Any suggestions for the flaunching mortar mix for a valley gutter?
I've seen 1:4 recommended for flaunching around chimney pots, so
I assume this is not wildly out.
What about the sand -- sharp sand or building sand?

Guess who's repairing his roof today...

--
Andrew Gabriel

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Any suggestions for the flaunching mortar mix for a valley gutter?
I've seen 1:4 recommended for flaunching around chimney pots, so
I assume this is not wildly out.
What about the sand -- sharp sand or building sand?

Guess who's repairing his roof today...

--
Andrew Gabriel

A 4:1 would be fine.

I would use building sand for workability, but add some sharp sand too
for weather resistance 2:1 0r 3:1 ratio. Some PVA will also help.

But remember, its not so much the mix, but the trowelled finish that
will give it the tough surface and greater weather resistance.

dg

In article . com,
"dg" writes:

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Any suggestions for the flaunching mortar mix for a valley gutter?
I've seen 1:4 recommended for flaunching around chimney pots, so
I assume this is not wildly out.
What about the sand -- sharp sand or building sand?

Guess who's repairing his roof today...

A 4:1 would be fine.

I would use building sand for workability, but add some sharp sand too
for weather resistance 2:1 0r 3:1 ratio. Some PVA will also help.

But remember, its not so much the mix, but the trowelled finish that
will give it the tough surface and greater weather resistance.

Thanks.

Didn't get to the flaunching today -- that will be tomorrow, or
Wednesday if I need to buy more tiles.

I would like the tiles to overhang the flaunching slightly, so
that even if the tile to flaunching bond breaks, the water still
goes into the gulley. However, that makes it really hard to get
a good finish under the tile edge. The way it was done was the
flaunching was brought up in front of the cut tile edges and
made level with the tile top. This may be because, having removed
the flaunching, I can see the cut tile edges are not in a very
straight line, which the flaunching was making up for.

Still thinking this one through...

--
Andrew Gabriel

"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
.. .
In article . com,
"dg" writes:

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Any suggestions for the flaunching mortar mix for a valley gutter?
I've seen 1:4 recommended for flaunching around chimney pots, so
I assume this is not wildly out.
What about the sand -- sharp sand or building sand?

Guess who's repairing his roof today...

A 4:1 would be fine.

I would use building sand for workability, but add some sharp sand too
for weather resistance 2:1 0r 3:1 ratio. Some PVA will also help.

But remember, its not so much the mix, but the trowelled finish that
will give it the tough surface and greater weather resistance.

Thanks.

Didn't get to the flaunching today -- that will be tomorrow, or
Wednesday if I need to buy more tiles.

I would like the tiles to overhang the flaunching slightly, so
that even if the tile to flaunching bond breaks, the water still
goes into the gulley. However, that makes it really hard to get
a good finish under the tile edge. The way it was done was the
flaunching was brought up in front of the cut tile edges and
made level with the tile top. This may be because, having removed
the flaunching, I can see the cut tile edges are not in a very
straight line, which the flaunching was making up for.

Still thinking this one through...

--
Andrew Gabriel

Pointing to a tiled valley can course more trouble. Before I comment I
would like to know, which type of tile is on the roof, concrete single lap
interlocking or plain tiles, and is the valley lined with Lead, GRP or
concrete valley trough. By the way 4 to 1 is useless for this type of work.
2 to 1 stiff mix and PVA if you are leaving the old mortar in. BS 5553
states " Open cut lead valley's with plain tiles should not be bedded or
pointed"

In article ,
"keith_765" writes:
Pointing to a tiled valley can course more trouble. Before I comment I
would like to know, which type of tile is on the roof, concrete single lap
interlocking or plain tiles, and is the valley lined with Lead, GRP or
concrete valley trough. By the way 4 to 1 is useless for this type of work.
2 to 1 stiff mix and PVA if you are leaving the old mortar in. BS 5553
states " Open cut lead valley's with plain tiles should not be bedded or
pointed"

Concrete interlocking tiles (similar to Marley Ludlow Plus),
GRP valley trough. The trough has no upstand at the sides
(other than a pair of small ridges) so I suspect it would
overflow easily without forming a mortar gulley. It has a
strip down each side to bond to the mortar.

