Please help. Dont know who to call??

Snookerclay123 · Post by **Snookerclay123** » Mon Mar 01, 2021 10:14 am

Hello everyone. I wonder if anyone can advise me. I have lived in my house 3 years and suddenly the exterior side of the house is wet about 10 sq ft (upstairs) damp is coming through on the landing and bathroom exterior wall and dripping into kitchen on the lintel between the extension. My husband is so fed up as has checked and sealed all the guttering and the roof and pointing looks perfect. He has messed about for 3 weekends on the trot. We are nowgoing to have to call a trades person. But who? A plumber, damp proofer, roofer??

Any help would be appreciated

Thank you

Someone-Else · Post by **Someone-Else** » Mon Mar 01, 2021 10:43 am

It is easy for me to say, but I believe for the time being you would be wasting time and money.
With that amount of water it is a bit more than damp, you really need to find the cause, otherwise anything else is a guess / waste of money.
Yes it will not be easy, I would also ask has your hubby been in the loft and looked.

I would suggest that he makes looking for it as easy as possible, for example get an extending pair of steps and keep them on the landing so it's easy to get in the loft, is the loft well lit? even leave a big table lamp and extension lead up there if you have to, then next time it rains, no iffs or buts go in the loft and look, with that amount of water it has to be rain, and not drying out, I doubt he will be able to fix it, but if he can find where its coming in, then he can say to the trades person............its coming in from the..........(Where ever it is coming in from)

We had a very similar problem, and 3 guesses what I had to do to find it, our roof is slightly different than yours, we have a valley (Two sides lean into the middle creating a valley) in the day, valleys were lined with zinc, ours had perished over the years (Been there since house was built 50+ years ago) we had all the zinc taken out and replaced with lead, that was 10+ years ago, never a problem since.

Also bear in mind water likes to run along things then fall off, as in our case it ran along a beam, then fell off through the ceiling.......onto my OH face at two in the morning. So the water was not coming in from where we could see it falling.

dewaltdisney · Post by **dewaltdisney** » Mon Mar 01, 2021 10:51 am

I suspect the flat roof as a place to start. You can see the damp pattern is going up not down from the roof in your picture. If the flat extension roof is not draining properly then a swimming pool can form and the water will rise over the wall seal soaking into the wall and allowing a build up of damp. Check there is not a lot of moss around the drainage point on the flat roof blocking the flow.

DWD

Dave54 · Post by **Dave54** » Mon Mar 01, 2021 1:56 pm

When was the house built?
Also which way does that wall face?
The roofing felt under the tiles goes rotten at the bottom eventually, and you can get water running onto the top of the wall, depending on what the setup is. Roofs shouldn't leak at all, but if you get extreme weather some can let a bit in.
Can be condensation as well. Surprising how much water that can make.
Any holes going up into the roof space, or uninsulated / unsealed loft hatches, along with no ventilation in the roof space can be a cause.

big-all · Post by **big-all** » Mon Mar 01, 2021 2:14 pm

general thoughts??
have you had melting snow over this period??
or blustery driving rain unusually from that direction ??

London mike 61 · Post by **London mike 61** » Mon Mar 01, 2021 5:14 pm

As a temporary fix I would give the wall a coat of Thomson’s water seal, it’s a clear liquid that can be applied by brush or roller and can be applied onto damp walls. This will help to keep any more water from soaking into the exterior brickwork but it may not be enough longer term.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... a3b8AqBpl2

Mike

dewaltdisney · Post by **dewaltdisney** » Mon Mar 01, 2021 5:55 pm

Hey guys, take another close look at the picture of the outside of the house. You can see clearly the damp pattern and it is radiating upward from the extension flat roof. Looking at the age of the house it looks like a solid wall and this would allow water to permeate through to find a weep point. Now it could be the roof issue I explained earlier as that happened to me in a house I had where the flat roof could not drain due to debris choking the guard above the downpipe. The water level raised bridged the flash and leaked into the house. I went up there and cleared the guard and the water drained quickly and when it was dry I got up there and removed all the moss and stuff that had caused it.

Now the other less likely cause is one of the wastewater pipes coming through the wall is cracked and leaking. This could cause the same damp pattern.

DWD

Gadget · Post by **Gadget** » Mon Mar 01, 2021 10:44 pm

I agree with dw, I'm guessing it's coming from that hand basin? outlet, probably a failed coupling.