Had a speculative "ding-dong" from a passing roofer today. Having just paid *another* roofer to refix my ridge tiles, I was less than impressed when I was shown that
a) I don't have any eaves drip trays fitted, and that has led to b) the new fascia board I fitted 8 years ago starting to rot.
Luckily it's a bungalow, and while I couldn't scrabble about on the roof, I'm happy 3ft up a ladder. Would I be correct in assuming that fitting a drip tray is fairly easy in the first instance - just push the last tile back (like the guys did today to show me) and then lay the plastic down ? In the first instance, to prevent any further damage ? Then when funds (and time) permit, replace the fascia board ?
Would it be better to push all the tiles back, do the job in one (45ft) run. Or do it in sections ?
Must admit to being a little bit miffed the previous guy ("25 years experience") didn't flag this - although other issues I had with him mean he never going to be used again.
I tend to push the second or third row up, and then lift off the row(s) in front (how many rows depends how long the tiles are).
The tray has to go under the felt, and then overhang the rear of the gutter. You may have to trim the overhang into the gutter. Use some galvanised or (better) stainless steel nails to nail each piece to a few rafters. If possible, don't nail through the felt, although it's not the end of the world if you have to (after all, all the battens are fixed that way), and it would be much worse to break the felt in the effort not to nail though it!
As a temporary measure, you could probably push one in without removing the tiles (maybe just unclipping the gutter, and/or just sliding up the bottom row), and if the tiles are heavy enough, they hold it for a while until you can do it properly. It hardly seems worth going to all the effort above if you aren't replacing the facia and know you'll have to (and it might be more tricky once the eaves try is in place).
I did mine in one long run, but I was working from scaffolding and it was easy just to put the tiles down behind me. (If you intend to do this, make sure the scaffolders know you will be stacking building materials on the structure, although a couple of rows of tiles should not be too taxing on it.)
I think this is the sort of quality job you get either by doing it yourself, or by using skilled quality roofers (or by having a separate architect supervising the work for you).
Some other things to think about...
The rotten facias cannot be caused only by the felt having rotted away. There must be a second fault too which is causing water to run under the tiles. Check to see if you have any cracked or misplaced tiles, missing flashing, etc further up the roof.
Insertion of the eaves tray will probably make the roofing felt quite an air-tight seal to the facias. Does the roof have other appropriate means of ventilation, such as under the soffits? If not, you will need to fit some. I think there may be some versions of eaves tray which include provision for ventilation, but I haven't investigated them.
Thanks for the detailed reply. Unfortunately I don't know any roofers. The family don't, and no one I worked with did. So we were stuck with picking a quote from a leaflet drop.
Is it possible the loose ridge tiles (which the roofer did do - even I can see that) were causing the water ingress ?
Ventilation is not an issue - I fitted copious soffit vents, and got the roofer to fit proper ventilation tiles when he was up there.
Having seen the guys today move some tiles to show me the damage, I can see what you mean. They pushed 2 & 3 tiles up, and lifted the bottom one off. So apart from the faff of moving the ladder every 5 feet, it seems a good idea to lift all the tiles, fit the tray, and put things back. The only big part of the job will be replacing the rotted felt. ISTR I'll need to remove the batten, and refit ?
Unlikely, there never is much water at the roof apex.
You shouldn't need to replace the felt. It rots off as it passes over the facia. The eaves tray goes significantly further up the roof than that, so you just leave the rotted off edge resting on the eaves try. The eves tray then carries any water from the felt over the facia and into the gutter.
If it's rotted further up, that would indicate quite a lot of water running down it, and/or a lot of debris having collected on it which is keeping it wet for long periods. In that case, to replace it you do need to strip back to the rafters, and tuck the new felt underneath the old. However, more important is to fix the reason it's rotted, and having done that, you can probably just make do without replacing it.
About 6 years ago, I started getting a valley gutter (where two roofs meet) leaking. That was a combination of a cracked tile, and the felt having rotted off where it went under the valley, so the water running down it eventually came into the loft. I stripped the roof right back to the rafters for about 4' either side of the valley but didn't cut off the old felt - just rolled it out of the way. Fitted new sarking either side and under the valley gutter (using modern unrottable untearable replacement). Then rolled the original back over it (which was mostly in good condition except the rotted off edge), fitted new battens, replace the tiles and repointed the valley. Took about a week, but I wasn't working very fast (spent some time pondering at each stage how much I was going to rip off).
One thing I did which proved very useful is that I took pictures as I did it. (I intended to create a blog of it, but that never happened.) When it came to reassembling the valley, I had to refer back to the pictures to work out how the tiles were laid at the base of the valley, because it is complicated by the two roofs bases being at different heights.
If the fascia board as started to rot on the top edge, this is caused by vapour condensation on the back of the tiles, usually concrete tiles, that gets trapped where the tile rest on the felt underlay and rots the underlay and the fascia board. There are special unit called (over fascia felt eaves support trays) Push the second row of tiles up; this will enable access to the bottom row of tiles, which will be nailed, take out the nail and remove the tile. Remove enough tiles so that you can fit a single length of eave tray. Cut the old rotted felt back to a sound piece, usually about 4 to 6 inches. Slide the tray under the felt and nail the tray through the felt into the rafter. Not into the fascia. Repeat the above till all the eave is complete and then replace the tiles pulling down the row above. If the tiles have a large profile roll then you will have to fix a comb filler unit on top of the eaves tray and this is nailed through the eaves unit into the fascia.
;-) How's it going to carry the water into the gutter when it's on top of the felt in your description above?
The bottom few rows of tiles have to come off, along with the battens and the last (the partially rotted) layer of felt.
Then the eaves protector (referred to as 'drip tray' here) goes on. Then a new layer of felt is applied, tucking it under the healthy one above. Then battens and re-tile
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