Any Roofers on here? - Flat bay roof

[johny5_uk]

I have a bedroom bay window with a flat roof and the main roof being tiled flows all the rain water on to this flat roof.
It has been re-felted a few years ago and is sound apart from when it rains. The roof appears to be angled away from the house (for obvious reasons) to allow the rain to fall off the edge but this causes damp on the ground floor.
When the rain flows off the edge (and it really does flow!) it falls to the floor then splashes up the ground floor bay brickwork by a couple of feet, a foot or so above the damp course.

while a roofer was doing some work a while ago i got him to wedge half a piece of guttering under the tiles where the tile met the flat bay roof so it could channel the water to either sides of the bay roof and into the gutter. This didnt work too well though as the gutter itself is slightly higher.

My next thought would be to somehow put a LARGE bead of silicon or something? along the front edge of the bay to stop water falling off the front edge and go down the sides.
There isnt any worry if water built up on the bay roof as the lip at the back where the tiles are is fairly high at about 2" to 3".

Any ideas on a relatively cost effective solution or do i just let a roofer come and sort it.

 

[developer]

Photo please, of the roof and it's surroundings.

What did the roofer suggest - he's the expert?

 

[artyman]

Is there no guttering for the length of the main roof, seems a bit odd. I have a similar bay with that having a flat roof, but the rainfall on the main roof is carried by the guttering and downpipe.

 

[johny5_uk]

The roofer was cracking on with the solar panels install and he was way behind schedule so didnt want to divert him too much at the time

here is a pic. The gutter does run the full length apart from at the bay. it resumes after the bay and then in to the neighbours along with going down a downpipe.

you can make out the length of gutter he wedged underneath the bottom row of tiles. It had actually been cut straight down the centre so that the gutter wasnt too deep (I feared if there was a heavy downpour then it would fill this section and go back up under the tiles so had planned it just to overflow as normal on to the flat bay).

 

[PXW]

Does your neighbour not have the same problem? Looking at the piffle it's hard to read the levels but would ther be room simply to extend your main guttering where the half pipe has been wedged?

Alternatively, get some radius curved guttering, get together with your neighbour so he does the same and and put guttering on the outside edge of the bay...run the outfalll from both curved sections to a new down pipe between the bays...

 

[davidjpowell]

Those, apart from this odd arrangement look not particularly old. Solid or cavity walls?

 

[renault12ts]

Could you not just put a gutter around the bay?

 

[developer]

A couple of suggestions:

Curved guttering is available, though as it would sit lower than the main guttering you'd have to get any downspout to join the existing.


Probably a better idea would be to have a lead section formed at the bottom of the tiles in question, falling back into one of the gutters.


Either way, it's too large an area to not have some method of water collection/diversion.


What have others with similar roofs done - your immediate neighbour looks the same as yours, with nothing.

 

[developer]

What are the cables in the gutter .

 

[johny5_uk]

thanks for the advice,

Cables are from the satellite dish by the previous occupier, I dont have satellite and thought they werent doing much harm so left them.

With regards to the walls I guess theyre in the middle of being solid/cavity. I was gutted to find that I couldnt have cavity wall insulation because although there is a cavity its about 1" thick (or thin!!). The house was built around 1940.

There are around 5 more houses the same as mine with a bay and no one has done anything by the looks of it.
I do like the thought of guttering around the bay as it definitely sounds like the best solution all round as oppose to messing around with the flat roof but didn't want it to not look right?

I wasnt sure if you could actually get curved guttering or if you have to have small straight sections, I will have to have a look.

Thats a straight forward job and I can remove the old iron down pipe between the houses and run a new plastic one and T into it from here.

Surprising how easy it all sounds now with a few heads thinking about it! cheers guys.

 

[developer]

Are you sure they are all the same - the other one shown looks original (lead or zinc) whereas yours has been felted.

Do the others have an upstand around the perimeter and a hidden outlet anywhere?

It's odd that there's nothing as it's clearly a problem.

 

[John]

Deep rectangular plant pots at the bottom all round the bay so the water soaks in rather than bouncing off the concrete?

 

[johny5_uk]

They do look the same in as much they all appear to let water drip off the edge fairly rapidly.
I think they were originally leaded but mine must have been felted at some point.
JohnEBoy, the drive is solid concrete hence why the water bounces back up against e bay wall and I had almost thought about digging up the concrete at the side of the walls and putting pea gravel down.

 

[John]

Yeah - that's the kind of thing I'm thinking - something to break the fall of the water.

You could just put some pea gravel 'on top' assuming the trap wont then breach the damp proof course - maybe surrounded by wood first of all to get an idea what depth will break the fall (or put some in a tray and use a watering can out of the bedroom window with someone observing the splashback, as it were!).

Alternatively, dig up some of the concrete but if you put it on top, you don't have to do any digging or damaging of what is there.

Some small concrete edging blocks with slight gaps to allow water to drain and you're in business.

End of the day, you want the cheapest and easiest solution I would have thought.

I'd still consider guttering but if it doesn't resolve it, you may have a great plan B here - plan A if you hate heights!

 

[johny5_uk]

Went up the ladder to have another look today..

The gutter on the far side IS underneath the bay roof, so it looks like the roof should slant backward towards the house and to the right (if you are looking at the house face on) so that the water flows down into this gutter.
I can only assume when it was re-felted that they changed the fall/drop of the roof.
As oppose to getting the roof redone i think maybe a quick fix would be to get something like (dont swear) that spray foam to create a 1" high lip around the edge of the felt and then paint it with black bitumen roof paint?

 

[developer]

Went up the ladder to have another look today..

The gutter on the far side IS underneath the bay roof, so it looks like the roof should slant backward towards the house and to the right (if you are looking at the house face on) so that the water flows down into this gutter.
I can only assume when it was re-felted that they changed the fall/drop of the roof.
As oppose to getting the roof redone i think maybe a quick fix would be to get something like (dont swear) that spray foam to create a 1" high lip around the edge of the felt and then paint it with black bitumen roof paint?

That's a codge, not a solution .

Have you spent a few months on that roof to see what Mother Nature does to buildings?

If the scaff is still up, you'll never have a better time to fix it.

 

[johny5_uk]

good point, moss and crap will form around the lip.
The scaffold is long gone otherwise I would have got some felt myself and maybe plyboard underneath to form the correct angles to channel it down towards that gutter.

I think I will get a quote to have it done.

 

[Harrythedog]

I'd extend the gutter for the main roof over the head of the bay and lead the bay roof. No more problems. The fact that all the main roof's rain water will go into the new extended gutter will just about stop any massive rainfall coming off the flat roof and onto your path

 

[developer]

I'd extend the gutter for the main roof over the head of the bay and lead the bay roof. No more problems. The fact that all the main roof's rain water will go into the new extended gutter will just about stop any massive rainfall coming off the flat roof and onto your path

The photo of the existing gutter suggests it's not that easy or the gutter would have no break in it.

The OP is suggesting there's a back fall/formed outlet that's been cocked up by the fall/felt re-roof.

 

[PXW]

Does your neighbour not have the same problem? Looking at the piffle it's hard to read the levels but would ther be room simply to extend your main guttering where the half pipe has been wedged?

piffle, picture, it's all the same to iPad autocorrect....