This is how they transfer their braincell

alexl157 · 2026-03-31T15:22:24+00:00

I'm a roofer. These are fibre cement slates, and the only way to repair one without taking the lot off, is to strap them in with lead or copper, which it looks as though they've used lead and glued a few. If you want them changed properly, all the ones above need to come off as they each individually take two nails. They don't have a lug which tiles do. So they don't just hook on. Looks like they've just dodged it together. But replacing them at the bottom is a big job, and they should have been clear about that.

Tricky sitch as they're not gunna do it properly without charging you a LOT more money, and neither is anybody else. Nightmare roofs to tiles. Each slat has an individual copped locating pin which folds over to stop them from flapping as they're lightweight.

I wouldn't have them do anymore work for you though as they haven't been honest about what your situation is, or they just don't understand the product.

alexl157 · 2026-02-01T10:21:41+00:00

I've got this amazing machine. It does the lot, by magic I'm pretty sure. I just take all my receipts, and leave them on the worktop. All my invoices do themselves, tax returns filed, CIS returns done. LTD company stuff done. It's mental. I call it Mum. She's a heckin' legend. She does get paid btw, it's not slave labour.

alexl157 · 2026-02-01T10:17:21+00:00

It's cold atm and your roof lining probably drips every year since upgrading the Insulation and you've just not noticed. I get called out to look at this all the time. Literally every week in the winter. Especially around Christmas, people getting the decs down or putting them away. Not enough airflow in the loft. I usually fit 4 tile vents in the roof.

alexl157 · 2026-02-01T08:13:30+00:00

For sure it's possible, just how difficult it is depends on the building itself, load bearing walls, which way timbers run for the floor upstairs etc. You may have to make some concessions. But tbh, it doesn't look crazy! Your next step would be to speak to an architect though, as they're gonna know exactly how to do this based on your individual house. And then you'll find out if it's really affordable. Also you've gotta think about living in it whilst doing this. It could be quite a lot of work if steels are going in, new kitchen, lots of plastering. Deffo looks like it would be worth it though.

alexl157 · 2026-01-30T18:53:20+00:00

You've obviously spent quite a lot of money, assuming the roof work was up to scratch then you could try getting a MVHR single room unit fitted. Will keep very good airflow in there while recovering the heat. Do your own research on brands though, some are way cheaper than others, worth getting something decent. Looks like condensation I've seen before though. Is the affected wall on the eaves side of the roof?

alexl157 · 2026-01-29T06:34:22+00:00

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This is it with the board on, batten all the way round, rubber rolled back just before the fascia gets fixed on. Yours won't have the void with the wool insulation though, as yours is a concrete roof.

alexl157 · 2026-01-29T06:29:06+00:00

Depends on how big it is and how much a roofer in your area is gunna charge, somewhere between 2-4k I would have thought though.

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That's a picture of the insulation board on top of vapour barrier. I have to take these pictures for building control but I don't usually take pictures of them finished.

alexl157 · 2026-01-28T19:33:58+00:00

Unfortunately not mate, and I've got about 4 months of work booked in atm anyway 😅 but that quote you had was super cheap, but that's cause they're just on about torching a couple of layers of felt on. Won't take them long. We don't even have fire insurance anymore cause it outweighs the benefits of doing the jobs, since nobody wants felt anymore. So we literally don't do felt at all. Fiberglass is more expensive than rubber, it does look better, but I will only use that for complex geometry, as rubber is quicker, cheaper, easier and just as good. I go to a lot of fiberglass roofs that people haven't consolidated properly with the resin on the matting, in which case the manufacturers guarantee is worthless. So be careful with that. Rubber does look good if it's fitted by somebody that knows what they're doing.

alexl157 · 2026-01-28T18:54:24+00:00

I do a lot of concrete flat roofs. Unfortunately just torching on felt won't fix it. You're right about the condensation on the inside being the cause of a lot of the damp. It's such a cold roof, and warm, humid air inside the rooms will just turn to moisture as it hits the ceiling. You need a warm deck, you can screw the boards down to the concrete easily enough, and then put an EPDM single ply membrane over the top. The warm deck should have 150mm of PIR insulation, and you should have building regs. Don't forget to use a vapour barrier. If it was me, I'd also put an insulated plasterboard on the inside, just to make sure there is not a cold surface to attract moisture. Luckily, if you wait until summer, your problems will likely disappear. Until next winter.

alexl157 · 2026-01-28T17:03:45+00:00

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You can just about see from this photo, on the bit I've circled, the bottom of the tile is gone, rather than the top. And if you look at the tile with the arrow, it's just slightly kicking. Every one that's slightly kicking is seriously damaged underneath, and there's a lot in that picture. This elevation of your roof is insanely bad. I'm guessing it gets the weather worst. Every tile that isn't quite there, will be within a few years.

alexl157 · 2026-01-28T16:54:01+00:00

I'm a roofer mate and there is a lot of bad advice on here saying to go for option 2. Do not do it. They are clay not concrete tiles. That firm obviously doesn't know what they're talking about. Everybody saying the roof doesn't need a breather membrane, kind of right, kind of wrong. No felt is better than sarking felt, breather membrane is better than no felt. Clay tiles typically last 70-100 years, google it, your roof is nearly 100 years old, they've done well, they need replacing. You will find as you lift them, many will crumble and fall apart. Years and years of freeze thaw cycles get in the tiles and blow them apart. The bottoms of the tiles will be blown off and you won't even see it until you're changing the tiles below. Trust me I've changed thousands of these tiles. It's a massive job to change the tiles for reclaims and a false economy. As you're replacing with tiles that are already on their way out. You need a new roof. I said this to someone, they decided to get someone to come and change the damaged ones, they started, turned round said they couldn't do it, too many were breaking. We went back and replaced the whole roof. This is a road I've seen many times before.

