Tile roof leaks. How to fix?

[PeterA]

My house is just under 3 years old. Have the mission style concrete tiles that overlap in an S style.

With big winds, the rain easily gets in, and in many spots there is no fabric or sealing paper under the tiles, so the rain ends up on the drywall ceilings. In many paces the paper is just hanging.

I can't afford to pull the entire roof and re-paper. But if I need to spend many hours to fix, I can do that, just not sure what to do. Pictures tell the story. Thanks for constructive answers!

[transam]

The tile overlap looks good....

I had the same problem, it was the gully's, the wind blew the water over the edge of the zinc gully under the tiles. We sealed the gully with sticky roof stuff, then put a layer of cement on top.

[PeterA]

Just now, transam said:

The tile overlap looks good....

I had the same problem, it was the gully's, the wind blew the water over the edge of the zinc gully under the tiles. We sealed the gully with sticky roof stuff, then put a layer of cement on top.

Did you pull the tiles to get to the gully? My tiles overlap a bit there, and a lot of debris has become stuck there. Also, you laid concrete over the tiles in the gully, or just over the zinc?

 

[transam]

Just now, PeterA said:

Did you pull the tiles to get to the gully? My tiles overlap a bit there, and a lot of debris has become stuck there. Also, you laid concrete over the tiles in the gully, or just over the zinc?

 

No, cut the bitumen sticky stuff to size, about 6" wide, started at the bottom so it overlapped, when done spread sand, tile adhesive, cement mix over it, now the rain only has one place to go without the wind troubling it...

My gully's were full of small bird nests, half the problem..

[PeterA]

2 minutes ago, transam said:

No, cut the bitumen sticky stuff to size, about 6" wide, started at the bottom so it overlapped, when done spread sand, tile adhesive, cement mix over it, now the rain only has one place to go without the wind troubling it...

My gully's were full of small bird nests, half the problem..

I doubt I will be able to get anything in there, the gully access is tiny. Less than an inch space from tiles to tile edge. But I will focus on the gully's for the repairs, Thanks for the tips!

[Kwasaki]

Tiled roofs do leak in certain situations as you describe, it seems your unfortunate to have a case of bad workmanship. 

The solution is to strip the fault x areas and correct the underlining added extra underlining and relay the existing tiles back. 

[PeterA]

39 minutes ago, PeterA said:

I doubt I will be able to get anything in there, the gully access is tiny. Less than an inch space from tiles to tile edge. But I will focus on the gully's for the repairs, Thanks for the tips!

Here is a shot of what my gully's look like. I can barely get a finger in there. There are a lot of leaves though. Pulling some of the tiles is possible.

[transam]

Just now, PeterA said:

Here is a shot of what my gully's look like. I can barely get a finger in there. There are a lot of leaves though. Pulling some of the tiles is possible.

Mine is the same, which is good for my fix.

I see they have not put cement along the edges of the ridge tiles, water can be blown in there too. Mine were cemented and red tile painted when they built the house...

[Kwasaki]

Pull out tiles above the ones at valley positions they may be sealed down or Nail/screwed. 

If you're not use to this kind of work be careful. 

Edited April 13, 2020 by Kwasaki

[frequentatore]

Some tiles crack (look carefully at your pics). I had the same problem. Go on the roof and use  some cement waterplug. (1 KG container)

[PeterA]

20 minutes ago, frequentatore said:

Some tiles crack (look carefully at your pics). I had the same problem. Go on the roof and use  some cement waterplug. (1 KG container)

I did  see a few with cracks when I was up there, but they were done at the build, and already had a paint-sealer on them.    I saw one new crack, but it was small. That will be added to the list of things to do!

 

Edited April 13, 2020 by PeterA
spelling

[PeterA]

39 minutes ago, transam said:

Mine is the same, which is good for my fix.

I see they have not put cement along the edges of the ridge tiles, water can be blown in there too. Mine were cemented and red tile painted when they built the house...

Putting cement there would close the valley zinc piece. I guess I am unclear as to what you are suggesting.

