Morning.

I've just been putting the Christmas decorations away in the roof and
noticed that there were a few signs of water leakage on various bits of the
roof joinery. Upon closer inspection it appears that the pointing on the
underside of the tiles (no felt), which has been slowly falling away for
years, has exposed quite a few small holes. The rubbish weather recently has
been getting in through these small holes (biggest one is about 5mm dia.).

Am I ok just to repoint the underside of the tiles, or should I get a
professional roofer to come and have a look? The tiling and woodwork all
appears sound, it's just the pointing that looks to have failed.

Cheers,
James

"James Amor" wrote in message
...
Morning.

I've just been putting the Christmas decorations away in the roof and
noticed that there were a few signs of water leakage on various bits of
the
roof joinery. Upon closer inspection it appears that the pointing on the
underside of the tiles (no felt), which has been slowly falling away for
years, has exposed quite a few small holes. The rubbish weather recently
has
been getting in through these small holes (biggest one is about 5mm dia.).

Am I ok just to repoint the underside of the tiles, or should I get a
professional roofer to come and have a look? The tiling and woodwork all
appears sound, it's just the pointing that looks to have failed.

Cheers,
James


pointing on the inside is probably just a previous bodge.

mrcheerful
. submitted this idea :
"James Amor" wrote in message
...
Morning.

I've just been putting the Christmas decorations away in the roof and
noticed that there were a few signs of water leakage on various bits of the
roof joinery. Upon closer inspection it appears that the pointing on the
underside of the tiles (no felt), which has been slowly falling away for
years, has exposed quite a few small holes. The rubbish weather recently
has
been getting in through these small holes (biggest one is about 5mm dia.).

Am I ok just to repoint the underside of the tiles, or should I get a
professional roofer to come and have a look? The tiling and woodwork all
appears sound, it's just the pointing that looks to have failed.

Cheers,
James


pointing on the inside is probably just a previous bodge.

No it was not a bodge, it was a standard method prior to the common use
of roofing felt combined with a greater overlap on the tiles. They used
a very weak mix of sand and cement for the pointing.

Actual holes, rather than just light getting in between the layers of
tiles, would mean the tiles need to be looked at for damage.

--

Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

snip
Actual holes, rather than just light getting in between the layers of
tiles, would mean the tiles need to be looked at for damage.
snip

I don't think tile damage is something to be concerned about, it's mainly
where the corners of two tiles slightly overlap the top edge of the tile
below - the corners of the tiles are not a perfect 90 so there is a gap.
This accounts for 99% of the gaps - the pointing was previously covering
these gaps up.

James Amor formulated the question :
I don't think tile damage is something to be concerned about, it's mainly
where the corners of two tiles slightly overlap the top edge of the tile
below - the corners of the tiles are not a perfect 90 so there is a gap.
This accounts for 99% of the gaps - the pointing was previously covering
these gaps up.

In that case I would not worry about it, our tiling seems to be a
minimum of at least three thicknesses of tile overlap at every point of
the roof. Most of our pointing has fallen off and we only get the
slightest of water being blown in under extreme weather conditions. I
don't think occaisional moisture is detrimental, only continual regular
soaking.

--

Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

In article
Harry Bloomfield wrote:
mrcheerful
. submitted this idea :
"James Amor" wrote in message
...
Morning.

I've just been putting the Christmas decorations away in the roof and
noticed that there were a few signs of water leakage on various bits of the
roof joinery. Upon closer inspection it appears that the pointing on the
underside of the tiles (no felt), which has been slowly falling away for
years, has exposed quite a few small holes. The rubbish weather recently
has
been getting in through these small holes (biggest one is about 5mm dia.).

Am I ok just to repoint the underside of the tiles, or should I get a
professional roofer to come and have a look? The tiling and woodwork all
appears sound, it's just the pointing that looks to have failed.

Cheers,
James


pointing on the inside is probably just a previous bodge.

No it was not a bodge, it was a standard method prior to the common use
of roofing felt combined with a greater overlap on the tiles. They used
a very weak mix of sand and cement for the pointing.

ITYF it was usually lime mortar they used.

In article ,
James Amor wrote:
I've just been putting the Christmas decorations away in the roof and
noticed that there were a few signs of water leakage on various bits of
the roof joinery. Upon closer inspection it appears that the pointing on
the underside of the tiles (no felt), which has been slowly falling away
for years, has exposed quite a few small holes. The rubbish weather
recently has been getting in through these small holes (biggest one is
about 5mm dia.).

Am I ok just to repoint the underside of the tiles, or should I get a
professional roofer to come and have a look? The tiling and woodwork all
appears sound, it's just the pointing that looks to have failed.

A properly constructed tiled roof doesn't have pointing.

