Argh ! Leaking roof :(

[Jethro_uk]

Working away, and the sky went black (in Birmingham) - had to put the lights on. Then a thunderstorm with what can only be described as a cloudburst. Rain so heavy it was overflowing everyones guttering.

Then a dismal cry from the Mrs in the kitchen ... there was water all over the units. Quick step onto a ladder revealed it was seeping through the ceiling plasterboard. I did some quick surgery with an awl, and collected about 500ml in a bowl.

Grrrrrrrrrr !!!!!!!!

Roofing is one thing I can't do - even on a bungalow (head for heights), so a call has gone out to our friendly roofer who did a grand job on our gulleys last year.

Hopefully it's a cracked tile - I've a few spares.

Luckily the ceiling damage is above a wall cupboard, so not immediately apparent. Although now it's got wet, presumably the plasterboard is going to need replacement ?

[Jethro_uk]

Hmmmm - despite it continuing to rain, the water has stopped. I'm starting to wonder, given the location, if it's possible the gulley (valley ?) where there's a 90degree join in the roof (it's an "L" shaped bungalow) simply couldn't carry the water away fast enough, and it backed up and spilled over the tiles to leak into the loft. It was a freak downpour - truly monsoon proportions.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Possibly. Wait and see if it's lost integrity. P/b seems to cope with a slight dousing, once.

[Piers Finlayson]

Yeah, we just had it in mid-Wales. Despite how common rain is here, I don't think I've seen anything quite like that in the nearly 5 years we've been here.

[Jethro_uk]

Well, fingers crossed. Despite it raining heavily on and off, it seems to have stopped, reinforcing my suspicion the gulley simply couldn't cope.

Our lad has just told us that 1 mile down the road (never flooded according to locals) is knee-deep in water. It really was a once in a century downpour.

[dennis]

Well here it has rained a lot, however I don't think its any heavier than it has rained before. Not a once in a century event AFAICS.

The trouble is people keep building on ground that would have mopped up the flood water, now it just runs off and floods somewhere that has never flooded before. It will do so next time too.

[Jethro_uk]

someone died :(

[dennis]

I have seen worse.

It happens even when there is no rain.

[Phil L]

It's highly unlikely to have been the gutter - water can't back twio feet up a roof regardless of how hard it rains.

Even less possibility if you have soffits, here, I've done a pic:

close to the wall was the leak? - unless it was running down the inside wall, you've got a roof that needs looking at.

[Jethro_uk]

Maybe I didn't explain properly. I said *gulley* (or valley, I believe) where two roofs meet at 90 degrees, and a channel is fashioned out of lead and mortar sloping (in our case) down at about 30 degrees. It can only carry so much water - any excess will simply back up and run between the slates.

Have a roofer coming tomorrow, so see what his opinion is.