Roofing problems Help please.

Taffyscot

Hi there,
We are having a new roof installed. The first day the workers came it was a glorious sunny day. They came by and stripped all the tiles off completely. They also ripped the sky aerial out of our tv connection and our neighbours which is on the same dish.
Our neighbours were very, very upset and phoned the owner of the company demanding that the sky be fixed right away. The owner said that he would get someone out, some time during the next day. They said this was not good enough and they got someone out that night after the roofers had left with the roofers ok. We had to pay £50 up front to the guy to do this.
Anyway on the next day we had really heavy rain all day and we were away all day with appointments.
I said to my hubby that I was very concerned about the roof on our house as it was just covered with the felt and there was no plastic or taurpalin at all placed over the roof the day before. I said that I hoped we would not get damp anywhere as a result of it. My hubby said the roofers knew what they were doing and do hundreds of roofs in Scotland and know what the weather was like and likely to change.
The next day they ripped the cable from the sky dish again and someone had to come and fix it but it was one of their contractors. Then the next day I went into the spare bedroom and there was a line on the ceiling that hadn't been there before. It was a line of damp that has now spread further over the ceiling. This is in the bedroom that is the outside bedroom.
We asked the head of the roofers if he could come and look at it and tell us what it was. He was up in the loft for well over 30 minutes and had workers on the outside. He then came down and told us that the sky technician, we had got instead of their man, had nearly fallen through the felt and made a hole in it that they had repaired. They said they would come by on the Monday (today) and put a skim on the ceiling for us? Alarm bells went off in my head because why would they come by and repair the ceiling if they were not to blame at all.
Anyway I phoned the neighbours next door and asked them what should we do and explained the situation. Well the man next door said that the sky technician had come and said he did not like the look of the roof completly bare with just felt on it. He thought it looked unsafe for him to work on. The neighbour volunteered to go up with him and use rope. The sky guy was very grateful and so the two of them went up together and were up the whole time together. The neighbour said there was no way that the sky man went through any felt at all.

We have had people comment that roofers normally strip some of the tiles off and leave at least half there, then replace those before ripping off the rest. They have also said that they should have put plastic of some sort or taurpalin on the roof in case of rain. We are seniors, both with disabilities and cannot go up in the loft to assess the damage. The roofer told us that there was no damp there now. My hubby has Parkinson's and I have severe osteoporosis so cannot climb the ladder into the loft.
Can anyone give us some advice about what we should do now? We do not know what to do and who to turn to assess the damage. We were also told by tradesmen to on no circumstance let them put a skim on the ceiling as it will all just come through in a few months if not the ceiling itself.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Taffy

olias

Hi, do you have any family nearby that could help, or (younger!) friends. If not, then try contacting age concern scotland. They should either be able to send someone out, or give advice as to any other local organisation that can help. Do not pay any money to the roofers until you have taken advice and are happy with the finished work

Olias

maninthestreet

Can I ask what led you to engage these roofers to replace your roof? How did you find out that the roof was in need of replacement?

John_3:16

Sorry to hear your problem. Make sure you log any events that took place times and dates.
Deal with the boss of the firm.
Are they a well known firm? Why did you pick them?

Possible help could be Citizens advice. or watchdog BBC.

It all depends if they finnish the Job to your satisfaction if not take it further. Possibly house insurance could help as the job may not come up to thier spec?

Some house insurance will give free advice.

Sorry not much more I can say. Other than does the Local Council have to get involved re Building regs?

Cknocker

First thing, get someone up in your attic to have a look.
Second do not accept just a skim, I am assuming ceiling is plasterboard or similar, in which case the damaged boards should be replaced before being skimmed.

Finally at present try to be reasonable with the contractor, he seems to be being reasonable at present, he knows he is is in the wrong otherwise he wouldn't be offering to skim the ceiling, replacing a ceiling isn't as huge a job as it sounds.

John_3:16

Have they finnished the work yet?

It may be best if you can get someone to have a look. There may have been some wet get in but hopefuly if the job is done right that will dry. It may have affected the plaster board? If you can see the damp then there is some idea as to ware the problem could be.

maninthestreet

Taffyscot wrote: »

Hi,
Lots of contractors knocking on the door telling us how badly our gutters and roof was and giving us quotes. We did not get one of these people knocking on the door but we had a few slates missing and the roofer then said we needed new gutters, soffitt, roof etc.

Oh dear, I feared you would say something like this.