--
*Marathon runners with bad footwear suffer the agony of defeat.*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 11:51:47 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
James Amor wrote:
I've just been putting the Christmas decorations away in the roof and
noticed that there were a few signs of water leakage on various bits of
the roof joinery. Upon closer inspection it appears that the pointing on
the underside of the tiles (no felt), which has been slowly falling away
for years, has exposed quite a few small holes. The rubbish weather
recently has been getting in through these small holes (biggest one is
about 5mm dia.).

Am I ok just to repoint the underside of the tiles, or should I get a
professional roofer to come and have a look? The tiling and woodwork all
appears sound, it's just the pointing that looks to have failed.

A properly constructed tiled roof doesn't have pointing.

A modern one won't, but one built before the second world war may well
have. Ours, built c1930 has.

Bill

"Bill Taylor" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 11:51:47 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
James Amor wrote:
I've just been putting the Christmas decorations away in the roof and
noticed that there were a few signs of water leakage on various bits of
the roof joinery. Upon closer inspection it appears that the pointing
on
the underside of the tiles (no felt), which has been slowly falling
away
for years, has exposed quite a few small holes. The rubbish weather
recently has been getting in through these small holes (biggest one is
about 5mm dia.).

Am I ok just to repoint the underside of the tiles, or should I get a
professional roofer to come and have a look? The tiling and woodwork
all
appears sound, it's just the pointing that looks to have failed.

A properly constructed tiled roof doesn't have pointing.

A modern one won't, but one built before the second world war may well
have. Ours, built c1930 has.

Bill

The house is 1936 and having spoken to our neighbours, all the houses around
here are built the same way.

James Amor wrote:

The house is 1936 and having spoken to our neighbours, all the houses around
here are built the same way.

The 'pointing' is not there to stop water, rather to reduce draughts and
minimise slate movement. It was most commonly done with lime mortar.

Our roof is the same, slates + lime mortar. Most of it has fallen away
now, but the roof doesn't leak and there are no visible holes.

To answer your original question, no, you can't just plug up the holes
with mortar. If you do that, water will still get through. The correct
way of repairing this is to ensure no holes are present by allowing
adequate tile overlaps.

If you only have a couple of holes, and the rof is otherwise watertight,
you can use a bituminous roof repair compound to fill those holes, such as:

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?cId=100147&ts=24358&id=42717


--
Grunff

Brilliant, exactly what I was looking for!
Thanks.


"Grunff" wrote in message
...
James Amor wrote:

The house is 1936 and having spoken to our neighbours, all the houses
around
here are built the same way.

The 'pointing' is not there to stop water, rather to reduce draughts and
minimise slate movement. It was most commonly done with lime mortar.

Our roof is the same, slates + lime mortar. Most of it has fallen away
now, but the roof doesn't leak and there are no visible holes.

To answer your original question, no, you can't just plug up the holes
with mortar. If you do that, water will still get through. The correct
way of repairing this is to ensure no holes are present by allowing
adequate tile overlaps.

If you only have a couple of holes, and the rof is otherwise watertight,
you can use a bituminous roof repair compound to fill those holes, such
as:

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?cId=100147&ts=24358&id=42717


--
Grunff

In article ,
Bill Taylor wrote:
A properly constructed tiled roof doesn't have pointing.

A modern one won't, but one built before the second world war may well
have. Ours, built c1930 has.

Ok - but most tiled roofs won't be that old.

--
*I don't work here. I'm a consultant

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

on 08/01/2006, Dave Plowman (News) supposed :
In article ,
Bill Taylor wrote:
A properly constructed tiled roof doesn't have pointing.

A modern one won't, but one built before the second world war may well
have. Ours, built c1930 has.

Ok - but most tiled roofs won't be that old.

That would depend upon the area, plus the availability/desireability/
cost of slate tiles. They have been using tiles for probably as long as
they have been using bricks.

--

Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

In article ,
Harry Bloomfield wrote:
A properly constructed tiled roof doesn't have pointing.

A modern one won't, but one built before the second world war may well
have. Ours, built c1930 has.

Ok - but most tiled roofs won't be that old.

That would depend upon the area, plus the availability/desireability/
cost of slate tiles. They have been using tiles for probably as long as
they have been using bricks.

Yes - but I meant that most '30s tiled roofs would have been replaced by
now. Judging by what you see in London. Perhaps other areas had better
tiles?

--
*He's not dead - he's electroencephalographically challenged

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
James Amor wrote:
I've just been putting the Christmas decorations away in the roof and
noticed that there were a few signs of water leakage on various bits of
the roof joinery. Upon closer inspection it appears that the pointing on
the underside of the tiles (no felt), which has been slowly falling away
for years, has exposed quite a few small holes. The rubbish weather
recently has been getting in through these small holes (biggest one is
about 5mm dia.).

