Polyurothane Foam to Fix Leaks - Good or Bad?

[KohMak1]

I've got a house in Koh Mak that gets battered in the rainy season and has leak problems.

Some of the tiles (traditional 'temple style' tiles) have cracked and I assume will need replacing. The problem is, I've heard that getting up on the roof and fixing individual tiles/areas can cause more problems than it solves. I'm also not sure that the local crews know how to lay tiles properly. So, I'm considering using Polyurothane Foam on the inside of the roof to catch the leaks.

I've read conflicting reports on how sensible this is. It sounds like it certainly stops the leaks but a few people have suggested that the water that gets trapped between the tiles and the foam could create long term structural problems with the roof's subframe.

Does anyone have experience of problems created by Polyurothane Foam? Anyone with a definitive view on this?

Appreciate your thoughts/comments........

[JusMe]

I haven't used the foam solution, but a number of years back I was bothered by the same problem as you - leaks that somehow could never quite be resolved, no matter how many times workers climbed across the roof and adjusted the tiles.

Then I had a new "system" installed. I cannot remember what it was named, but it involved a new set of apparently metal rather than concrete tiles across just the ridge line of the house. As I recall, it was rather expensive - maybe 25k baht? - but I haven't had a leak since.

[eyecatcher]

You say some of the tiles are cracked.

So its a small job. Replace the culprit tiles and if the roofer breaks more then its his problem to fix them also.

You will never be able to stop water ingress through a roof from below period.

The reason we use sarking felt is exactly that;...as a second line of defence against water dust insects animals. Its laid to overhang into a gutter.

Unless you can fix visqueen dpm to actually drain at the eaves then dont waste time cobbling something else together.

Plan A......get the roofer in then if that fails think about plan B

[CGW]

I would try to solve the problem by replacing the tiles. IF you spray foam and it still leaks then you really will have problems, I had a leaking roof after spraying foam (it was sprayed after laying the tiles from new) the only option is to start breaking the tiles and trying to find out where it is leaking from, expensive and it lierally took years before the problem was fully resolved, the foam spray is way over rated IMHO, better to just put plenty of insulation on the ceiling and let the roof "breathe"

Cheers

[KohMak1]

Many thank to CGW, eyecatcher, and JusMe for the thoughts/comments.

Guess the next question would be whether anyone knows of a reliable roofer who would be happy to come over to Koh Chang/Koh Mak area?

[Anthony5]

I have a large area of roof on my house, all with foil insulation beneath the tiles, and a very small section of it s foam sprayed. It has been done twice already and in the whole of my roof I have only 1 leak.

I let you guess in which section it is.

The problem with PU foam is that you can't find where the leak originates, and second you can not replace just a few tiles. Once done you will have to destroy a complete section if you want to replace a tile.

I'm lucky in my case the water exits the foam at the edge near the eaves, and is on the terrace, so I have just made a small hole in the ceiling so that the water goes straight out.