Old houses are a bit of a nightmare...
My house has a roof like this - rather than a peak it has a central depression, surrounded by a ridge. So the rain running down those internal slopes is directed to a small drain outlet, and runs into a trough that runs through the attic (the red line), then exits out at the pink bit, onto the roof of the return, where it runs into the external gutter etc.
The problem I've got is the trough mostly works - but with water "mostly" isn't really good enough. The trough itself is copped lined but only has a slight drop, and there's always a few mm of standing water in it, which feels suboptimal.
More pressingly, where the trough exits (at the pink), we have water staining in the ceiling underneath, so clearly water's leaking/ seeping. And there's not enough height in the attic at that spot to do owt or even reach the end of the trough to see what's going on.
Anyone had this kind of stupid setup before; and how did you manage it and stay on top of it all?
No direct experience of that setup, a few mm standing water in the trough wouldn't bother me if it wasn't leaking anywhere.
Are you able to access the flat roof that it drains onto? I would be checking it is clear of blockages and all the leadwork is in good condition.
You've got half a rainwater harvesting system built into your roof.
Big tank to collect it.
Are you able to access the flat roof that it drains onto? I would be checking it is clear of blockages and all the leadwork is in good condition.
This.
Is there room to change the internal trough to a plastic hopper and pipe?
Best long term solution might be a flat roof at ridge level. The staining on the ceiling "might" be condensation forming on the underside of the cold copper.
Would it be possible to re-line the trough with a slightly smaller purpose made glass fibre one by sliding it through from the pink end?
Seal it all and you can have a rooftop swimming pool 😀
Thanks for the responses.
Is there room to change the internal trough to a plastic hopper and pipe?
Was just mulling this over lunch as an option - it'd need about 5-6m of plastic pipe, so it'd have to go up into the loft in sections. It'd be a heck of a job (there's no headroom up there), but it would at least be a smooth run, and could then apply a drop to it.
Are you able to access the flat roof that it drains onto?
I can access the flat roof that it drains from (previously had the drain clog with moss and snow, meaning backed up water pouring down the inside of the house). No point of access for the roof it drains onto, which is sloped - I'm scoping where to borrow 10m ladders from.
I'm also realising that the hopper it feeds into previously had a downpipe direct to the drain, rather than emptying directly onto the return roof (picture below of how it currently works - the hopper is the outlet from the internal trough), which really can't help in torrential downpours
What Squirrel said.
It will be the best solution long term. You will need constant maintenance with the outlet and it will leak over time.
Should be a relatively simple flat roof as you already have ridges in place to pitch the flat roof off.
Seal it all and you can have a rooftop swimming pool 😀
Won't work, swimming pools need a deep end and a shallow end. This has a deep middle.
At best it could be a plunge pool for your roof top sauna.
I come across this sort of daftness regularly at work
First thing is to establish there are no blockages or partial blockages in the run. It doesn't take much for a stuck leaf to build into something worse.
Once that's done and all is well, check everywhere that water drops out or off a run - water can easily turn back off a drip and run back underneath. So make sure there are clean drip points.
If possible get a hose or buckets of water and run water through the system to watch what happens at every junction. Also check for missing or slipped slates.
In very high rain events, water can reach high velocity and small bumps in a run can launch water into the air
What he said ^^^^^^^^^
Too flat run off allowing the water to return under the copper trough and back on itself. Raise the trough for increased velocity and getthe water running away from the buidling. If you have a huge ladder then a bead of silicone on the underside would help stop any reverse of flow. Or Screwfix sell grey rectangle air ducting which I bet you could re engineer to replace the copper trough . Remove the trough slide in the air ducting and get a 10cm protusion out the slates. Be tricky to get it down to the exisitng guttering and please tell me thats not a hopper at a jaunty angle collecting the rainout the gutter on the lower rhs of the grainy picture. Need a running outlet and stop end set as thats gash.
Manrose 204 x 60mm Flat Channel 1m (59769)
Old houses are a bit of a nightmare...
Having spent 10 years in an old house, I'm firmly in the camp of. Character features can go **** themselves, I just want a house that doesn't incessantly require maintenance/fixes/large scale works. Admittedly I know some new builds that have that too.
Think I'd happily move into a 70s bungalow with a decent sized garden. At least I wouldn't need 3 floors of ****ING scaffolding to repaint a ****ING window frame.
Anyone looking to buy a Victorian house with "character"? Many original features intact.... of a sorts...
Old houses are a bit of a nightmare...
Having spent 10 years in an old house, I'm firmly in the camp of. Character features can go **** themselves, I just want a house that doesn't incessantly require maintenance/fixes/large scale works. Admittedly I know some new builds that have that too.
Think I'd happily move into a 70s bungalow with a decent sized garden. At least I wouldn't need 3 floors of ****ING scaffolding to repaint a ****ING window frame.
Anyone looking to buy a Victorian house with "character"? Many original features intact.... of a sorts...
I think that we bought the same Victorian house 🤣
7m scaffold tower to paint the bedroom window, another lift to reach the apex!
Clay roof tiles that crack if you even think about walking on them.
No wall insulation and no practical way to achieve it on at least two walls, but my wife loves it
An earner on £125K pays £45,500 in tax & NI. The £4K bike costs reduces the tax paid by £2K.
All figures probably correct for Scotland, if ChatGPT can add up properly yet. Looks about right anyway.
I'm still reeling from the fact that someone would post this without doing some basic sanity checks...
An earner on £125K pays £45,500 in tax & NI. The £4K bike costs reduces the tax paid by £2K.
All figures probably correct for Scotland, if ChatGPT can add up properly yet. Looks about right anyway.
I'm still reeling from the fact that someone would post this without doing some basic sanity checks...
Or thread checks 🤣
An earner on £125K pays £45,500 in tax & NI. The £4K bike costs reduces the tax paid by £2K.
All figures probably correct for Scotland, if ChatGPT can add up properly yet. Looks about right anyway.
I'm still reeling from the fact that someone would post this without doing some basic sanity checks...
Or thread checks 🤣
@thegeneralist is probably cursing that this broken forum has failed to display his reply, again.
Bloody hell!
How did that happen. I fell into a glitch on the Space-Forum continuum and ended up posting on a thread I've never consciously opened.
TheGeneralist: plumbing new depths of stupidity since 1972 😀
PS. Thank you for atting me Robola!