Dear Folks,

 

I love living in the old Thai houses, with hardwood floors.

 

I love them more during the Hot-Dry Season, however.

 

For example, my house has a roof of traditional tiles which leaks unless the rain falls directly down, with zero wind.

 

Even then, sometimes it seems to leak.

 

Have you ever looked up at a roof from the inside?  Because, there is really NOTHING there, seemingly, holding up the roof tiles, other than sticks and splinters of wood.

 

Sure, they look fine from the outside.

 

But, from the inside.....there is really almost nothing there.

 

It's like, if these roofs were on houses in Taiwan, with the Typhoons, and SUPER TYPHOONS, typical of Taiwan....then....the would be gone...in a...

NEW YORK MINUTE.

 

Why do they build roofs this way in Thailand?

 

Is it because they do not want to use up too much wood from the local jungle, in order to protect the environment?

 

And, also, what to do about a leaking roof, which is probably not even strong enough to hold up a roofing-worker who might dare to clamber above...

Just to try to stem the leaks?

 

And also, what is the point of painting a ceiling in one of these houses...since....

 

After you put a fresh coat of paint on the ceiling, then....its....SURE to be....

Quickly discolored when the leaks from the next Raining Season begin to fall from the roof, onto the ceilings above one's head.

 

So many questions.

And, another question:

 

Why not just cover the entire roof with that ZERO-COST plastic material....

Which is discarded from Advertising....

You know the type I am talking about about....

 

I am talking about the recycling of the PVC or Plastic Giant Advertising sheets that are discarded....like this one....

 

 

 

During the Raining Season, if I had about 10 of these Ad Banners...then I could just throw them up on my leaking roof....

And tie them down...

 

And then ALL would be well.

 

I have seen these used in other 3rd-World countries.

But, I doubt that they might go over really well with my neighbors.

 

So then...

Is there a different and better solution, one that is almost as low cost?

 

Best regards,

 

Gamma

 

NOTE4:  A drip is a drip is a drip......and.....Drips are always worse at night, when one is intent upon falling asleep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

A drip is a drip is a drip......and.....Drips are always worse at night, when one is intent upon falling asleep.

Just remove your Trump adult diaper and then wet yourself in bed while you're sleeping. Then you won't even notice the drips.

36 minutes ago, FriscoKid said:

Just remove your Trump adult diaper and then wet yourself in bed while you're sleeping. Then you won't even notice the drips.

 

How uncouth can one get?

 

Time will tell....

 

Just keep it up, please...

 

IF, that is, you actually....can.....

 

 

The problem is leaking roofs only leak when it's raining.

Then it's too wet to get up there and fix it.

When it's dry, it's as good as any other roof.  And besides,who wants to get up and work on the roof in that hot sun.

 

The problem is even with tiled roofs they do not always nail every other course and usually they are at a low angle. Strong winds drive the rain under. Also they do not always seal joints in sheet roofing same happens. 

All Thai roofs leak.  Don't worry, this is not a flaw.  It's a design feature. If it were a flaw it would have been fixed years ago. Nobody knows better how to design a roof than a Thai builder.

13 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Are tiled-Thai roofs designed so that they will leak a little, during horizontal rain? 

Horizontal rain will make all tiled roofs leak in every country, not just Thailand. 

 

Yes it laid by Thais

My house has tile roofs also. They are applied to a metal framework without any screws or adhesive of any kind. Thus they are held on to the framework strictly by their own weight.

 

For my house most of the roof is at a 45 or more degrees slope and that keeps the rain from blowing up under the tiles. However, this pitch of the roof over the kitchen is much lower perhaps only 15°. It did end up leaking frequently when we got heavy rains . I ended up having a roofer come out and replace the roof over the kitchen with a metal framework that he then put metal roofing over. It  has now been 2 years and has never leaked a drop.

Not if they are installed correctly.

pretty unusual for a tiled roof to leak

might be a broken tile with a huge gap,  a missing piece of coping or ridge cap or  a valley with no flashing

 

Concrete tiles become more porous with age, unless they are glazed.

Most of the comments above are correct, although some may be sarcasm.

1  Tiles are not fixed down, they are held in place by gravity only. 

2  Leakage will then mainly depend on the pitch of the roof, and the angle of the rain. If the pitch is < 45 degrees, and the wind is low, they will leak as RocketDog suggested. 

3  In the OP you referred to if "these roofs were on houses in Taiwan, with the Typhoons, and SUPER TYPHOONS, typical of Taiwan....then....the would be gone...in a...

NEW YORK MINUTE." Probably true, but we tend not to have such strong wnds in Thailand, depending on whereabouts you are. But with much lower wind speeds than Taiwan, don't even think about trying to tie down a large sheet of plastic sheeting as illustrated. That would be doomed to disaster.

4  My roof is a traditional Thai roof, very steep (> 45 degrees) and slightly curved. The individual tiles hang over wooden battens and are held down by gravity. It is steep enough to not leak, and the tiles are heavy enough not to be disturbed by wind. I did have a layer of rockwool fitted under them to minimise heat in the bedrooms, which works.

4 minutes ago, Dr B said:

1  Tiles are not fixed down, they are held in place by gravity only. 

 

My Ceris roof tiles are held down by a spring. I know the Monier concrete tiles are tied to the batten by an iron wire

3 hours ago, fceligoj said:

Not if they are installed correctly.

That costs money... so customers makes the choice

cheap and cheerful with leaks

or

more expensive without leaks.

    As others have said, a properly installed tile roof should not leak.  My spouse and I have, in the past two years, built two new houses with tile roofs.  No leaks so far.  The builder used curved tiles, rather than flat.  I think most modern houses will have metal frames rather than wood, as our houses have. 

