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Leaking addition to solid brick home.

srutter | Posted in Construction Techniques on May 18, 2013 02:52am

My wife and I have just purchased our first home, it is a solid brick built in 1901 and is located in northern Indiana. The house is a tall two story with high celings on both floors. And has a single story solid brick section that comes off the back of the house with  the kitchen in it. The previouse owners built an addition in the corner of these to sections to house the master bathroom. This addition was given a nearly flat roof that is now leaking between the roof and the original back wall of the brick house. My plan is to strip this bathroom down to the studs and remove the floor and ceiling wich all have water damage and mold. From the hole where the ceiling has already fallen in it looks like the roof is rotting too and I plan to tear it off and build in a pitched roof that will snug up under the eaves of the kitchen roof. I need to know how to attach the new roof to the brick wall so that I don’t end up with the same issue again after replacing the bathroom. We have another bathroom so it isn’t a concern if I have to leave this one empty after fixing the roof to make sure it isn’t going to leak again when the winter ice and snow comes followed by the spring rains.

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Replies

  1. DanH | May 18, 2013 03:05pm | #1

    Basically you need to "let

    Basically you need to "let in" flashing into the brick, similar to the way that a brick chimney is flashed when it passes through a roof.

  2. calvin | May 19, 2013 10:26am | #2

    srutter

    The fastening of the roof and/or some walls to the brick structure is one thing.  The quality and application of the roofing product along with proper flashing techniques are another.

    Can you post a picture of what you have and perhaps a drawing of what you plan to replace it with-this will help folks here to give you suggestions of what to do.  Indicate the slope measurement and type of roofing.

  3. User avater
    Perry525 | May 19, 2013 01:48pm | #3

    New roof - replace, repair.

    As strong wind can blow rain water up a shallow sloping roof.

    The join, flashing of the roof to wall is very important. More so if the roof faces the prevailing wind. A steep sloping roof works best.

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