Blackrock Louth roof notes

Check these on a coastal house. Which side faces the bay? Photograph that side from the ground, not just the wet ceiling. Wind off the bay lifts verge pointing and ridge tiles on the seaward side first. Did the drip start in a south-easterly? Write the date and the wind. Pointing that looks fine in summer can be hollow after a winter of it. The roofer still has to check it by hand. Is there a white crust on the chimney or the flashings? That is salt. Note it, but it does not prove the roof has failed. Is the gutter on the gable facing the water full? Salt grit collects there as well as leaves. Photograph the hopper after rain. Is the wet room a newer kitchen at the back? Haggardstown and the estates off the Dublin road mix concrete tile at the front with flat roof extensions behind. Read the flat roof notes as well. Two more things for the form: access (a sandy lane, gravel, a steep drop to the garden, nowhere to park a van), and whether the house is lived in all week. A leak in a weekend house can grow for days unseen, so give the last date you saw the ceiling dry. After a gale, do not go up to check a tile. Coastal roofs catch the wind hardest.

Ask the roofer whether they cover the coast road and whether the problem is the verge, the ridge, a flashing or the extension.

Write Co. Louth, photograph the side facing the bay from the ground, and note access and the last dry date.

Bay wind and salt on the seaward side of a Blackrock house are a different job from a still-rain valley leak in town.