Eaves drip tray - another thing I didn't know
Jethro
paid *another* roofer to refix my ridge tiles, I was less than
impressed when I was shown that
a) I don't have any eaves drip trays fitted, and that has led to
b) the new fascia board I fitted 8 years ago starting to rot.
Luckily it's a bungalow, and while I couldn't scrabble about on the
roof, I'm happy 3ft up a ladder. Would I be correct in assuming that
fitting a drip tray is fairly easy in the first instance - just push
the last tile back (like the guys did today to show me) and then lay
the plastic down ? In the first instance, to prevent any further
damage ? Then when funds (and time) permit, replace the fascia board ?
Would it be better to push all the tiles back, do the job in one
(45ft) run. Or do it in sections ?
Must admit to being a little bit miffed the previous guy ("25 years
experience") didn't flag this - although other issues I had with him
mean he never going to be used again.
Andrew Gabriel
Jethro <krazy...@googlemail.com> writes:
> Had a speculative "ding-dong" from a passing roofer today. Having just
> paid *another* roofer to refix my ridge tiles, I was less than
> impressed when I was shown that
>
> a) I don't have any eaves drip trays fitted, and that has led to
> b) the new fascia board I fitted 8 years ago starting to rot.
>
> Luckily it's a bungalow, and while I couldn't scrabble about on the
> roof, I'm happy 3ft up a ladder. Would I be correct in assuming that
> fitting a drip tray is fairly easy in the first instance - just push
> the last tile back (like the guys did today to show me) and then lay
> the plastic down ? In the first instance, to prevent any further
> damage ? Then when funds (and time) permit, replace the fascia board ?
I tend to push the second or third row up, and then lift off the
row(s) in front (how many rows depends how long the tiles are).
The tray has to go under the felt, and then overhang the rear of
the gutter. You may have to trim the overhang into the gutter.
Use some galvanised or (better) stainless steel nails to nail each
piece to a few rafters. If possible, don't nail through the felt,
although it's not the end of the world if you have to (after all,
all the battens are fixed that way), and it would be much worse to
break the felt in the effort not to nail though it!
As a temporary measure, you could probably push one in without
removing the tiles (maybe just unclipping the gutter, and/or just
sliding up the bottom row), and if the tiles are heavy enough,
they hold it for a while until you can do it properly. It hardly
seems worth going to all the effort above if you aren't replacing
the facia and know you'll have to (and it might be more tricky
once the eaves try is in place).
> Would it be better to push all the tiles back, do the job in one
> (45ft) run. Or do it in sections ?
I did mine in one long run, but I was working from scaffolding and
it was easy just to put the tiles down behind me. (If you intend
to do this, make sure the scaffolders know you will be stacking
building materials on the structure, although a couple of rows of
tiles should not be too taxing on it.)
> Must admit to being a little bit miffed the previous guy ("25 years
> experience") didn't flag this - although other issues I had with him
> mean he never going to be used again.
I think this is the sort of quality job you get either by doing it
yourself, or by using skilled quality roofers (or by having a
separate architect supervising the work for you).
Some other things to think about...
The rotten facias cannot be caused only by the felt having rotted
away. There must be a second fault too which is causing water to
run under the tiles. Check to see if you have any cracked or
misplaced tiles, missing flashing, etc further up the roof.
Insertion of the eaves tray will probably make the roofing felt
quite an air-tight seal to the facias. Does the roof have other
appropriate means of ventilation, such as under the soffits?
If not, you will need to fit some. I think there may be some
versions of eaves tray which include provision for ventilation,
but I haven't investigated them.
--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]
Jethro
wrote:
> In article <8a0d4eea-2afc-4cf8-83ee-b45794636...@g2g2000vbl.googlegroups.com>,
Thanks for the detailed reply. Unfortunately I don't know any roofers.
The family don't, and no one I worked with did. So we were stuck with
picking a quote from a leaflet drop.
Is it possible the loose ridge tiles (which the roofer did do - even I
can see that) were causing the water ingress ?
Ventilation is not an issue - I fitted copious soffit vents, and got
the roofer to fit proper ventilation tiles when he was up there.
Having seen the guys today move some tiles to show me the damage, I
can see what you mean. They pushed 2 & 3 tiles up, and lifted the
bottom one off. So apart from the faff of moving the ladder every 5
feet, it seems a good idea to lift all the tiles, fit the tray, and
put things back. The only big part of the job will be replacing the
rotted felt. ISTR I'll need to remove the batten, and refit ?
All in all a job for a dry weekend.
Andrew Gabriel
Jethro <krazy...@googlemail.com> writes:
> Thanks for the detailed reply. Unfortunately I don't know any roofers.
> The family don't, and no one I worked with did. So we were stuck with
> picking a quote from a leaflet drop.
> Is it possible the loose ridge tiles (which the roofer did do - even I
> can see that) were causing the water ingress ?
