We have a gulley in our roof and there's some sort of leak issue with it
causing rainwater to come through the ceiling in a bathroom. As it's going to
be a little while before I can get someone in, is there any reason why I
shouldn't make a small hole through the plasterboard where it looks like the
drips are coming through? That way I can (a) have it drip into the bath
instead of on the floor, and (b) have it run away rather faster instead of
sitting as a pool between the rafters, slowly oozing through?

--
"Once you adopt the unix paradigm, the variants cease to be a problem - you bitch, of course, but that's because bitching is fun, unlike M$ OS's, where bitching is required to keep your head from exploding." - S Stremler in afc

Tim Streater wrote:

> We have a gulley in our roof and there's some sort of leak issue with it
> causing rainwater to come through the ceiling in a bathroom. As it's going to
> be a little while before I can get someone in, is there any reason why I
> shouldn't make a small hole through the plasterboard where it looks like the
> drips are coming through?

No reason, it can stop the whole sheet of plasterboard sagging down and needing
replacing, later use one of those handy LidALdi dead-man props and a sheet of
metal to hold it back up and dry flat.

On 21/12/2022 20:12, Tim Streater wrote:
> We have a gulley in our roof and there's some sort of leak issue with it
> causing rainwater to come through the ceiling in a bathroom. As it's going to
> be a little while before I can get someone in, is there any reason why I
> shouldn't make a small hole through the plasterboard where it looks like the
> drips are coming through? That way I can (a) have it drip into the bath
> instead of on the floor, and (b) have it run away rather faster instead of
> sitting as a pool between the rafters, slowly oozing through?
>
No problem at all
The plasterboard is presumably totally ruined already and will need
patching and decorating anyway.

I had the same problem with an upstairs bathroom leaking downstairs. But
it ended up making a new hole in the plasterboard repair anyway.

I'll patch that when I've finished sorting out the bathroom!

--
"It is an established fact to 97% confidence limits that left wing
conspirators see right wing conspiracies everywhere"

On 21 Dec 2022 at 20:21:52 GMT, "Andy Burns" <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

> Tim Streater wrote:
>
>> We have a gulley in our roof and there's some sort of leak issue with it
>> causing rainwater to come through the ceiling in a bathroom. As it's going to
>> be a little while before I can get someone in, is there any reason why I
>> shouldn't make a small hole through the plasterboard where it looks like the
>> drips are coming through?
>
> No reason, it can stop the whole sheet of plasterboard sagging down and needing
> replacing, later use one of those handy LidALdi dead-man props and a sheet of
> metal to hold it back up and dry flat.

Good enough, ta.

--
"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."

James Nicoll, rasfw

On 21/12/2022 20:12, Tim Streater wrote:
> We have a gulley in our roof and there's some sort of leak issue with it
> causing rainwater to come through the ceiling in a bathroom. As it's going to
> be a little while before I can get someone in, is there any reason why I
> shouldn't make a small hole through the plasterboard where it looks like the
> drips are coming through? That way I can (a) have it drip into the bath
> instead of on the floor, and (b) have it run away rather faster instead of
> sitting as a pool between the rafters, slowly oozing through?

I have a valley gutter where two pitched roofs meet at right angles.
Shortly after I moved in, this started leaking. The valley was
constricted of planks (actually floor boards), lined with lead. After
years of expanding and contracting in the heat, the lead creases and
cracks, hence the leak. Next door but one in the same terrace was a
builder who taught repair work of older buildings, and did some himself
too, in addition to building himself a new house at weekends. I got him
to replace the gutter, which he did by replacing the lead with a GRP
liner. In the loft, you could see bits of daylight through the gutter
now which was a bit alarming, but that's because the GRP was clear, not
because there was any hole through.