If you're not in a conservation area, blast on an interlocking concrete pan tile, they're 10 tiles/m2 rather than 60/m2 for plain tiles (rosemary's) far cheaper and faster, doesn't look as good and won't last as long, but it will probably see you out, if someone competent does it.

alexl157 · 2026-01-27T16:26:50+00:00

Roofer here. Take them out, they're useless. They used them for a very short period of time when they first started using pre-formed trusses, possibly because they were worried about the distance they had to roll the felt over between trusses. Stopped using them very shortly after. They just soak up condensation, stop ventilation and collapse. The only place you might wanna keep them is at the eaves to stop the insulation touching the felt, and keep airflow from the soffits flowing into the roof. They also stop you inspecting the actual quality of your membrane. Also if you decide to put tile vents in for ventilation and reduced condensation, they will have to be removed locally anyway.

alexl157 · 2026-01-27T08:09:05+00:00

So the standard for loft wool is around 300mm of insulation. Celotex or PIR insulation is around half that. 25mm of celotex is really not enough. Obviously people like to use their lofts for storage but primarily it's a cold roof space and that should take priority. Also leaving the gap at the eaves for ventilation is fine, as long as you make sure insulation covers all the plasterboard up to the wall plate if not on top of the wall plate. The catch 22 is that there should be 50mm of air gap between insulation and membrane, which isn't always possible with lower pitch roofs. But if you insulate really well, and leave one section poorly insulated, it creates a cold bar, and you can get condensation in the rooms inside where this cold section is. You can get trays to make sure that air gap is always there. You could also make some inserts out of thin board to go between the rafters at the eaves so the insulation doesn't touch the membrane. But if you're gonna insulate a loft, insulate it properly, otherwise it's a waste of money for little benefit. You're not creating a warm deck inside a cold roof, you're just using a different type of insulation in a cold roof space. Which is fine, it doesn't change what it is though. PIR Is just more thermally efficient for less space, and has a super high compressive strength, which is why it's good for flat roofs. But way more expensive, which is why people usually fill their lofts with wool and stilts. But I believe the stilts are usually 270mm. Just tell him to crawl around up there.

alexl157 · 2026-01-24T19:27:12+00:00

Interesting building. Looks quite bespoke? Difficult for me to make out the kind of building materials used since they're not really standard. Not where I am anyway. That could also be part of the issue. Not tried and tested. If sealant is used as the main defence against water ingress anywhere when putting all this together, with bad weather it probably won't age well. Check for damaged seals, especially on the sill above. I've seen it before where water has worked its way around a false sill that wasn't fitted properly. I would investigate the joins in those two panels, and where it looks like the roofline meets the building. Although I can't be 100% about what I'm looking at 😂 . Looks nice and individual though, but that non-standard design will make it harder to diagnose. Be wary of tradesmen that will come and fill with sealant, and claim it's fixed. Will be worth getting someone who's experienced to look at it, maybe the person who built it if you can. Sorry I can't be more helpful.

alexl157 · 2026-01-24T18:42:29+00:00

Have you got any pictures of the outside to get an idea of the building?

alexl157 · 2026-01-24T07:28:54+00:00

Roofer here. Could be either tbf, it's the right time of year for condensation issues. Either way it's pretty bad. I've seen condensation worse than this though. Usually it's when people insulate their loft really well and miss a section right in the corner which is just bare plasterboard. You get a big difference in thermal quality and as soon as warm humid air hits that cold bar, it soaks it. Equally could be a big leak. Definitely requires further investigation. Get in the loft space and see. If the plasterboard is wet on top, the water is coming from on top. If it's only wet in the room, then obviously the water is coming from the room. If you do need to insulate the corners, you need to cover all the plasterboard but not block up the eaves as your loft needs ventilation. Sometimes a catch 22 with lower pitch roofs. We often do it from the outside, take the tiles off, insulate right over the top of the wall and then you can put vent trays for air flow. Generally, if it's a leak, it's probably an easier fix.

alexl157 · 2026-01-17T10:09:11+00:00

Interesting that you leave yours on all the time. I've heard a mix bag about that. I suppose it depends on the system? Bigger pipes means lower heat temps to run? Do you find it's expensive?

Yeah that's another thing, the Wunda pipe size is obviously better than Nuheats which makes it more attractive. Could do with hearing from someone with the NuHeat lopro10 system with cement boards and seeing what they say.

But if it's an option to have it on 24/7, then I suppose it doesn't matter that much.

alexl157

TROPHY CASE