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painted with a new protective coating. Consult a local supplier.

WARNING
     
    When insulating the loft space, do not carry the insulating material too far into the eaves. The loft needs to ‘breathe’ and you must not cut off or restrict its air supply. To do so could result in a build-up of condensation, which could lead to rot. This problem is particularly aggravated by ‘magic’ roof paints, used to seal and secure old slate roofs. This thick coating seals in the slates (trapping moisture which was present at the time of application) and could lead to far more serious problems than those you were trying to solve.
     

Chimneys and flashings
     
    Flashings round roof edges and the base of chimneys always cause problems, but chimneys are at risk from inside as well. The soot contains acids, which eat away at the fabric of the stack. Pots on the top are set in mortar (known as flaunching). This may break up over the years, allowing pots to fall. Chimney stacks have been known to fall, sometimes onto the roof and thereby down into the house. Check your chimneys!

Gutters and downpipes
     
    Leaks are easiest to see when it’s raining—you may be able to use a hose to produce the same effect. Look for stains on the wall, algae growing round brackets and joins. Plastic guttering is notorious for drooping or failing if the runs between retaining clips are too great. Drooping can cause otherwise secure seals to fail. Cast iron and aluminium guttering are subject to rust and corrosion (respectively).

EFFECTS OF CLIMATE
     
    Pay particular attention to the sides of your house which face the prevailing wind or receive the severest ‘baking’ from the sun. Heavy rain, driven by strong winds, will find its way into all sorts of cracks and crevices. Flashings may be lifted by particularly strong gusts. Rain may be driven underneath roof coverings.
    Strong sunlight gradually cooks paint and breaks it down. You will always have the worst problems with woodwork on the ‘sunny’ side of the house. Black and dark paints suffer most, because they absorb the heat.
    The weight of a heavy snow fall may be too great for weak roofs and gutters to bear. Freezing temperatures will freeze water which has penetrated cracks and crevices, causing them to expand and let in more water. Remember, water bursts a frozen pipe indoors and can do the same to blocked downpipes outside.
     
    Blockages, such as leaves, twigs and birds’ nests can cause water to sit in the gutters for long periods of time instead of racing away as is intended. Settlement of the house may mean that gutters, originally sloping to allow water to escape, no longer do so.
    Leaky overflows, if they have persisted for a long time, will usually make a stain on the wall or the ground below. In winter a leaky overflow may produce a deadly patch of ice. Check the tank!

Walls
     
    Look for horizontal or vertical distorting, eroded mortar between brickwork, cracked rendering, missing tiles or other cladding, soil or other obstructions covering the damp-proof course, blocked airbricks. Sulphates in some kinds of brick (and in chimney soot) can cause mortar, rendering and concrete to expand and crack. Areas looking damp when the rest of the wall has dried may indicate where old bricks, which have become porous, are located.

Doors and windows
     
    Check for severe distortion and paint or varnish in bad condition (plastic frames and some metal frames may not need painting). Ferrous metals and most woods must be protected from the weather. Look for gaps between frames and walls and cracked putty round windowpanes. Clear drip grooves under sills, which are designed to allow water to drip harmlessly off the edge. When blocked or bridged, water will penetrate where the sill joins the wall.

Woodwork
     
    All external woodwork should be weatherproofed, usually with paint, varnish or preservative. Most problems are easy to spot. Bodged repairs never last. It’s far better to get the job