About 20 years later, it started leaking again, but this time the cause
was different. A few tiles further up the roof had cracked resulting in
some water running down the lining paper. Eventually, this rotted
through where the lining paper made contact with the valley gutter, and
ran inside the roof. I decided to do this myself. I stripped the roof
back to the rafters 1-2m either side of the valley. Fitted modern felt
and new battens, and laid the tiles back on, replacing the broken ones.
Got it all done just before a tremendous downpour, and although I hadn't
repointed the valley at that point, nothing came through. (If the rain
is vertical, the pointing isn't required - it's only required to cope
with diagonal rain due to wind.) I couldn't actually see how to do the
pointing, so I got a roofer who was working up the road to come and do
it. It was interesting watching how to do it, but it wasn't a neat job,
so as soon as he'd gone and before the mortar set, I pulled it all out
and did it again! To help prevent such leaks again, I temporarily
removed the bottom two rows of tiles all the way around the house and
fitted felt support tray before relaying the tiles. Also replaced the
facias and gutters. That was 20 years ago, and it's been fine ever since.

Andrew

On 21 Dec 2022 20:12:54 GMT, Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net>
wrote:

>We have a gulley in our roof and there's some sort of leak issue with it
>causing rainwater to come through the ceiling in a bathroom. As it's going to
>be a little while before I can get someone in, is there any reason why I
>shouldn't make a small hole through the plasterboard where it looks like the
>drips are coming through? That way I can (a) have it drip into the bath
>instead of on the floor, and (b) have it run away rather faster instead of
>sitting as a pool between the rafters, slowly oozing through?
When my flat roof started leaking a couple of years ago, I made a few
holes in the plasterboard ceiling, put a small screw into the ceiling
right next to the hole, then tied a length of string to the screw,
with the other end of the string in a bucket. The water then just runs
down the string and into the bucket without any splashing.
The bucket didn't need to be directly under the hole, so I could have
multiple strings (from other holes) discharging into one bucket.
Works better if you dampen the string first.

On 22 Dec 2022 at 09:59:16 GMT, "Davidm" <davidm_uk-notme@hotmail.com> wrote:

> On 21 Dec 2022 20:12:54 GMT, Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net>
> wrote:
>
>> We have a gulley in our roof and there's some sort of leak issue with it
>> causing rainwater to come through the ceiling in a bathroom. As it's going to
>> be a little while before I can get someone in, is there any reason why I
>> shouldn't make a small hole through the plasterboard where it looks like the
>> drips are coming through? That way I can (a) have it drip into the bath
>> instead of on the floor, and (b) have it run away rather faster instead of
>> sitting as a pool between the rafters, slowly oozing through?
> When my flat roof started leaking a couple of years ago, I made a few
> holes in the plasterboard ceiling, put a small screw into the ceiling
> right next to the hole, then tied a length of string to the screw,
> with the other end of the string in a bucket. The water then just runs
> down the string and into the bucket without any splashing.
> The bucket didn't need to be directly under the hole, so I could have
> multiple strings (from other holes) discharging into one bucket.
> Works better if you dampen the string first.

Ah, now there's posh!

--
"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend.... if you have one." - GB Shaw to Churchill. "Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second... if there is one." - Winston Churchill, in response.

Of course that pre supposes the leak is directly above your hole.
If its plasterboard or something like that, then be careful I did this in
the corner of my bedroom some years ago, and a huge mass of soggy plaster
fell on my head.
Brian

--

--:
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
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briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Tim Streater" <timstreater@greenbee.net> wrote in message
news:k0h7m6FsdgnU1@mid.individual.net...
> We have a gulley in our roof and there's some sort of leak issue with it
> causing rainwater to come through the ceiling in a bathroom. As it's going
> to
> be a little while before I can get someone in, is there any reason why I
> shouldn't make a small hole through the plasterboard where it looks like
> the
> drips are coming through? That way I can (a) have it drip into the bath
> instead of on the floor, and (b) have it run away rather faster instead of
> sitting as a pool between the rafters, slowly oozing through?
>
> --
> "Once you adopt the unix paradigm, the variants cease to be a problem -
> you bitch, of course, but that's because bitching is fun, unlike M$ OS's,
> where bitching is required to keep your head from exploding." - S Stremler
> in afc