Roofer messed up? (coping stone on parapet wall)

cem

We had a roofer put up some coping stones on a parapet wall around 6 months ago on the extension. 3 weeks ago, one of them fell into Neighbour's garden and then this week the remainder fell into the neighbours garden, luckily no one was hurt.

We have had another builder over to fix and he has said two things:

1 - coping stone on parapet wall were put in properly and the previously builder did not use adhesive which he was suppose to use and just concrete - is that right as I thought it was just concrete but it does make me wonder why the coping stones fell off under windy/rainy weather) Sample picture: it's something like this but instead of glass it is Spanish tiled roof

2 - The Spanish tiles (Not sure if they are actually Spanish??) have been put in incorrectly as all the nails are still poking out. The new roofer is saying that the previous guy did not use the correct nails and also did not overlay the tiles which he saw suppose to. Apparently water is now collecting under the tiles and it is just a matter of time before the whole thing goes to sh*t.

Here are a few pictures...Grateful for what you guys think as he wanted to charge £1700 to fix all this.

Our extension is on the right side of the image:









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Furts

I cannot make out much from the photos, but the principle is two fixings per vertical tile. If your tile cannot take these I suggest you have the wrong tile. The fixings will be to the manufacturers requirements, but for clay or concrete would be nails. I have seen screws used instead.

Typical copings are bedded on 1;3 sharp sand/building sand ; cement mortar. If they are fibreglass then a different situation. I maintain that a hip iron should be at the bottom with traditional copings down a slope.

teneighty

That is a very poor roofing job.

They look like artificial fibre cement slates not Spanish (the edges are far too smooth and regular), the fixing nails have been left proud and it looks like someone has walked on the roof causing the nail heads to punch through the slates above, the pitch of the roof looks too shallow for those slates which could be the cause of the water build-up, possibly also gauge and headlap is wrong but cannot tell from a photo.

If the job is less than 6 years old you should be going back to the original cowboy roofer to claim your money back plus any ancillary losses and expense.

ceredigion

teneighty wrote: »

That is a very poor roofing job.

They look like artificial fibre cement slates not Spanish (the edges are far too smooth and regular), the fixing nails have been left proud and it looks like someone has walked on the roof causing the nail heads to punch through the slates above, the pitch of the roof looks too shallow for those slates which could be the cause of the water build-up, possibly also gauge and headlap is wrong but cannot tell from a photo.

If the job is less than 6 years old you should be going back to the original cowboy roofer to claim your money back plus any ancillary losses and expense.

Rubbish, Fibre Cement Slates are good down to 15 degrees. nothing else comes near. any shallower than that it would be classed as a flat roof. It would be difficult if not impossible to get the head lap wrong as they are pre hold! copper disk tabs have been used although they may need flattening slightly. Weather copper nails have been used ?
Somebody has stood on the roof , doesn't mean it was the contractor though.

cem

Thanks all, yes think someone had stood on the roof but they also noticed water was getting through the tiles and collecting underneath so wouldn't that show and work standard in the first place?

From the pictures, do nails look right? Would you get the tiles re-done completely? I am just worried that we may be getting screwed by this new roofer who is claiming that everything was done wrong.

cem

ceredigion wrote: »

It would be difficult if not impossible to get the head lap wrong as they are pre hold! copper disk tabs have been used although they may need flattening slightly.

How can you tell this ? The tiles seem flat so not sure how prehold would be there?

ceredigion

Cant see the nails , so cant say if it was done right or not. The nail holding the slate down is under the cracked lump that you have taken photographs of. Basically ,someone has stood on the roof and pressed the top slate down onto the nail underneath it breaking the top slate. This could have occurred because they haven`t been nailed down tight , that doesn't`t mean that's wrong . The nail should be copper not galvanised but wouldn't lose any sleep over it either way. Personally I would get a second opinion , may just need some TLC and not a lot more.

ceredigion

cem wrote: »

How can you tell this ? The tiles seem flat so not sure how prehold would be there?

the slates are manufactured with three holes in them one at the bottom center for the rivet and too a third the way down 25mm in from the sides. These holes determine where the nails go which determines where the wooden batons go , which in turn dictates the head lap. Which should be about 100mm. If you measure from the bottom of the slate to the nail that's poking through that you shouldn't be able to see , distance should be about 100mm or there abouts.

Dr._Shoe

I bet you went for the firm that gave the cheapest quote.

This goes to show that you should always seek a recommendation.