Hi folks, I’m hoping someone might be able to give some advice with a flat roof problem. I’ll also advise at the start that although I’ve done some reno work in the past, I’d still consider myself a newbie when it comes to construction issues.

The situation is that we’ve got a weatherboard post-war Queenslander. Some immensely smart previous owner decided that building in the traditional front porch would be a good idea, and that giving it an essentially flat roof would be okay.

So they’ve built it in to create a study and as far as I can tell, have simply butted the roof up against the old external weatherboards. The roof (colourbond) fits in underneath the original roofline’s gutters, making access to the space from outside extremely difficult without taking off all the original guttering. Access from inside the house is great, as we’ve had to rip out most of the ceiling thanks to water getting in and creating a very attractive water feature across the length of most of the study.

The water feature occurs mainly when we have very heavy rain from a certain direction, so it’s not a problem during every rainstorm. We’ve tried a few things to try and fix the problem, including realigning what flashing is there, and installing extra downpipes from the original roofline gutter in case part of the problem is water pooling in this gutter and overspilling onto the flat roof. The problem still continues, although it isn’t as bad as it has been previously. We’ve had a few builders / roofies look at it, shake their heads and say “I dunno…. Maybe pull it down and start again.” Great idea, but not a practical solution on our budget.

So what I’m wondering is this… is there any reason why I shouldn’t get some sort of expanding sealant, and seal (from inside) along the wall line where the roof abuts the house. Then get an external /weatherproof sealant and seal along the top and bottom of the flashing?

I realise this probably sounds pretty simplistic, but short of rebuilding the roof, I’m at a loss as to what else to do.

Thanks!


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