uPVC roof fell in in rainy hot weather. Insurance won't pay out.

[pieceofmind]

I wonder if anyone can give an opinion on this?:

Last summer we had a really hot spell then some rain and one of the glass roof panels in our dining room fell in. We called a guy out to fix it and he said he'd been aware a bunch of similar issues recently and explained that the heat was causing the plastic to move and when it rained water was getting in a providing lubrication for the glass to slide out. So we put in an insurance claim and they refused to pay out. We've argued back and forth with them but are getting nowhere and we are now about to contact the ombudsman.

Do we have a claim? If not, then what on earth is insurance for?

Cheers.

 

[crank39]

You say dining room, is this a conservatory roof?

 

[pieceofmind]

It's hard to know exactly what to call it. The pretentious people we bought the house from called it their 'orangery' but it's a 3-sided brick extension with a lot of window area and the roof is like a very shallow 'pyramid' with 4 glass panels and a plastic frame.

 

[JP_]

How old is it? Roofs should be able to withstand sunshine and rain, as that is pretty much what they are for!
But if installed years ago or before you bought the house, then it would probably come under wear and tear and just need replacing, I guess.

Do you know the brand? I assume it was fixed - how much did it cost to fix it?

 

[pieceofmind]

Hi,

It's less than 2 years old. Unfortunately the window company that fitted it had 'gone bust' and the previous owners for whatever reason had declined to pay the extra few quid for a warranty that covered that situation. I don't know the brand sorry, and it's not yet fixed. Quotes have been given for the fix ranging from about £1200 to £2k IIRC (my wife was dealing with it).

 

[crank39]

It's hard to know exactly what to call it. The pretentious people we bought the house from called it their 'orangery' but it's a 3-sided brick extension with a lot of window area and the roof is like a very shallow 'pyramid' with 4 glass panels and a plastic frame.

Really need to know so I can advise, post a picture of the roof members and the whole job

 

[pieceofmind]

 

[pieceofmind]

Does that help?

 

[crank39]

Spot on, it's a roof lantern/sky pod, the make of the PVC system is called 'global' owned and made by Synseal. At the ends of those 4 rafters behind the front end cap should be a heavy duty L shaped bracket called an 'anti slip' and it's sole purpose is to.........have a guess?

Sometimes or a lot of the time to be honest builders who don't know what they're doing when it comes to installing frames neglect to fit these and throw them away.

It's actually a simple fix for a double glazing service engineer, couple of hours work max

 

[pieceofmind]

Ah that's a great answer thank you. We were told by the engineers we've had out that the glass would need to be custom made. Would Synseal be able to recommend a repairer? Also with regards to my original question, do you think the insurance should cover the cost? Thanks again!

 

[crank39]

Yes speak with synseal and they will advise of the anti slip brackets and hopefully point you in the direction of a supplier who could fit them, the costings you gave sound like a complete replacement to me not a repair, global is just a brand name and synseal are the extruder of the pvc sections JFYI

Assuming the glass has broken when it fell in then yes you will need a new DGU, as far as custom made goes then all DGU's are custom made, there isn't a standard off the shelf size certainly not with shaped glass like yours, probably looking at 150-200 for a new DGU, you'll need as much info of the spec of the glass as possible, is it blue, grey, green, bronze tinted, has it got a self cleaning coating on the outer pane, is the inner pane Low E, most of the info can be gained from the existing panes apart from the colour, in the absence of any paperwork the contractor can only make an educated guess

Again in an ideal world you would have paperwork and an insurance certificate, from April 2002 it became a requirement that the installer is in a position to provide an insurance backed warranty, its up to the homeowner to accept or decline this offer but for the sake of £12.50 or £13.50 with deposit protection your a fool not to take it, its not an annual fee but a one off

Without an IBG then you need to look at claiming on your buildings insurance, claiming poor workmanship, they should at least send a contractor out to verify this, probably Evander or possibly Martindales

 

[crank39]

Where are you based?

 

[pieceofmind]

Many many thanks again. The previous owners (who had the extension built) declined to pay the extra for the insurance backed warranty. We're in Leicestershire. It's easy enough for me to pop out a bedroom window onto the roof. Do I have to remove anything (plastic end caps?) to verify the presence or otherwise of these anti slip brackets? Are they metal or plastic? Cheers.

 

[crank39]

The diamond shaped end cap should have an oval cap within it, pop the oval cap off and undo the philips screw, this just holds the main cap on, the edge of the glass shouldn't come near the end cap, there should be an anti slip at the bottom of the aluminium rafter, could be a square steel plate sandwiched between the end cap and rafter or it could be hidden a bit further up UNDER the top cap(the white rafter capping)

 

[pieceofmind]

It's hard to see behind the plastic 'wedges' unfortunately.