Overhanging tiles on roof - not.

[TheMitchells]

Our roof edge is a bit wavy, and on some parts there is an over hang and on others there isnt. Its very strange and there isnt even the wooden board along the edge that I often see, including on my neighbours house.

we think this has meant water getting into the brickwork beneath the render and near the top of the gable wall, it looks like it is cracking and coming off. 

Is the only option to redo the tiles along the edge to give an overhang? would it be best to wait till we have had the render sorted and then look at the overhang. 

I have read about some folks here using dry ridges - would they be any use here? 

We plan to speak to a builder soon about the edges and the render so any advice before hand would be appreciated so we will have a better idea if he is giving good or bad advice.

here is a view of the front roof.  I dont know if it will be easy to move the slates along a bit, to give more of an overhang.

A close look at some of the roof edge. its not pretty.

[Stones]

We have rendered right up to the underside of slate on our last three houses. A 50 mm slate overhang is critical (and insisted upon by BC) and ensures water drips off the edge of the slate. I would suggest what you have needs remedial work asap to prevent (further) water ingress.

[Nickfromwales]

I think I'd be equally concerned about the condition of the battens and felt tbh. You may be better taking the lot off, buying some reclaimed to make up the quantity, and doing the felt and battens first as last. If your rendering to them then it will be almost impossible to do the roof later down the line. It will also be a near impossible task to carry out remedial work to the bottom courses of slates as they're nailed then overlaid 3-fold. 

Pointless looking at remedial work for the edges and bottom when the whole thing really needs assessing.

Re-laying the roof will allow the battens to be set out accordingly for the overhangs, bottom and sides. You can use 'dry verge' and 'dry ridge' if you want, which alleviates cementing anywhere, but isn't as nice looking a job IMO unless you choose a nice colour for all the plastics. 

Im not sure you'll have many other options here tbh, and the roof is number one on the 'get right' list. 

[ProDave]

What did they survey say about the roof? surely you knew about this issue before you bought it?

[Onoff]

Can't convince my missus that ideally we need to get our ROOF issues sorted before anything else as that could affect everything below. It's like a constant weight hanging over my head.....literally! 

Just waiting until a roof leak screws up the new bathroom ceiling. Tbh the "I told you so!" moment will feel a bit hollow.

[PeterW]

12 hours ago, TheMitchells said:

Our roof edge is a bit wavy, and on some parts there is an over hang and on others there isnt. Its very strange and there isnt even the wooden board along the edge that I often see, including on my neighbours house.

we think this has meant water getting into the brickwork beneath the render and near the top of the gable wall, it looks like it is cracking and coming off. 

Is the only option to redo the tiles along the edge to give an overhang? would it be best to wait till we have had the render sorted and then look at the overhang. 

I have read about some folks here using dry ridges - would they be any use here? 

We plan to speak to a builder soon about the edges and the render so any advice before hand would be appreciated so we will have a better idea if he is giving good or bad advice.

here is a view of the front roof.  I dont know if it will be easy to move the slates along a bit, to give more of an overhang.

A close look at some of the roof edge. its not pretty.

Ok so you need to do some moving about on that roof and some new slates. Taking the partials out (thin ones) and moving things about will give you some room to get a proper overhang which can be rendered up to. 

If the rest of the roof is in ok condition then you may find it can be done off a gable end scaffold and you can sort the render at the same time. 

If the battens are too short then you may have to take the first 3 slates off each row to get to at least two rafters to replace the batten ends. 

[TheMitchells]

Thanks for all those comments. 

I shall suggest we do as you say, Peter and Nick.  Dave, yes we had the survey done and he did point it out and say we had to get it fixed.  He didnt say how but I guess I is a fairly simple job once we have some scaffolding up.  I was quoted yesterday around £600 to scaffolding between the two houses to enable to roof and rander to be sorted. 

[Fallingditch]

On 9 July 2016 at 08:19, Nickfromwales said:

"You can use 'dry verge' and 'dry ridge' if you want, which alleviates cementing anywhere, but isn't as nice looking a job IMO unless you choose a nice colour for all the plastics" 

 

Nick I understand (I think) how on a gable wall slates can be laid on mortar and overhang 50mm so as to get rid of the rain without being ripped up by gale force winds. But I don't understand how on the non gable wall you stop the slates being lifted? (which is what the dry verge does, I think?) 

 

Excuse my ignorance here but am trying to understand the pros and cons of dry verges !

[Declan52]

Quicker with no motar to fall out.

Nail every edge tile and if necessary glue tiny angled cuts to the tile beside it. 

Having read that back its a dry valley I am describing not a verge!!!

Don't go with the plastic cap it it's slate tiles. You are going for an old looking tiled roof so plastic shinny caps don't work as they stay shinny long after the tiles dull down.

Edited August 21, 2016 by Declan52
Too tired!!!

[Nickfromwales]

The only 'con' is they're not very sympathetic to the look of a slate roof IMO, unless you go to a coloured one. If your walls are white you may get away with white, but it's down to personal choice. 

The other thing is the DV will need overhanging battens for it to be secured to. I can't recall if they get cut short to allow the rain to drip off or whether that's an issue or not, ( as the battens are tanalised ).

Overhanging the slate and packing with mortar can be done for sure, but it's a recognised point of failure / maintenance. You could still do either tbh, it's down to the look you prefer. .