Rain rain go away....

It has been raining non-stop since the weekend and I awoke Monday morning to discover the living room window head, the kitchen window head, and the middle of the living room ceiling all dripping water into the flat. Nice. The living room window leaked once about a year ago, but now it occurs every time there is a sustained heavy rain. I had someone in to investigate about a year ago, but no one could figure out what the problem was. With water pouring in from all sides however it was time to do something more serious about the problem. I called the builder to investigate and he removed the window heads and cut a hole in my living room ceiling while everything was still wet to best ascertain the cause. (Ouch - poor little flat!) The image above is the kitchen window head - you can see water drips on the green plastic.)

He isn't 100% certain but it appears that:

1. Kitchen Window Leak - Likely a result of faulty gutter above which may need re-lining.
2. Living Room window - Timber window lintel is entirely rotten and soaks up water like a sponge which enters through gaps in brickwork where it has moved when the timber lintel sagged. Apparently the brick is unstable and the timber needs to be replaced. Yikes!
3. Living room ceiling leak - The water may be tracking along the slightly sloped ceiling from the chimney breast to drip down at the lowest point. Again. Yikes.

Needless to day bathroom planning is temporarily on hold while this is resolved.