[PeterA]

38 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Pull out tiles above the ones at valley positions they may be sealed down or Nail/screwed. 

If you're not use to this kind of work be careful. 

Screwed down. Yes, it will be my first tile roof work, though I have done shingle and tar, many moons ago.

 

[frequentatore]

You may have many. Zoom on your picture:

[PeterA]

Just now, frequentatore said:

You may have many. Zoom on your picture: You have good eyes!!

 

[Kwasaki]

1 minute ago, frequentatore said:

You may have many. Zoom on your picture:

Minor but again back to bad workmanship and supervisors. 

[Kwasaki]

6 minutes ago, PeterA said:

Screwed down. Yes, it will be my first tile roof work, though I have done shingle and tar, many moons ago.

 

Well like I said you have to put the bad workmanship right,  will take some time but worth the effort. 

[transam]

Forget the zinc, it will be history. Totally covered, first a layer of sticky bitumen "tape" that covers the zinc gap and sticks to the tiles either side, we did it on a very hot day which made it easy. The mixed sand, cement and floor tile adhesive, which itself is sand and cement with glue in it. Mix it together, then neatly load it onto the tape, covering it and overlapping onto the tiles. Make it look OK with a trowel.

Before I had this done, during big windy storms, with the wind in the right direction, my house got flooded a couple of times, couple of ceilings trashed, I now have no problems.

 

I personally didn't go up on the roof, oh no, just helped out.....???? 

[Rimmer]

The tiles look like cpac and should not leak if they were installed correctly, would suggest contact the local authorised cpac contractor to come have a look at how they are installed, possible your local homepro/mart will have his number.

 

I had a similar problem and nothing I did would fix it, so I called the approved cpac contractor in to look at and fix the problem, wasn't expensive.

 

[rumak]

56 minutes ago, PeterA said:

Here is a shot of what my gully's look like. I can barely get a finger in there. There are a lot of leaves though. Pulling some of the tiles is possible.

 

I suspect the LEAVES  may be causing much of the problem.  I had leakeage one time, and

after removing the leaves the problem was gone.   The water coming down the gully hits the leaves and then instead of going straight down is forced to the side...... and over the metal sheet underneath into the attic.  Usually the tiles are too far apart (birds get in),  but in your case they look a little TOO close to each other.   Leaves and whatnot get stuck more easily, and harder to get a hand in to clear ( use some wire , coat hanger)

 

 

[transam]

1 minute ago, rumak said:

 

I suspect the LEAVES  may be causing much of the problem.  I had leakeage one time, and

after removing the leaves the problem was gone.   The water coming down the gully hits the leaves and then instead of going straight down is forced to the side...... and over the metal sheet underneath into the attic.  Usually the tiles are too far apart (birds get in),  but in your case they look a little TOO close to each other.   Leaves and whatnot get stuck more easily, and harder to get a hand in to clear ( use some wire , coat hanger)

 

 

My fix, that took a day and about 3000bht all in to solve the problem of birds, birds nests and water being blown in....Did it about 3 years back, problem gone..

[rumak]

14 minutes ago, transam said:

My fix, that took a day and about 3000bht all in to solve the problem of birds, birds nests and water being blown in....Did it about 3 years back, problem gone..

ok, i did not quite get what you suggested at first.   Basically you are saying to fill in the gully completely ( eliminate it) .   I guess that is one possible solution

What i suggested would take 20 minutes and cost nothing .  Maybe worth a try?

Since the tiles here are so close together,  I would get someone to go up there and use a grinder

( fiberrrr)  to trim the tiles back a wee bit .   That could take an hour or two. 

Personally i would not fill in the gully unless it still leaked after trying this method first...   

Note:  on most single story homes one can get on a ladder,  use a long stick with a hook on the end to clear debris or bird nests out from time to time

Edited April 13, 2020 by rumak

[transam]

1 minute ago, rumak said:

ok, i did not quite get what you suggested at first.   Basically you are saying to fill in the gully completely ( eliminate it) .   I guess that is one possible solution

What i suggested would take 20 minutes and cost nothing .  Maybe worth a try?

