Water pouring through light fittings. What do I need to know?

[Mosling]

Flat roof was stripped on Fri for replacement. Rainstorm now and for next 2 days, water ingress in 3 places, 1 light fitting stopped working, 1 bulb exploded.

Roofer up there now. What do I need to know? Eg do I need an electrician as well and what questions should I be asking before I let the kids (4 and 2) sleep here?

No family nearby, good roofer who cares. This is a bit rubbish....

And can I watch tv and use table lamps, as the water is coming from the top down? Or is that a Bad Idea?Sitting in darkness afraid of making things worse...

It'll want rewiring, but for now I would just remove the fuse that controls the light fittings under the flat roof. Then rewiring once roof on and all dry. Happened to us during loft conversion and it's not terribly dangerous once the lighting circuit is turned off.

Also what numpty stripped the roof and then left it without looking at the weather forecast? Even our crappy builder wasn't that daft.

It had a layer of felt and bitumen at the bottom and he'd tried to seam it where he could see problems. It wasn't bare wood or anything.

Thanks for the reworking suggestion, I'll ask the electrician. Given no fuses tripped, I'm thinking we'll be getting several things checked out...

speak to your insurance company. The roof probably has fibreglass insulation, which (unlike wall insulation) is not water-repellent, so will be sodden. The plaster ceilings will be sagging and crumbling and need to be pulled down before the roof timbers rot.

your wet carpets need to be pulled up as they will rot

if any kitchen units are wet, they will warp, swell and crumble.

The plaster on the walls will be wet and needs to come off to dry the wall before being replastered.

Tomorrow you must open all the windows wide.

The insurers can arrange for large builders dehumidifiers which are the size of washing machines, and big fans to circulate air onto wet surfaces.

You had better put plastic sheeting over your TV, PC and other electronic appliances or they will be damaged by any drips. If you have books, wrap them if not yet damp.

Your electrician, as well as replacing lamp fittings in the ceiling (they are probably full of wet mud) will need to inspect for water ingress in switches and sockets.

your insurance co might put you up in a hotel until the home is both habitable and confirmed safe. Ring their emergency number now. They may want to claim against the roofers policy, let them sort that out.

Thanks piglet John. Only 1 visible damp patch on ceiling so far plus 2 cascades via lamp fittings. Hope roof vaguely watertight now but foul weather forecast for next 36 hrs.

I was hoping it would just dry out reasonably fast but it sounds more serious. Marvellous.

Anyone know any anti-rain dances?

ring your insurers anyway.

oh, and poke a skewer through the ceiling to let the water out.

Much roofing activity and an electrician later, things are looking up. 2 out of 3 leaks were stopped by 7pm, they hope they picked the third one up this morning.

Electrician has disconnected wet light fittings, had a look and said it should be fine.

One large wet patch, others water seems to have exited through light fittings and not built up. No insulation on roof as being refitted, so that's not wet.

I've got heating on full blast, opening windows to clear the air periodically as it's bitterly cold otherwise, and a small dehumidifier in the affected room. Hoping that will do it, to be honest, and roofing company (also builders) being great.

have you skewered the wet patch yet?

We have now! Excellent tip, 3 steady drips from 4 holes. There's a large wet patch which isn't dripping, and a number of small patches. It's the small ones which are dripping
Not a huge amount so far but we'll see how long they last...

Many holes later it's all drained. Bucket and a half of water. I should have listened to the great PJ earlier, wasted a day of heating and dehumidifying.