Roofing

Please help me , replacement roof cowboy job ?

Anonymous user 09/03/2024 - 3.24 PM

I desperately need advice regarding a seemingly less than professional replacement roof. I'm in my seventies and have no idea about roofing so need some advice as to my next steps, I'm in west Hampshire. I had roof work done during the month of May. The building is a cottage - two small single storey extension roofs and the small main two storey roof, two chimneys. It is my home but belongs to my daughter who has spent all her savings on this, so I feel very guilty that I didn't know they were doing a bad job. The job was to replace old clay tiles with artificial slates ( advised to reduce weight ), repair / replace wooden structure where needed, membrane, flashings etc. The roofer chosen had great reviews on the Checkatrade website. Since completion at the end of May new leaks have appeared, two damp patches are now running water. Two neighbours have very kindly spent an afternoon trying to help me, both know something about building but are not in the trade. In short they were horrified and have discovered a multitude of problems and I am in despair ! Please forgive my lack of technical jargon but I will try to give the picture of just some of what's going on - old cracked flashing left in place and painted, copious use of " tape " and silicone in an attempt to seal top edges of old flashing left in situ, the tape has apparently already come away from the render in places .The single storey roof joint to the main cottage has had new flashing " tucked up " under the old which is all cracked and now leaking into my dining room around the electric light switch. The back of the chimneys are a mess of old flashing, tape and a tray at the" wrong angle " apparently. Battens are sticking out of mortar at varying lengths. The ends of the single storey extension has no mortar & large gaps I can put my hand in, when I queried this the roofer said " that's how it's done nowadays ". Slates are sticking up , some have been masticked in place, one has already fallen off. Apparently in places the slates project beyond the guttering , in others they fall short. The membrane has been cut short in places...... the list goes on I'm afraid. My kind neighbours have taken photos of all the problems for me. My question is what is my next step. I have no way of knowing for sure what is right or wrong , Should I get a competent roofer to confirm what is actually wrong and quote to rectify then seek refund via Small Claims Court. Is another roofer even going to want to pick up the pieces ? Do I have to give the roofer a chance to put this all right and what is a reasonable time to do so, I don't trust him ! Do I need a surveyor ? Apparently I should also have had a Building Inspector involved as more than 25 % of the roof was altered? Please ANY advice is welcome, I am overwhelmed and quite frightened by all this. Many thanks in advance .