Residue foam insulation on roof tiles - still considered fire risk? any methods to remove residue

thusha

Our lender's surveyor asked us to remove the rigid foam insulation from loft (applied by previous owners 12+ years ago) as the lender won't lend due to fire risk. The foam is directly on top of the roof tiles (with no membrane/material underneath). Been a nightmare as it took weeks for contractors to remove the residue from the loft (from cutting and scraping it off). Upon re-inspection the surveyor is still not satisfied with the removal as there is residue of the foam left (stuck to roof tiles). Can this residue still be considered fire-risk? Is the surveyor being unreasonable? Any advise please on how best to remove it if possible? Looked into dry ice blasting but there is a risk of it dislodging and damaging the roof tiles (especially as some tiles with hairline cracks already)

Slithery

Personally I'd forget about this property completely and look for a different place to buy instead...

babyblade41

I'm sure everyone will give their opinions on the stuff 

I've just sold a house with a loft full of it & had a level 3 survey by our buyers.

It wasn't covering rafters so the main structure could be seen & all fine, house was priced within normal values pretty much

I wouldn't have thought a fire risk but all depends on type of spray foam ..more the point of roof compromise 

MysteryMe

Do you  or more to the point the surveyor, know exactly what type of foam it was, not all spray foam is a fire risk.

If it's just residue left, it's most probably no more a fire risk than cardboard boxes full of Christmas decorations but unfortunately it's the opinion of the surveyor that counts.

FreeBear

Probably the easiest way without using blasting equipment is with a wire brush and elbow grease. But you'd want to take the tiles off the roof first. As this stuff is coating the underside of the tiles, that would suggest there isn't any felt up there - At some point, it would be as well to strip the roof, put felt (breathable membrane) on, then fit new battens. If the tiles will scrub up nice and clean, you shouldn't need to replace more than 10% or so.

Won't be a cheap job, but it would give you opportunity to inspect all the roof timbers closely.

Bendy_House

Is there a solvent that can be used? Or the remnants covered in intumescent paint?

Or - a different lender; yours seems to be a bit of a twit.

eddddy

Bendy_House said:

Or - a different lender; yours seems to be a bit of a twit.

The mortgage lender is just following the advice of the surveyor. The lender themselves won't have any specialist knowledge about the foam. (So if anyone is being a twit, it's the surveyor.)

Who appointed the surveyor? Is it just the valuer appointed by the lender, or a 'generic' building surveyor or a 'specialist' surveyor?


It's difficult to know exactly what has happened, but the surveyor should have specified at the outset precisely what work needed doing, and the contractor should have done the work according to the surveyor's specification.

Perhaps the solution is to get a 'specialist surveyor' now, who has knowledge and experience of foam removal, who will either sign-off what's been done already, or provide a detailed specification of what needs to be done to achieve sign-off.


(And maybe check with the mortgage lender in advance whether they are likely to accept sign-off from the chosen specialist surveyor, etc.

i.e. try to remove as many potential future roadblocks before doing any more work.)

 

TripleH

Might be worth getting a mortgage with another lender?

When we went with one lender, their surveyor told them to run for the hills, the house was falling down.

(New build 'stone' house, the lender was the same as the estate agents were trying to push on us).

We got our broker to find a new lender and the new surveyor came round recognised that it was rough cut stone so not a smooth finish, the house wasn't falling down and we could have a mortgage.