Since the tiles are so close together,  I would get someone to go up there and use a grinder

( fiberrrr)  to trim the tiles back a wee bit .   That could take an hour or two. 

Personally i would not fill in the gully unless it still leaked after trying this method first...

Thai blokes were scratching their heads, saying my roof was OK, blah blah, we can do this, do that.....Now me, just looking at it, thought, naaaaaaaaaaaaaah, just do what I say......

 

Yes you can trim tiles, you can get in the roof space an install wider zinc, but it may not solve the problem, and cost, my fix is a 100% sure fix.......

[CGW]

43 minutes ago, transam said:

Yes you can trim tiles, you can get in the roof space an install wider zinc, but it may not solve the problem, and cost, my fix is a 100% sure fix.......

I have had problem with water ingress since day one, only happens once or twice a year when there is a storm from the west, the roof is good, never thought about water blowing under the eaves, makes perfect sense, probably only need to do a metre or so, I'm thinking a can of PU foam will do the job. Thanks...

[Kwasaki]

1 hour ago, transam said:

Yes you can trim tiles, you can get in the roof space an install wider zinc, but it may not solve the problem, and cost, my fix is a 100% sure fix.......

Lead is much better and more workable, zinc is used because it's cheap.

[JRinPDX]

Be REALLY careful.  Many years ago, we had a guy who brought his son, who went up the ladder and fell off the 2-story roof, broke his back.   

[globalspark]

From previous experiences this a  terrible job and time wasting. All the answers are correct but what I would do is pin point where the  water is coming from. I would start by pulling the silver paper away  and look up  if you can  get  a more exact point. Sometimes the water will flow down the gully and because the downpipes are not  taking the water away it will flow back  and run in the eves.

 It is best to start that way as I see no ceiling has been installed so it should be easy to pin point. Pulling tiles off and re grouting  can be a total waste  of time as the problem may be still there after that exercise.  Naturally it you have cracked tiles then they should be replaced and if you regrout make sure you use  bondcrete in the mortar.

The roof is too new to have leaks and sounds like a eve problem and downpipes.

[Andrew Dwyer]

As Trans mentioned earlier non of your ridge tiles have been sealed, normally cement mortar underneath and then painted .

I should take another look under the roof and see where exactly the leak ( silver paper detached ) is happening, could be your gulleys but I would say the ridge tiles are suspect also .

 

 

I have a similar roof , as you can see my gulley is small ( and wonky ???? ) but the ridge tiles are sealed, i have no leaks.

 

 

 

[transam]

2 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

As Trans mentioned earlier non of your ridge tiles have been sealed, normally cement mortar underneath and then painted .

I should take another look under the roof and see where exactly the leak ( silver paper detached ) is happening, could be your gulleys but I would say the ridge tiles are suspect also .

 

 

I have a similar roof , as you can see my gulley is small ( and wonky ???? ) but the ridge tiles are sealed, i have no leaks.

 

 

 

Yep, that's how it should be done, cemented then roof tile paint. Notice the gully tile gap is the same as the OP's, mine are the same too, that's how they do it here.

 

When we cemented my gully we did not paint it, couldn't be bothered, just wanted to sleep at night knowing I wouldn't get up to a waterfall staircase, which I previously did...

[thailand49]

From my experience, you pitch seem to be good but believe it or not unless you see a crack tile right above the leak many times it comes from the caps on the top from the photo I don't see a cement or sealant these top caps are usually seal on top and the side. Even if they are after time due to the heat the expansion of the metal will cause the caps to move cracking the sealant or cement. Once that happens you get a leak at the top and the water can find it way to certain spots.

 

Once a year I go up and check the product to use can be found at Homepro etc.  there are a number to choose. I just found a leak yesterday it was a simple crack tile baring could see with the naked eye but enough for lots of water to come in and damage my ceiling.