# Forum Home Renovation Roofing  Leaking roof valley

## chris54

Hi,
A valley on my tiled roof is leaking and I was going to rebed it all but I spoke to a guy at bunnings who said to just remove all the mortar and it shouldn't leak.  I know they don't use mortar in valleys on new roofs but I'm not sure whether it's ok to remove all the mortar on my roof as the valley is cut wider than on new roofs and I'm not sure if anything else is different.  He said if I wanted to I could buy some foam stuff from hytile to put in the gap but it wouldn't matter if I didn't. 
Also, if I do remove all the mortar I'm not sure what to do at the top of the valley where it meets another valley.  I've attached photos below showing what I mean. 
Thanks for any help.

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## nww1969

Cant say Ive seen it pointed like that before.
I can see why it is leaking though.
Would have been fine while new but with cracking it will be starting 
to suck water in due to the pressure in roof cavity. 
If this was mine I would be trying to find a good tile roofer to get advice. 
The tiles are not the best and look porous, do you have sarking?? 
The tiles also could be leaking and without sarking could also be causing problems.

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## chris54

What's different about the way it's been pointed?  There is sarking around that section off the roof but not anywhere else and there was a hole in the sarking where the leak was coming through.  It's my mums house and she can't afford to get it done professionally and just wants the leak fixed.  I'm thinking it might be safer to just take out all the loose mortar and redo it, then go over all of it with flexi-point.

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## nww1969

> What's different about the way it's been pointed?  There is sarking around that section off the roof but not anywhere else and there was a hole in the sarking where the leak was coming through.  It's my mums house and she can't afford to get it done professionally and just wants the leak fixed.  I'm thinking it might be safer to just take out all the loose mortar and redo it, then go over all of it with flexi-point.

  
Chris Im no roof expert. 
Strange the whole roof has not been sarked when you consider they went to the
trouble of pointing the valleys.
Is pointing the vallays a Victorian thing??, haven't seen it up here in NSW. 
You might find it best to put a few eave vents in if you don't have them to reduce the
sucking affect drawing in water through cracks, and as for repointing with flexipoint
you do not have to replace the old pointing, flexipoint can be applied to over the top 
of old pointing but its an art to get a good finish with pointing. 
Not sure we have any roof experts on here might be best to get some quotes and 
free advice.

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## chrisp

> Chris Im no roof expert.

  I'm no roof expert either... 
The first thing I'd be checking is *where* the roof is leaking.  Are you sure it is the gutter that is leaking?  Roof leaks can be hard to find, and are sometimes further up the roof than initially apparent.  Can you get in to the roof cavity next time it is raining? 
Also, with the valley, the loose pointing can cause problems as it can deflect the flow of water back under the tiles and over the edge of the valley gutter.  The pointing is probably there to stop the water from the opposite side from rushing up under the tiles and over the edge of the valley gutter. 
Good luck with it.

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## fishnmick

By removing all the mortar you will end up having loose tiles in the valley. As you suggested before, remove the loose mortar and redo.

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## Bloss

As chrisp says you need to confirm where the leak is ie: that it is not a cracked tile or where the join is in the valley etc. 
The tiles are concrete and will not leak even if saturated and all the coating is worn off - unless the capillary break is breached - which is what that mortar is possibly doing. Tiles rely on the density of the tile and the angle of the roof to shed water  - that angle is fine and although they look there age the tiles are in good nick too. Pointing the valleys is not all that common, but I have seen it in NSW and Qld too although not in any new houses. Tiles generally sit loose over the valley and are held in place by the friction with the interlocking tiles. 
If it is coming in where the pointing is loose then removing the pointing first will be OK. But you need to make sure you have plenty of spare tiles - you are almost sure to break tiles as you remove the pointing - especially that near the top which seems in good condition and well adhered to the tiles (which will be hard & brittle).

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## crackerwoody

Valley bedding seems to be mostly confined to victoria, to the point where most houses in wodonga have valley beds , those in albury dont, portland yes, mt gambier no. Ive found valley bedding causes more problems than it , in theory, is designed to prevent. looking at the photos , you can see the bed has moved into the valley, and is creating a gap for water to enter behind the bed, if this water flows behind the bed and hits even the smallest obstruction, eg excess mortar, it will flow over the valley. i would strip it all out, check for rust where the mortar has been holding water. you can buy tile clips from a BORAL outlet to pin the cut tiles to solid tile to prevent obstruction, if the tiles are cut too wide, order a custom rolled valley at around 500mm. if you have found a hole in the sarking, patch it, dont tape some plastic on it, use silicone and sandwich seal a giant patch, use a whole tube its only 5 bucks. i spend half my life dealing with this sort of stuff, most always works

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## crackerwoody

ok missed some points, dont re-bed it, only remove mortar from the bottom of the first tile down, if you replace valleys cut existing 300mm from ridge and slide new valleys under to save rebeding top ridges

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