    Also, as others have said, the pitch of the roof is important.  Both our houses have steep roof pitches.  We have a neighbor who has a new house similar to ours.  She has no problems with the roof on the main house, which is like ours, but her porch tile roof is at a much more shallow pitch and it leaks.  

It obviously depends on the workmanship involved.

 

In my case I have no leaks at all in my main house roof, 16 years on.

 

If you employed a buffalo herder to put your tiles on with no basic tools such as a level, good luck

An acquaintance living in one of those well known pool villa developpments in Hua Hin had  a defective roof just 2 or 3 years after the brand new villa was delivered. Keep in mind that despite all the swanky finishes in such villas in Thailand, the quality of construction and mainly the lack of checking and inspection of the final work in Thailand,  will never meet the standards of the west.

1 hour ago, Dr B said:

Most of the comments above are correct, although some may be sarcasm.

1  Tiles are not fixed down, they are held in place by gravity only. 

2  Leakage will then mainly depend on the pitch of the roof, and the angle of the rain. If the pitch is < 45 degrees, and the wind is low, they will leak as RocketDog suggested. 

3  In the OP you referred to if "these roofs were on houses in Taiwan, with the Typhoons, and SUPER TYPHOONS, typical of Taiwan....then....the would be gone...in a...

NEW YORK MINUTE." Probably true, but we tend not to have such strong wnds in Thailand, depending on whereabouts you are. But with much lower wind speeds than Taiwan, don't even think about trying to tie down a large sheet of plastic sheeting as illustrated. That would be doomed to disaster.

4  My roof is a traditional Thai roof, very steep (> 45 degrees) and slightly curved. The individual tiles hang over wooden battens and are held down by gravity. It is steep enough to not leak, and the tiles are heavy enough not to be disturbed by wind. I did have a layer of rockwool fitted under them to minimise heat in the bedrooms, which works.

 

Therefore, it would seem from your information that it is normal to lead "some" under certain not unusual weather conditions.  And, possibly that this is not preventable.

 

How much leakage is acceptable, then?

 

I would say that if the painted ceiling begins to turn color, due to water leakage from the roof, then this might be unacceptable.

 

However, I am not familiar with the local building standards.

 

Is it normal to sometimes here water dripping onto the ceiling from a slightly leaking roof?

 

Or, what can be done about it, if anything.  Do most homeowners just accept this as being normal?

 

 

Can you get to the underside? If so, look for cracks and squirt some caulk into any hook holes. 

 

Check for discoloration at leak points.

49 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

Can you get to the underside? If so, look for cracks and squirt some caulk into any hook holes. 

 

Check for discoloration at leak points.

 

Not I, but I could hire someone skinny and young to do it.

 

IF it would be worth it, I would find someone to get up there....BUT....would I trust him, without supervision, to do a thorough job...is another question.

 

 

6 hours ago, DPKANKAN said:

The problem is even with tiled roofs they do not always nail every other course and usually they are at a low angle. Strong winds drive the rain under. Also they do not always seal joints in sheet roofing same happens. 

this used to happen with old tiled roofs in Scotland houses up to 1960s due to the way they fastened to the battens.  This improved so it requires really high winds to get rain under them.  Slates work better due to being far heavier.  But I doubt such things are easily available in Thailand

34 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Not I, but I could hire someone skinny and young to do it.

 

IF it would be worth it, I would find someone to get up there....BUT....would I trust him, without supervision, to do a thorough job...is another question.

It would not cost much but could be worth a lot.

A tiled roof is not waterproof .

You need a secondry roof to be secure on a leakage.

Problem with a secondry roof is your  cost of building the housse increases .

3 hours ago, Andycoops said:

It obviously depends on the workmanship involved.

 

In my case I have no leaks at all in my main house roof, 16 years on.

 

If you employed a buffalo herder to put your tiles on with no basic tools such as a level, good luck

Who in this world needs a leval to put roof tiles on?

My house is 10yrs old, has tiled roof.

 

no leaks.

2 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

My house is 10yrs old, has tiled roof.

 

no leaks.

 

You need to provide a photo of the no leaks part.

 

 

15 hours ago, Dr B said:

Most of the comments above are correct, although some may be sarcasm.

1  Tiles are not fixed down, they are held in place by gravity only. 

2  Leakage will then mainly depend on the pitch of the roof, and the angle of the rain. If the pitch is < 45 degrees, and the wind is low, they will leak as RocketDog suggested. 

3  In the OP you referred to if "these roofs were on houses in Taiwan, with the Typhoons, and SUPER TYPHOONS, typical of Taiwan....then....the would be gone...in a...

NEW YORK MINUTE." Probably true, but we tend not to have such strong wnds in Thailand, depending on whereabouts you are. But with much lower wind speeds than Taiwan, don't even think about trying to tie down a large sheet of plastic sheeting as illustrated. That would be doomed to disaster.

4  My roof is a traditional Thai roof, very steep (> 45 degrees) and slightly curved. The individual tiles hang over wooden battens and are held down by gravity. It is steep enough to not leak, and the tiles are heavy enough not to be disturbed by wind. I did have a layer of rockwool fitted under them to minimise heat in the bedrooms, which works.

Agreed on all counts.

I out two layers of fiberglass insulation in my ceiling and it made a HUGE difference inside.

14 hours ago, cjinchiangrai said:

squirt some caulk into any hook holes. 

 

if someone heard this instead of reading it could be taken a totally different way. 

9 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

You need to provide a photo of the no leaks part.

 

 

   Why?  He posted his roof has no leaks--as does mine.  The 'no leaks part' would be the whole roof.  It might be more helpful if you posted photos of your roof, and the areas where it leaks.