Roof repair

A friend of mine has some problems with the roof on her house. The lining is ripped and hanging loose in places, some tiles are loose and there is rot starting to appear in the timber under a valley part of the gable.

Her instinct is to get the inside of the roof sprayed with foam, partly to sort those problems and partly to further improve the insulation.

I've no idea if this is a good solution or what sort of questions to ask a surveyor when they come to quote for the work.

Any advice or suggestions ?

Reply to
Roly
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It's a bodge, and generally makes the roof fail much faster. It needs to be fixed properly.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Arrange for a relative to become urgently sick...and leave the area at once.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Tell her, beg her, implore her, order her - whatever it takes - to cancel the appointment.

David

Reply to
Lobster

Simply don't. If the roof is leaking this will just accelerate the rotting of the timbers. Timber can stand getting damp on occasions provided it can dry out again. Foam won't stop it getting wet if the roof is faulty but will prevent it drying out.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Once the foam is in place the problems cannot be fixed cheaply or easily.

The manufacturor/installer of roof foam requires that the roof be in good order BEFORE the installation.

Dave

Reply to
someone here

Thanks for all the comments.

Well it's not hard to see that the consensus is that foam isn't the favoured solution.

The lady in question has found builders and tradesmen to be unreliable, being happy to quote for a job, but not always coming back to actually carry out work - at least not for small jobs.

So would she be better to get a roofing contractor or a builder in ?

She lives in a very small town, so there aren't that many tradesmen around to offer a range of quotes. Are there any crafty ways to ensure that the quote is realistic and the work is done well ?

Reply to
Roly

I'm afraid it doesn't sound like a minor or small job.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

The current position is that the lady isn't convinced by the advice not to use foam. She asks for specific reasons why it's not a good idea. At the moment I can understand her point that it could mostly be a gut reaction against getting foam. The only valid reason so far was about timber not being able to dry out. Any other reasons ?

She's quite impressed by the fact that some prestigious clients appear to have had this sort of work done, including the National Trust. They try to look after their buildings, so she feels that they wouldn't botch things.

Once again, I know nothing of such things and would welcome any advice.

Reply to
Roly

Fine. If she's convinced she knows better than *all* the advice she's had from here then tell her to go ahead. Doncha just love it?

Has she asked a decent roofing company what's required for a proper fix? Or even - perish the thought - an architect, if it's an old property?

Spraying gunge inside the roof may well be a short term fix. But if she intends living there for a while only puts off the time when the job has to be done properly - and that then is likely to cost more. On top of the price of the gunge which will then have to be removed.

And if she intends to sell will simply be seen as a bodge by the surveyor.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

classic isnt it.

Let her read up on it. eg at periodproperty.co.uk's forum, they discussed it in detail.

yes.

it also may be an unsafe repair, depending on whether the foam is strong enough to hold the roof up with rotten wood. It sounds like thats what will happen.

But more to the point, it isnt relevant to the repair anyhow. Repairing the problem and foam coating are 2 separate things. Foam wont fix the problems.

And btw ripped felt is a very minor thing, assuming the roof design is basically ok. You dont need felt, it just reduces dust and dirt in the loft, and acts as a backup in case of roof damage. Lots of roofs have no felt.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

Spraying the inside under any roof covering is an absolute no no. Its use is only for short term for a complete re roof . There is no ventilation for condensation and if the roof as to be repaired, its a nightmare to get access to find where the ingress of water in coming from. You just cant remove any of the roof covering to replace tiles or slates without cutting away the foam from the underside for about 2 feet or

600 mm area just to replace one slate or tile. Any ingress of water will just spread and rot any timbers. I'm not convinced that the National Trust still use this method. Once a roof as been sprayed none of the slates or tiles can be reused, this stuff sticks to every thing. The cost of a re roof will be double of an ordinary re roof. I very much doubt if 100% of the underside is covered right down to the eaves. All the underlay has to be taken off from ridge to fascias, any leaks made watertight and rotting timbers replace with new or treated to stop further decay.

From what I read its the valley section that's causing the trouble. If the roof cover is of the single lap concrete tile type with concrete valley trough, this is a common problem with this type of roof. Theses valley trough lay direct on to the underlay felt. Over the years, due to the trough condensation, this rots the underlay, then the valley rafter. Also the mortar bedding disintegrates and sucks water in and contributes to the problem and eventually cause timber rot and wet ceilings. The cure is to get the valley trough taken out, re felted and GRP valley section fitted and the tiles reinstated, re aligned bed and pointed. If the valley it of Lead construction, simple have it renewed with new lead lining.

I have done this many times. I have photos but don't know how to put them on the group for you to see how its done. If any member knows how to put theses pics on a site for viewing, please advise

K Spencer.

Reply to
keith_765

Reply to
keith_765

PS I bet the English Heritage don't you it. I know that the National Federation of roofing contractors don't recommend it..

Reply to
keith_765

Someone asked the same question here the other day - here are the replies:

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Reply to
Lobster

You have some free web space with your ntl account - it will be called something like

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and you can upload files to it using ftp://upload.ntlworld.com, where the username and password are those for your main ntl account.

Reply to
Rob Morley

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