Roofing

Leak coming through stairwell ceiling - multiple roofers contacted, but no clear solution?

Anonymous user 28/02/2024 - 4.07 PM

Hi all, In recent months, I noticed a leak coming through the middle of our house whenever the rain was heavy and constant. Our house is an old Victorian House with a slate roof, which is pitched, with a chimney in the 'gulley' in-between where the two roofs meet. One roofer said it was likely my eaves, and so installed a drip tray, to the cost of £650, which turned out to do nothing and the leak still came in next time it rained heavily. They said they'd give me a 10 year guarantee on it, so I'm not sure what to do now regarding the £650. Maybe someone can advise? Since then, I've had 3 other roofers look at the situation. One said that he would repair some of the slates around the chimney and do lead work renewal for around £1,700, whereas another said to repair the chimney would cost between £2,000 - £3,000. A more recent one, who appears to be a no-nonsense kind of roofer with a good reputation, has said that leadwork is fine and he try and use Stormguard on the entire chimney for a smaller fee (with no guarantee, but worth a go in the first instance to see if that wards off the heavy rain). If that doesn't work, then the cause may well be the valley in-between the roofs. Therefore, the best solution would be to redo the entire area and replace the slates and valley in that vicinity. For that, a cost of a few thousand he said or more. Might be worth it as the roof is probably as old as the house is anyway. Finding the source of a leak in a roof is a tough job, I absolutely appreciate that, but I'm just concerned that I'm going round in circles trying to find a solution. What would you recommend I do? Part of me thinks I should try the cheaper fix first (Stormguard the chimney, as it only leaks during heavy and driving rain), then if it doesn't work, move onto the next option. What do you think? Thanks all