Storm blew roof tiles off

Dragonfly209

During last weekend with there being a storm and high winds it’s caused some significant damage to my roof we have rosemary tiles which have blown off and smashed all over the garden leaving 3 holes in the roof which has no felt on so you can see daylight. I’ve contacted my insurance which they instructed a surveyor but he can not come till next week so obviously we have had to do a temporary repair to prevent further damage we rang a roofer he came out and say it needs a new roof but would the insurance pay for a new roof with it being an old roof? 

We asked another roofer to come and temporarily repair the roof as the water was still getting in with the tarpaulin sheets that was put up so the roofer has slotted new tiles on the roof but and said it should be fine now and not to claim on the insurance but some have already slipped down and the others you can move and don’t seem to be secure but I never asked him to do a permanent fix just a temporary fix but now it appears to look fixed will the insurance do anything about it? I have all photos of the extent of the damage which I’ve sent to the insurance. 

Ayr_Rage

From what you say your roof is in a poor condition with loose tiles and no felt so don't be surprised if your insurance refuses to pay out due to lack of maintenance.

There will likely be a clause in your insurance referring to wind speeds and storm damage so dig that out and also see if you can find a record of local wind speeds during that storm.

You may have a fight on your hands.

Keep_pedalling

Sounds like the first roofer was on the ball. This won’t be covered by insurance as it is wear and tear. We had this done in our old house. Roof stripped, felt installed, new battens, reused most of the existing tiles with reclaimed tiles replacing damaged ones. 

MyRealNameToo

Dragonfly209 said:

During last weekend with there being a storm and high winds it’s caused some significant damage to my roof we have rosemary tiles which have blown off and smashed all over the garden leaving 3 holes in the roof which has no felt on so you can see daylight. I’ve contacted my insurance which they instructed a surveyor but he can not come till next week so obviously we have had to do a temporary repair to prevent further damage we rang a roofer he came out and say it needs a new roof but would the insurance pay for a new roof with it being an old roof? 

We asked another roofer to come and temporarily repair the roof as the water was still getting in with the tarpaulin sheets that was put up so the roofer has slotted new tiles on the roof but and said it should be fine now and not to claim on the insurance but some have already slipped down and the others you can move and don’t seem to be secure but I never asked him to do a permanent fix just a temporary fix but now it appears to look fixed will the insurance do anything about it? I have all photos of the extent of the damage which I’ve sent to the insurance. 

Have you checked your policy for the definition of storm and local weather stations to see if the windspeeds met the required levels?

Why did he say it needed a new roof? Because the whole thing is rotten and beyond its natural lifespan or something odd about its construction that would make fixing several areas more complex/expensive than replacing the whole thing?

If the roof is rotten they may decline the claim on the basis the real cause is that not the wind. If its very poor condition they may accept the wind is the proximal cause but only pay cash towards the repair of that section as really the whole roof needs replacing and they arent on the hook for that. If it's in an ok state and its just cheaper to replace than repair then they may replace. 

victor2

We, and many neighbours, claimed successfully on house insurance for roof repairs after a freak hailstorm damaged many roofs, devastated conservatories and destroyed greenhouses many years ago. But, as others have said, if the roof is deemed not to be in a good state of repair - and yours was the only one damaged - it might not get accepted as a claim.