How to Reach a Pitched Roof Valley?

Roof ladder(s) ?

Depends on the roof angle. Mine was less than 45 degrees, and I could just walk on it with trainers, once the morning dew had gone. Also depends on the tiles. The original ones took my weight without any problems. The new ones I bought to replace a few broken ones promptly broke when I stepped on them. I used a roof ladder when doing areas away from the valley, but you can't get it near the valley.

Note that a valley should be waterproof without any pointing, except in very high winds. Failed pointing could be directing water where it shouldn't go. Mine was leaking due to some cracked tiles higher up, and the roofing felt having rotted where it met the valley gully so water ran into the loft. I stripped mine back about 1.5 metres either side of the valley, put new modern felt down, new battens, and relaid the tiles, replacing the broken ones.

I had scafolding erected with the platform about 2' below the gutter line. I was also replacing the facias and gutters, and fitted plastic trays which support the edge of the roofing felt and prevent any splashing from the gutters getting back onto the facia (can't remember what it's called).

best is pretty solid tower to the eaves, and a ladder spread on a cushion to avoid heavy point loads on wht you rest it on, and the whole lot tied together.

See post about repointing not actually being the way to waterproof though. Ive got overlapping lead sheeting under my tiles..

Thanks everyone for the replies. I had hoped that the missing pointing might be to blame for my leak but that seems like wishful thinking. I think i'll have to erect the tower, inspect the area and maybe use a hose to try and identify the problem.

Actualy it was a crap vall;ey that lead to me finally ripping this house down and staring again.

To be brutally honest, patching doesn't work. You need to remove slates/tiles and fix it underneath.

What can you see from the underside (loft)? We could guess some possibilities based on exactly where the water is coming in and the visible state of the felt, damp/staining of nearby timber, gully support, etc.

Mine was quite obvious in that the felt had rotted through where it met the gully, and was hanging down into the loft with water dripping from it. Reaching through an overlap in the felt higher up the roof showed water was running down the felt from higher up, so although the leak appeared around the gully, the original fault was actually a cracked tile well up and away from the gully. I could have just replaced that tile, but having got such good access with the scafolding, I decided to take the opportunity to strip back the roof and replace the felt along the gully edges, thereby restoring the two lines of defence.

The problem with felt is that it has at best 15 years lifespan.

Lead is the way to go really..felt wasn't designed to be a waterproof barrier.

I belief nowadays you can get other sorts of flashing too..but essentially you NEED a waterproof gully running down the valley base and extending a fair way to either side.

I my case it was about 1 foot wide plates of lead, overlapped and folded and hammered into place..a single run is apparently liable to shrink in frost, and split..and that was tiled over

I'm talking about under the roof, not exposed.

That bit of felt lasted 35 years, but had been badly installed (it had loads of rubble caught in it and had sagged into a shape which collected water). The rest of the felt is still pretty much in brand new condition after 35 years, or I would have replaced more of it. It's the bitumin cloth stuff. My parents house has that too and it's over 50 years old, and still looks perfect. The modern felt I used has a 50 year guarantee. It's some type of glass fibre reinforced plastic (impossible to tear), with a furry inside surface to prevent condensation drips. I used the non-breathable type along the gully edges thinking it might be more water resistant and it had a longer guarantee (and the loft has plenty of ventilation everywhere else).

This one is a GRP gully. That was fine -- I had it installed 20 years ago when the lead failed. Difficult to remember now, but I think it's over 2' wide, extending some way under the tile edges. The felt is just a secondary line of defense - it doesn't form the gully and isn't exposed/visible externally.

there's a kit to attach to normal ladders to make them into roof ladders but i dont know how good it is.

but how to tie a safety rope?

a rope around a chimney?

you could throw the rope over the house and attach it to a car but dont leave the car keys in it!

is there a metal fixing that could perhaps go all the way around my chimneys to attach a safety rope to?

what is 'best practice?'

someone suggested ninja footwear for grip here months ago...

I have a screwfix one, and it works fine. It's not a quick fix/remove one -- it takes a while to screw all the bits together and again to take it apart. Also, normal ladders are rarely long enough to reach from the gutter to the ridge.

I had a similar problem with a lead valley on my roof which was probably original from the 1950s. It would leak into the loft when there was any decent amount of rainfall. I had scaffolding set up in April this year with a view to replacing the valley and the lower 1 metre of felt all way around the roof.

Several roofers quoted for the job and it turned out that it would have cost another grand to strip all the tiles and reroof on breathable underlay. Since the scaffolding was already there I took the view it was worthwhile refelting the lot since there was no ventilation in the loft anyway. The incremental work/time was minimal and has at least given me a 'new' roof which I am assuming should help when surveyed for selling. The roofers told me that often patching with felt on valleys and edges can take as long as an entire re-roof since there is a lot more faffing around.

A good suggestion when doing roofing work on this vintage of house is to insulate above the lintels of top floor windows. They were a massive cold bridge which I covered with cut sheets of celotex/ expanding foam. The roofers thought I had gone mad, but I didn't care! Only this winter will tell what difference its made...

Martyn

So am I..

Odd. We had it the other way around, roofing 'felt' (some sort of Tyvek which iS much better) UNDER the lead..

That does seem a slightly extreme solution to a roof leak.

Andy

last straw and camels backs. It (house) was leaking in many places and the timberwork was rotten.

Ths leak kept tripping the power. I had a builder 'fix' it and it got worse.

we only meant to renovate, but there turned out not to be anything worth renovating underneath..