I've stripped out the old mortar, which had developed a
number of cracks, and come unstuck from some of the tiles.

--
Andrew Gabriel

In article ,
"keith_765" writes:

"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
. ..
Didn't get to the flaunching today -- that will be tomorrow, or
Wednesday if I need to buy more tiles.

I would like the tiles to overhang the flaunching slightly, so
that even if the tile to flaunching bond breaks, the water still
goes into the gulley. However, that makes it really hard to get
a good finish under the tile edge. The way it was done was the
flaunching was brought up in front of the cut tile edges and
made level with the tile top. This may be because, having removed
the flaunching, I can see the cut tile edges are not in a very
straight line, which the flaunching was making up for.

Still thinking this one through...

Pointing to a tiled valley can course more trouble. Before I comment I
would like to know, which type of tile is on the roof, concrete single lap
interlocking or plain tiles, and is the valley lined with Lead, GRP or
concrete valley trough. By the way 4 to 1 is useless for this type of work.
2 to 1 stiff mix and PVA if you are leaving the old mortar in. BS 5553
states " Open cut lead valley's with plain tiles should not be bedded or
pointed"

I called up Lafarge's helpline, and the chap there was very helpful.
He said to use 3:1, and sharp sand for best result. I asked about
PVA (which I do normally add when I want a strong mortar) and he
wasn't happy about that in mortar exposed to such moisture. He said
if I really wanted a bonding agent, use SBR(?). I commented that I
had waterproof PVA, and he was happy with that (he might have said
that is SBR -- didn't fully catch the comment). He also said to
coat the sand areas on the plastic gully with a slurry of
cement/waterproof-PVA/water in a 2:1:1 ratio to make the mortar
bond well, and apply the mortar whilst the slurry is still tacky.

Anyway, I did one side of the gully. You know that nice feeling you
get when you're doing something and it's going perfectly? Well, I
just wasn't getting that. Mortaring in tiles further up was causing
the ones lower down to move and come unstuck. I had visions of this
last part of the job still leaving me with a leaking roof, screwing
up all the re-felting, replacement of battons and tiles I had done.

In the morning when it had set, the mortar did look better, and the
tiles did all look stuck, but I wasn't going to try tugging on one
to see. I decided to call a roofer to mortar the other side and
redo the side I had done. Roofer came to have a look and said my
side was fine and didn't need redoing. He's going to do the other
side for me though.

Roof was just tested with a torrential downpour. I was up in the
loft looking for leaks, but not a drip to be seen, and that's with
one side of the valley still unmortared. I guess that's a good
sign at least.

I took lots of pictures whilst I stripped the roof around the
valley off, and redid it. When I get a chance, I'll put them up
somewhere. They also turned out to be invaluable when I was retiling
afterwards, as a reference to how it had been tiled before I started.

--
Andrew Gabriel

In article ,
says...
In article ,
"keith_765" writes:

"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
. ..
Didn't get to the flaunching today -- that will be tomorrow, or
Wednesday if I need to buy more tiles.

I would like the tiles to overhang the flaunching slightly, so
that even if the tile to flaunching bond breaks, the water still
goes into the gulley. However, that makes it really hard to get
a good finish under the tile edge. The way it was done was the
flaunching was brought up in front of the cut tile edges and
made level with the tile top. This may be because, having removed
the flaunching, I can see the cut tile edges are not in a very
straight line, which the flaunching was making up for.

Still thinking this one through...

