3-Year Old Roof Leaking

LUHG1878

Not long after buying our house we had some leaks so, after taking advice from various sources, we decided to have the roof redone, at considerable expense.

Fast forward two years and we have watermarks on an internal wall, we immediately think its the roof and call back the installer. He tells us it's a blocked downpipe that's been overflowing, saturating the external brickwork, and slowly penetrating the brick. He unblocked the pipe and all was fine.

Over the last few weeks not only have the watermarks returned, but they are considerably worse, to the point where plasterboard will need to be replaced and the room redecorated.

Anyway, to get to the point, the insurance assessor, the emergency roof repairer, and an independent roofer have all identified the roof as being the cause, specifically the flashing on the gable end.

The final invoice from the original company basically says all zinc work was done, but these experts are telling me that the flashing on the gable end is not new and is the cause of the issue.

1) Should I give the original installer a chance to remedy? (i'm not sure i'd be confident even if he did 'fix it')

2) If I go with another repaired i've been told the work will be approx £1700, could I recoup this money via small claims court, since all three experts have said this work should have been done when the roof was replaced?

This has caused my wife major upset, she is all guns blazing, whilst I try to remain calm. I just want the roof fixed, as does she, but she wants the original roofer nowhere near it. Whilst I understand this view, I feel that he owes us the repair, why should we pay more, and also that if we don't give him the opportunity then it may affect any small claim via the courts?

Where do I stand with this?

All comments greatly appreciated!

phoenix_w

LUHG1878 wrote: »

I just want the roof fixed, as does she, but she wants the original roofer nowhere near it.

I'm sure someone better qualified to answer will chime in, but it sounds like you need to give your roofer a chance to rectify the problem before you can call someone else and stick him with a large bill. Any court would take a dim view of such an approach, you'd have to demonstrate that you have given him reasonable chance to resolve the issue (and it sounds like he did cure a legitimate issue on his previous visit, albeit not all of the issues) beforeyour hand is forced.

LUHG1878

hi phoenix_w, thanks for the reply. I tend to agree with you regards giving him a reasonable chance to put it right.

With hindsight I don't think the blocked downpipe was the issue, it may not have helped, I think the issue has been the old flashing coming away from the old rendering, both of which should have been replaced.

The wet patches are at the exact same spot again this time, although the water ingress is much worse now, presumably as more of the flashing has come away from the render, and it's only now that we've seen heavy rain, followed by frost & ice, that the problem has become a huge issue.

Would I have grounds to go to a small claims court, given this is now 3-years down the line? Is there a time limit?

His work did come with a 10-year guarantee afterall...

I have sent the roofer an email, as it was probably the best means of communicating the situation calmly, so I guess i'll just wait and see what he says...

How long would be reasonable before I go and get someone else to do the work, given the fact we're still experiencing lots of rain, and the repair work needs done asap?

phil24_7

You should give him the benefit of the doubt and let him put it right...even if he didn't replace flashing like he should have and that you paid for.

Keep all contact via email or in writing as you may need it if it ever goes to Court, it also helps in keeping emotion out of any responses.

If he doesn't reply to you within 7 days then send him a recorded letter giving him 21 days to get in contact and sort the roof or you will instruct another roofer to carry out the repairs and you will seek to recover this and all other reasonable costs in putting things right.

Don't go down the threatening route too soon as you want to try to keep him on side as the whole process will be much easier.

Regards
Phil

LUHG1878

Hi Phil, thanks for the reply.

I emailed the roofer and got a call same evening. He was apologetic, and wanted to make amends. He came round on Saturday morning to take a look and agreed to carry out the work, plus some additional re-pointing of the coping stones foc.

He has agreed to carry this work out within 2 weeks.

He said that flashing looked fine when the roof was redone, that's why it wasn't replaced, and it's the render securing it that has come away, rather than the flashing being shot, but he will replace with new flashing in any case.

We shall see, but if he's good to his word then we'll be relatively happy with the outcome.

Thanks for the advice guys!

phil24_7

TBH he sounds like a genuine bloke.

I try never judge someone by the mistakes they make (unless there are many!) I judge them by how they deal with them. We are all human.

Regards
Phil

LUHG1878

Hi,

Just thought i'd give an update.

As promised, the original roofer returned to carry out the repairs. He was very insistent that I join him on the roof to see for myself what the issue was.

I reluctantly climbed to the top of the ladder and he proceeded to show me the 'real' issue.

He hadn't replaced the lead in this area, and he maintains it doesn't need done, and to me it also looked fine. The issue was that the render securing the top layer of lead to the wall had started to crumble and break away.

He simply hammered off all the remaining render, and re-cemented. He also re-pointed my coping stones and, once dried, he coated with bitumen, or similar.

He also gave me some stick about not calling him in the first instance, as he would have come straight round.

We'll need to give it a few weeks I guess to see if this has resolved the problem completely, as it will take everything a while to completely dry out inside, then we'll see if it stays dry!

As you say Phil, I guess you need to give someone the benefit of the doubt until, or unless, you've been let down that 1 time too many.

Thanks all for the advice/comments!

phil24_7

Cheers for the update and fingers crossed this will be the end of the issue.

Regards
Phil