hanging bit of felt somewhere? Or just leave it as is so as not to disturb things?

Cheers

 

[datarebal]

Sorry Rob just took another look and the trimmer is still there.. just blends in a bit, plus fuzzy night last night.my mistake
The hanging felt, you can leave it or if it was my house I would carefully cut it back near the rafter..

 

[robwizard]

Yeah that seems like a sensible cause of action, I will do that for sure.

Thanks again!

 

[robwizard]

Right so some more advise is required, I was up there again today poking around and have discovered yet more damp! Hooray. I think it's probably all part of the same problem so hopefully the roofer will make it nice and watertight. Anyway.. the next door neighbors have had a loft conversion done a few years back, which I'm pretty sure they have had condensation problems with, and it's a right mess on our side of it, if that makes sense? I noticed today that if I look down the loft I can actually see light coming into the loft from their loft room? Is that normal? Should I try and seal the two areas of completely? Could make things worse for ventilation, but stop warm air from their side getting into our side? Also, their appears to be loads of like, bubble wrap and plastic sheeting stapled to the rafters, but it's kind of hard to see properly.

I also want to board the loft out to use as storage, but the amount of information and opinions out there is overwhelming. Should I expand on this thread or start a new one for this?

Thanks very much,

Rob.

 

[John D v2.0]

It's hard to see how they've maintained the required fire resistance of 1 hour if you can see light from their side. Also as you say it's bad for their heat loss and your condensation.