Unlikely, there never is much water at the roof apex.
> Ventilation is not an issue - I fitted copious soffit vents, and got
> the roofer to fit proper ventilation tiles when he was up there.
> Having seen the guys today move some tiles to show me the damage, I
> can see what you mean. They pushed 2 & 3 tiles up, and lifted the
> bottom one off. So apart from the faff of moving the ladder every 5
> feet, it seems a good idea to lift all the tiles, fit the tray, and
> put things back. The only big part of the job will be replacing the
> rotted felt. ISTR I'll need to remove the batten, and refit ?
You shouldn't need to replace the felt. It rots off as it passes
over the facia. The eaves tray goes significantly further up the
roof than that, so you just leave the rotted off edge resting on
the eaves try. The eves tray then carries any water from the felt
over the facia and into the gutter.
If it's rotted further up, that would indicate quite a lot of water
running down it, and/or a lot of debris having collected on it
which is keeping it wet for long periods. In that case, to replace
it you do need to strip back to the rafters, and tuck the new felt
underneath the old. However, more important is to fix the reason it's
rotted, and having done that, you can probably just make do without
replacing it.
> All in all a job for a dry weekend.
About 6 years ago, I started getting a valley gutter (where two
roofs meet) leaking. That was a combination of a cracked tile,
and the felt having rotted off where it went under the valley,
so the water running down it eventually came into the loft.
I stripped the roof right back to the rafters for about 4' either
side of the valley but didn't cut off the old felt - just rolled
it out of the way. Fitted new sarking either side and under the
valley gutter (using modern unrottable untearable replacement).
Then rolled the original back over it (which was mostly in good
condition except the rotted off edge), fitted new battens, replace
the tiles and repointed the valley. Took about a week, but I wasn't
working very fast (spent some time pondering at each stage how
much I was going to rip off).
One thing I did which proved very useful is that I took pictures
as I did it. (I intended to create a blog of it, but that never
happened.) When it came to reassembling the valley, I had to refer
back to the pictures to work out how the tiles were laid at the
base of the valley, because it is complicated by the two roofs
bases being at different heights.
Kipper at sea
If the fascia board as started to rot on the top edge, this is caused
by vapour condensation on the back of the tiles, usually concrete
tiles, that gets trapped where the tile rest on the felt underlay and
rots the underlay and the fascia board. There are special unit called
(over fascia felt eaves support trays)
Push the second row of tiles up; this will enable access to the bottom
row of tiles, which will be nailed, take out the nail and remove the
tile. Remove enough tiles so that you can fit a single length of eave
tray. Cut the old rotted felt back to a sound piece, usually about 4
to 6 inches. Slide the tray under the felt and nail the tray through
the felt into the rafter. Not into the fascia. Repeat the above till
all the eave is complete and then replace the tiles pulling down the
row above. If the tiles have a large profile roll then you will have
to fix a comb filler unit on top of the eaves tray and this is nailed
through the eaves unit into the fascia.
Phil L
> In article
> <5183ce47-a9ca-4ae0...@r18g2000vbs.googlegroups.com>,
> Jethro <krazy...@googlemail.com> writes:
>> Thanks for the detailed reply. Unfortunately I don't know any
>> roofers. The family don't, and no one I worked with did. So we were
>> stuck with picking a quote from a leaflet drop.
>> Is it possible the loose ridge tiles (which the roofer did do - even
>> I can see that) were causing the water ingress ?
>
> Unlikely, there never is much water at the roof apex.
>
>> Ventilation is not an issue - I fitted copious soffit vents, and got
>> the roofer to fit proper ventilation tiles when he was up there.
>> Having seen the guys today move some tiles to show me the damage, I
>> can see what you mean. They pushed 2 & 3 tiles up, and lifted the
>> bottom one off. So apart from the faff of moving the ladder every 5
>> feet, it seems a good idea to lift all the tiles, fit the tray, and
>> put things back. The only big part of the job will be replacing the
>> rotted felt. ISTR I'll need to remove the batten, and refit ?
>
> You shouldn't need to replace the felt. It rots off as it passes
> over the facia. The eaves tray goes significantly further up the
> roof than that, so you just leave the rotted off edge resting on
> the eaves try. The eves tray then carries any water from the felt
> over the facia and into the gutter.
>
;-)
How's it going to carry the water into the gutter when it's on top of the
felt in your description above?
The bottom few rows of tiles have to come off, along with the battens and
the last (the partially rotted) layer of felt.
Then the eaves protector (referred to as 'drip tray' here) goes on.
Then a new layer of felt is applied, tucking it under the healthy one above.
Then battens and re-tile
Kipper at sea
> Andrew Gabriel wrote:
> > In article
>
> - Show quoted text -
Andrew Gabriel
Um, you seem to have misread it.
Ah - possibly the typo "try" instead of "tray"?