Clay Roof Tiles - What Compo?

[em]

Hi, we have a grade II listed timber framed brick panel infil farmhouse - It has been extended over the years and almost doubled in size during the victorian period. The whole house has a machined red clay tiled roof held on by nails, batton and compo.

We brought the house several mths ago and at the last count we are up to 11 different leaks. It just hasnt been maintained correctly so there are almost as many causes as leaks - the lead is split it some valleys, the tiles are shailed in other parts and in parts the water is getting in through cracked compo. In most places the route cause can be tracked to incorrect 'patching' either through materials used or method.

Have consulted with several roofing companies we decided the best way of approaching this was to take off the whole roof and re-lay where-ever possible re-using the exisiting tiles and where replacements where needed using colour matched re-claimed ones.

My brother is doing the work - he is a qualified roofer but hasnt worked on a listed building before - Finally I get to the point! -
We dont know what to use to compo the roof - On a normal house this would be a sand and cement mix but is this appropriate? What proportions should the mix be and if sand, should it be a standard soft building sand or something else?



Many Thanks

 

[Penners]

Have you talked to your Conservation Officer about this?

Strictly, repairs to listed buildings don't need consent, provided it's a genuine like-for-like repair involving no change to the character of the building. But a phone call the your CO is probably advisable, just to be sure that he/she is happy.

What's compo? Do you mean that some of your peg tiles are bedded in mortar?

 

[em]

Hi - conservation lady has been round and is happy with what we are doing (but doesnt seem to be able to answer many questions and when asked if she can refer us to someone who can help she said she isnt allowed to recommend anyone??? - But thats another topic)

As for compo (thats my brother the roofer using roofer terms and they're rubbing off on me!!) its probably mortor- he said it would usually be sand and cement mix (but am concerned about using cement anywhere near the house)

- once the lead is on and tiles have been nailed and battoned, its what you'd use to finish off - ie under the eves (where the tiles overhang the building) and to stick the ridge tiles etc.

(If what im saying isnt making sense I can double check with Mike tomorrow)

Em

 

[NT]

Lime mortar would be the stuff, probably hydraulic. Cement pulls the surface and edges off things when it eventually lets go.

11 leaks doesnt sound anything dramatic though, nor reason to re-roof, so I'm a bt unclear about the details of the problem in your case.


NT

 

[DaveBrigg]

We have a slate roof, but I have used normal lime mortar to fill some gaps that were left between the wall and the slates, and it seems to be doing the job well. Under the eaves you will be filling the gap between tile and brick, and I imagine cement here would do more harm than good. As for the type of lime, I'll leave that to the experts. I bought pre-mixed mortar and it was very easy to use (especially after I learned to wear protective gloves).
Will you be lining the roof while the tiles are off? Ours now has breathable felt, which I think has cut down the draughts a lot. Eleven leaks sounds a lot to me; at least you'll know that after this work there should be no need for repairs for a few more years.

 

[em]

Hi we had tried patching, some of which solved the problem some of which didnt - but each rainfall brought more leaks and the really bad rains brought the whole thing to a head - We're not always talking drips either...its no fun being 7mths pregnant sat in the bath with your own personal waterfall through the middle of the ceiling (Filled a bucket in under 10mins) plus water coming down the wall and the far corner of the room and by the window.... (admittedly that was the worst roof!)

Our house has been added to here and there over the years in all sorts of odd places so we actually have 10 different roof sections which creates lots of valleys and places for the roof to fail.

Many of the leaks had been going on for years and so when we actually got to see the roof it was clear that many of the battons had rotted.

The whole house has been neglected for years and unfortuantely the previous owners seem to have 'bodged' a lot of repairs often causing more damage than they fixed. The More we try and sort the more we uncover....

There was no single cause, some were down to rubbish tiles,using incorrect ridges, patches on top of patches on top of patches in the lead - some down to using the stuff you use to patch lead with instead of actual lead - using nails to secure the lead, using cement to stick the individual tiles on with so allowing no movement...the list goes on.

We had several roofing companies in to look, a structural surveyor who specialised in timber framed buildings and my brother who doesnt deal with listed buildings but is a roofer - they all said the same...take it off, save and re-use what you can and stick it back.

We were quoted between £40-50,000 for a profesional company to come in and do it...money we simply dont have and have no hope of finding so have had to tackle the job ourselves using my brother.

We have added a breathable membrane, battoned out the roof, replaced the lead where required and nailed on the tiles. Now we need to mortar on the ridges and fill under the eaves. We have been told to use 3:1 mix of Lime and Sand - so unless hear anything different from you guys are going to go with that.