Am I ok just to repoint the underside of the tiles, or should I get a
professional roofer to come and have a look? The tiling and woodwork all
appears sound, it's just the pointing that looks to have failed.

A properly constructed tiled roof doesn't have pointing.


It's called torching, and was a standard technique pre-WWII

In article ,
Rob Morley wrote:
Am I ok just to repoint the underside of the tiles, or should I get
a professional roofer to come and have a look? The tiling and
woodwork all appears sound, it's just the pointing that looks to
have failed.

A properly constructed tiled roof doesn't have pointing.


It's called torching, and was a standard technique pre-WWII

None on mine.

--
*If horrific means to make horrible, does terrific mean to make terrible?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

James Amor wrote:
Morning.

I've just been putting the Christmas decorations away in the roof and
noticed that there were a few signs of water leakage on various bits of the
roof joinery. Upon closer inspection it appears that the pointing on the
underside of the tiles (no felt), which has been slowly falling away for
years, has exposed quite a few small holes. The rubbish weather recently has
been getting in through these small holes (biggest one is about 5mm dia.).

Am I ok just to repoint the underside of the tiles, or should I get a
professional roofer to come and have a look? The tiling and woodwork all
appears sound, it's just the pointing that looks to have failed.

Cheers,
James

Shouldnt normally be any pointing there. What sort of tiles, modern
flattish concrete ones or old curved terracotta things? Sounds like
someone else had a lot of roof trouble too.

As a bodge, you may get away with patching the mortar, but its nowt
more than a bodge. I'd be asking why this was done with the roof in the
first place. The usual reason is that the tiles/slates keep falling
off, and its cheaper than reroofing.


NT

In message .com,
writes
James Amor wrote:
Morning.

I've just been putting the Christmas decorations away in the roof and
noticed that there were a few signs of water leakage on various bits of the
roof joinery. Upon closer inspection it appears that the pointing on the
underside of the tiles (no felt), which has been slowly falling away for
years, has exposed quite a few small holes. The rubbish weather recently has
been getting in through these small holes (biggest one is about 5mm dia.).

Am I ok just to repoint the underside of the tiles, or should I get a
professional roofer to come and have a look? The tiling and woodwork all
appears sound, it's just the pointing that looks to have failed.

Cheers,
James

Shouldnt normally be any pointing there. What sort of tiles, modern
flattish concrete ones or old curved terracotta things? Sounds like
someone else had a lot of roof trouble too.

As a bodge, you may get away with patching the mortar, but its nowt
more than a bodge. I'd be asking why this was done with the roof in the
first place. The usual reason is that the tiles/slates keep falling
off, and its cheaper than reroofing.


Have you read the rest of the thread?

As has been already pointed out it was a common (though probably not
universal) practice with prewar tiled roofs
--
Chris French

"chris French" wrote in message
...
In message .com,
writes
James Amor wrote:
Morning.

I've just been putting the Christmas decorations away in the roof and
noticed that there were a few signs of water leakage on various bits of
the
roof joinery. Upon closer inspection it appears that the pointing on the
underside of the tiles (no felt), which has been slowly falling away for
years, has exposed quite a few small holes. The rubbish weather recently
has
been getting in through these small holes (biggest one is about 5mm
dia.).

Am I ok just to repoint the underside of the tiles, or should I get a
professional roofer to come and have a look? The tiling and woodwork all
appears sound, it's just the pointing that looks to have failed.

Cheers,
James

Shouldnt normally be any pointing there. What sort of tiles, modern
flattish concrete ones or old curved terracotta things? Sounds like
someone else had a lot of roof trouble too.

As a bodge, you may get away with patching the mortar, but its nowt
more than a bodge. I'd be asking why this was done with the roof in the
first place. The usual reason is that the tiles/slates keep falling
off, and its cheaper than reroofing.


Have you read the rest of the thread?

As has been already pointed out it was a common (though probably not
universal) practice with prewar tiled roofs

I'm back for another reason but couldn't help seeing this thread.

We live on a small inter-war estate. Our house was built in 1937 and was
bought from new by my mother's sister and her husband. We bought it from her
in 1964, I've known it all my life.

When it was new my father 'back pointed' the rosemary tiles, it most
certainly wasn't a bodged job, it was a deliberate, good job and inside the
whole roof.

Very many of the other houses on the estate now either have new roofs or
have needed replacement tiles as they've been dislodged by high winds over
the years. Our roof is probably unique in that it has needed absolutely no
maintenance of any kind in almost seventy years.

My uncle was fairly wealthy and had various non-standard installations by
friends and family which we still enjoy. He could afford to pay my father to
do the back pointing but it wasn't standard. My father was glad of the work
in those days, they were hard times. My aunt's family and the Fisher family,
have certainly benefited from his work and our sound roof is a constant
reminder of my Dad who is now dead.

Mary
--
Chris French