Pointing to a tiled valley can course more trouble. Before I comment I
would like to know, which type of tile is on the roof, concrete single lap
interlocking or plain tiles, and is the valley lined with Lead, GRP or
concrete valley trough. By the way 4 to 1 is useless for this type of work.
2 to 1 stiff mix and PVA if you are leaving the old mortar in. BS 5553
states " Open cut lead valley's with plain tiles should not be bedded or
pointed"

I called up Lafarge's helpline, and the chap there was very helpful.
He said to use 3:1, and sharp sand for best result. I asked about
PVA (which I do normally add when I want a strong mortar) and he
wasn't happy about that in mortar exposed to such moisture. He said
if I really wanted a bonding agent, use SBR

styrene butadiene rubber

On Wed, 31 Aug 2005 22:55:58 +0100, Andrew Gabriel
wrote:

I called up Lafarge's helpline, and the chap there was very helpful.
He said to use 3:1, and sharp sand for best result. I asked about
PVA (which I do normally add when I want a strong mortar) and he
wasn't happy about that in mortar exposed to such moisture. He said
if I really wanted a bonding agent, use SBR(?). I commented that I
had waterproof PVA, and he was happy with that (he might have said
that is SBR -- didn't fully catch the comment). He also said to
coat the sand areas on the plastic gully with a slurry of
cement/waterproof-PVA/water in a 2:1:1 ratio to make the mortar
bond well, and apply the mortar whilst the slurry is still tacky.

PVA in a set cement is resistant to moisture, even submerged, as long as
it is used in the usual amounts or less. SBR is styrene-butadiene rubber,
a synthetic rubber, first developed in the 1930s. Due to the occupation of
Malaysia by the Japanese, and the consequent shortage of rubber (no tyres,
rubber dinghies ,Mae Wests etc.),this spurred the allies into producing it
for the war effort. As dried film, waterproof PVA (actually EVA - Ethylene
Vinyl Acetate) is little better than PVA. In set cement matrices,
performance is similar. Adhesives suitable for swimming pools contain
redispersible PVA. On that subject, I received an email asking why
redispersible PVA powder was being used on the creases of cricket pitches.
A bit of research revealed it was to stabilise the surface for more
consistent behaviour during a match. Yet another use for an amazing
material!

Anyway, I did one side of the gully. You know that nice feeling you
get when you're doing something and it's going perfectly? Well, I
just wasn't getting that. Mortaring in tiles further up was causing
the ones lower down to move and come unstuck. I had visions of this
last part of the job still leaving me with a leaking roof, screwing
up all the re-felting, replacement of battons and tiles I had done.

In hot weather it is a good idea to damp mortar and concrete down every so
often. If the mixture dries out, the hydraulic cure will not take place
properly.

John Schmitt



--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

In article ,
(Andrew Gabriel) writes:
Anyway, I did one side of the gully. You know that nice feeling you
get when you're doing something and it's going perfectly? Well, I
just wasn't getting that. Mortaring in tiles further up was causing
the ones lower down to move and come unstuck. I had visions of this
last part of the job still leaving me with a leaking roof, screwing
up all the re-felting, replacement of battons and tiles I had done.

In the morning when it had set, the mortar did look better, and the
tiles did all look stuck, but I wasn't going to try tugging on one
to see. I decided to call a roofer to mortar the other side and
redo the side I had done. Roofer came to have a look and said my
side was fine and didn't need redoing. He's going to do the other
side for me though.

Roofer came a did the other side. It was very useful to watch him
working and I picked up a number of tips. However, I didn't like
some aspects of what he'd done (no effort to bond the mortar well
to the valley sand strip or to the tiles, amongst other things).
When he'd gone, I pulled out all his mortar and did it all again,
using what I regarded as the best parts of his technique, and the
best parts of mine. All still seems waterproof following another
rain storm.

I didn't regard his visit as a waste of time though -- the chat
with him and watching him work were worth the rather small fee
he charged, and effectively went towards improving my technique.

--
Andrew Gabriel