Sydney - Need builder or engineer (roof leaks and balcony leak)

Hi All,

I need a recommendation for a builder or building engineer to investigate and recommend what works are required to prevent and fix several leaks.

I thought it was a problem with the flashing, but a roofing contractor has refused to repair leaks in the roof as he said these are structural problems and fixing the roof will not fix the problem. There may be a structural problem with the way the roof joins the walls.

There are leaks onto the internal walls in least 6 places now.
The symptom is mouldy corners in the cornice, and sometimes water running down the internal side of the concrete walls.

In addition, I have a front tiled balcony that is not waterproofed properly and will also need inspection and recommendation on fixing.

This house located in Sydney Rhodes area.
The building material is Pre-fab concrete, and the roof is a combination of Tiled section, with some flat tin roof sections. It is the flat tin roof sections that have the most leaks.

Can anyone recommend someone really good to create a definitive report on what work needs to be done to fix?

Many thanks

 

Bumpy bump..

Anyone at least have an idea should I get an engineers report, or a builder?

Talked to building inspector and a roofing group and both said it's not their area of expertise..

 

Hi Dan,a building inspector who undertakes "individual defect inspections" should be able to assist or at least eliminate some of the contributing factors and then recommend the correct specialist. Try googling to find one in your locality.

 

H

Hi Dan - is the building still under the 6 year warranty period? Water leaks are a challenging issue and it can be tricky to pin point where it is. The leaks can also be in more than one place.

A good building inspector or consultant would be the place to start. You may find a number of people don't take the job on as it is tricky so you may need to talk to several people and be persistent.

 

Thanks guys

It's 9 years old now, so not under the 6 years unfortunately.

I inspected today and found all leaks coming from two sections of roof, so it's not as bad as I thought.

Will work on getting the builder now, found one through some friends I think

 

@Brian84 might know someone

 

How old roughly is the building. It could be a number of things causing leaks.
- if you have a tiled roof with concrete roof tiles you need to make sure that you have weep holes in the ridge capping otherwise this will cause leaks
- if you have a tiled roof that joins into a metal/ tin roof and the roofer has used lead instead of metal flashing to join the 2 roofs together, this will cause leaks because the lead will rust out the metal roofing.
- if you have a roof that runs into a brick wall and the flashing is not installed correctly ie lead or whacka flex layed into the brick courses or a saw cut through the brickwork on the pitch of the roof and a metal flashing installed that hasn't been siliconed/ sikaflexed or sealed properly will cause leaks as well.
- broken roof tiles or ridge callings
- metal sheets could not be lapped properly
- metal roof sheets might not be screwed down properly and water could be getting in where the screw holes are

Can you provide any pics of the roof?

 

There is a guy on the northern beaches that does that sort of work. Not sure of the company name but he has an office on ponderosa pde, mona vale.
I found his diary once on the side of the road and had a good chat with him when he came to pick it up. nice guy

He's a specialst that chases building defect leaks and warranty issues. Could be your guy. have a google and see if you have any luck, no idea of the company name or if he is still around

 

Now that you mentioned it bob there was a guy that lives on whipbird circuit in monavale just near the cemetery that specialises in that sort of work as well, I wonder if it's the same guy. We built the house next door to him and a couple of others on his street

 

That was near where i found the diary, might have been your job leaking?? pretty good chance its the same dude. i found it in front of the substation on samuel st, just around the corner

 

More than likely it was my job leaking lol. What are you doing hanging around substations anyway. What are you planning

 

knock down re-build. but energy Australia weren't interested something about needing it running??

 

Thanks Brian

I went there yesterday to inspect myself, there are two sections of roof, the tiled roof is totally fine.

The point of every leak is always under a section where there is metal sheet roof.
There are two sections that have metal sheets:
1. Above the back loungeroom
2. Above bedroom 2

Both have leaks in the corners, as well as along the low point of the roof (the metal sheet roof slopes slightly).

The 2 metal sheet roofs don't join any of the tiled sections, as they are totally separate section of the house. I.e. the back lounge room is downstairs, whereas the tiles are upstairs.

 

-It could be that the roof doesn't have enough fall which would me that when it rains the water will just pool up on top of the roof until it evaporates or leaks through somewhere.
- it could also be if the flat roof runs into a boxed gutter then that could be leaking as well as boxed gutters tend to do if they aren't installed right.
- could also be where the roof meets the brick parapet walk across the front might not be sealed correctly.

 

I think it's a combination of where it meets the wall, but also the gutters overflowing.

They don't get leaves cleaned out as regularly as I should.

But I want proper sealing even if the gutters overfly it should still not go inside

 

Is that just small angle where the sheeting meets the wall?
You need something going up a lot higher. and don't just use silicon!! Get it done properly. Go up a good couple hundred mm, by rights the flagging should run up over the top

A lot of new places are doing that rendered brick wall thing going higher than the roof line, but not like yours they are putting it on the down side of the roof. So when the water runs down it hits the fancy feature. And a lot of the roofers/plumbers are doing rubbish jobs so the same will be happening to a lot of places.

 

@brian84

I am looking for a waterproof/ leaking specialist in Sydney to investigate some leaking that's happening between my IP unit and the unit upstairs. Would you be able to recommend someone? We have had several plumbers to come through to check but none of them seem to know where the leaking comes from. Thanks!