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Help! Handyman spilled bitumen and disputing cleanup...

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  • JimmyTheWig
    JimmyTheWig Posts: 12,199 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I'd start by getting two more quotes.
  • HollyBo
    HollyBo Posts: 10 Forumite
    Yeah - agreed. I am trying. If anyone has companies they can recommend, I'd be really pleased to hear about them. We're based in Godalming in Surrey.
  • PheoUK
    PheoUK Posts: 351 Forumite
    IMO the guy is negligent because you're not meant to directly glue the felt to the roof deck anyway. You nail down underlay and then use that. This allows the wood to move (heat expansion) and has the added advantage of not dripping bitumen all over your belongings.

    RE cleaning it off, you can do it with white spirit (worked for the adhesive I used anyway. So I'm not 100% sure that chemicals are that complicated.

    How much is the stuff in your shed worth anyway?
  • I_have_spoken
    I_have_spoken Posts: 5,051 Forumite
    edited 17 October 2014 at 9:51AM
    I wouldn't stand for being fobbed off with a bodger; 'settling' with you doesn't mean he comes around with some j-cloths, it means he pays instead of the insurer paying out. Try your own houehold insurer, pointing out the cost of making good/replacement and that the 'tradesmen' has cover and let them chase it.

    Limestone is porous, it'll never clean properly after a solvent has been used and will need replacing plus the shed roof will need to come off and be re-roofed so £3,000+ ir more realistic.
  • HollyBo
    HollyBo Posts: 10 Forumite
    Thanks PheoUK and I Have Spoken, now I am really worrying about the shed roof and the limestone....

    So what he's done with the felting is so incorrect, it might have to be redone?

    The limestone has a few drips on it, and one area where he tried to clean the drips off, but manage to just smear the bitumen and white spirit into the stone and make a bigger brown stain.... I asked him to stop at that point.

    :(

    The stuff in the shed is mostly of low value - tools, brooms, plant food etc. We don't need most of the items to be replaced - so long as the sticky stuff is cleaned off, they're useable and that's fine - even if they are a little stained. Some of the other items were brand new, and we do care about them being damaged (Karcher K4 pressure washer - 1 week old). Other things like a sun lounger will need to be replaced - it was a cheap one of about £20 from homebase.

    Its mostly the cleaning that's the expensive bit. If the bitumen isn't removed from everything, it will get tracked around and stain more stuff in the future.
  • HollyBo
    HollyBo Posts: 10 Forumite
    edited 16 September 2015 at 6:09PM
    Hi, just a quick update:
    We ended up having to take the handyman to the small claims court. The judge found in our favour, and directed the handyman to pay to replace the items that could not be cleaned, to pay for the professional cleaning (He did not get any quotes of his own), and to pay the court costs.

    Whether we will ever see the money we don't know yet, although if he doesn't pay within 28 days, he'll have a CCJ against him and find it hard to get credit etc.

    It was a long and stressful process, but we feel vindicated in not giving up, and going down the small claims route.

    So for a job that he charged £126 for labour and £70 for materials, instead of paying £500 for his insurance excess, he has been directed to pay a total of £1616 for his negligence.

    ...all we have to do now is get the money, and get the shed cleaned up!

    Holly.
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