Thread: Shed leaks!

Originally Posted by Beardy

The tape might work for you and worth a try if you have it
The capping is really too small and ideally would be replaced with a better size and profile. The downturn should extend into the pan and extend over two ribs

I am guessing that the sheet was at the end of the run ( last sheet laid) and the flashings were generic size and not custom made to suit the situation

Yep - pretty crap really when I think about out - otherwise the rest of the shed is solid and well put together.

Just finished putting the double sided rubber tape on. It's very soft and gooey. What a horrible job, wants to stick hard to some places but not others. . Got it all over my hands and clothes. Have to0 push it hard to get it to stick to the Colorbond but then backing tape doesn't come of easily . . . . .

Then when I put the flashing down it had to be perfectly aligned at there first placement because there was no wiggle room once it touches the tape. Working on the roof on my (bung) knees was no fun either.

If the tape fails I'm going with new flashing.

This morning we hd about 10mm in about 3 hours - no leaks YAY!
My drill bits are dry.

Good to hear, the tape may not last long but at least you now know what the issue is and can do a more permanent solution when the time comes

Originally Posted by Beardy

Good to hear, the tape may not last long but at least you now know what the issue is and can do a more permanent solution when the time comes

My thoughts precisely. I think I might get the larger flashing made up anyway. I hat the thought of all teh drills on my drill bit stand getting rusty again.

~20 mm of rain in the last 24 hrs and not a drop inside the shed. The previously perpetually damp spot during winter on the floor has also completely dried out too. I'm loving it.
Only taken 11 years to sort out.

Bob, I had a similar problem on a fairly steeply sloping house roof with traditional corregated iron. Only leeked in heavy rain and strong winds; but sometimes it did not leak. Rather frustrating. I redid screws, used heaps of silicon, nothing worked.

Eventually, I worked out that the southern roof slope leaked in SW winds over 20 knots, the northern slope in NW winds over 20 knots. No leaks with other winds including, perversely, westerlies. Guessed winds were driving drips side-ways under flashing. The flashing overlaps three corrugations.

Finally a roof plumber friend (originally from Molise) provided the answer. "Drips are cunning little buggers and we must outsmart them ...". His recommendation was to lift the flashing, apply two coats of thick bitumous paint, then replace the flashing while the paint was still wet. Then we redid the mastic where the flashing went into the brickwork.

It worked!

Flashing 1.jpg Flashing 2.jpg

Drawings depict the leaking roof and where the bitumous paint was applied under the flashing.

Bitumous paint is horrible. Gooey black/brown, almost as thick as honey, and it smells like creosote. Yuk!

Just a follow up to the roof leaks.

The obvious casualties were;
- the various drill bit sets on wooden stands that were getting wet and rusting. Just took a little time to sort out.
- the corner where various lengths of steel standing on end in a pool of water were getting rusty - most of them already had some rust anyway.
Perhaps surprisingly was that none of the machines seem to get rusty surfaces

Less obvious was the metal cutting bandsaw which was not always parked in the same spot in the shed. Last week it was parked under the shelf where the drill bits are located and it appears that after falling onto the drill bits, some of the leaking water ran across and shelf then down onto my metal cutting bandsaw motor. At no stage did I ever see any water on the motor, although there was the odd rust spot on the saws pulley but nothing to get worried about.

Anyway in the last few days the metal cutting bandsaw has been intermittently tripping the RCD but I did not immediately associate this with the roof leaks. I was led astray because the of teh intermittent nature of the trips and that the RCD would not trip when the belt was removed from the motor - motor would run for >30 minutes without tripping.

Eventually I took the motor off and opened it up and found . . . . .
MotorWater.JPGon the bench was only about half the water that The patch of water visible on the bench is only about half the amount of water that came out of the motor.

With that much water inside it, what had me beat was how the motor was able to run at all without the belt.
When I analysed the situation I realised that to remove the belt I had to slightly lift the motor, remove the belt, and then lower the motor whereby it swung well below its usual position with the belt on. I now suspect when the motor was lowered the water inside the motor ran down into a different location where it did not interact with the electricals allowing the motor to keep running.

I second the turndown suggestion.