Bonding Gutter - but will it leak?

[Atariguy82]

Hello Everyone,

New to the forum here.. looking for opinions on this one..

My next door neighbour (who is lovely) has almost finished having a brand new roof fitted. The roofers have put a bonding gutter between us but have broken a lath when fitting it. Now, upon closer inspection, it's like they have put a piece on, broke the lath and then put a fresh one over it. From the outside it looks fine but you can see what I am talking about underneath. See before and after pics.

It's actually dry here at the moment so I can't observe if there is a leak.

What do you think? The position of the break is more on my neighbours side than mine, just above the chimney stack.

I have mentioned it to my neighbour and sent them the pics and they were mentioning it to the roofers - heard nothing yet though.

Just wanted an opinion really. We are getting our roof done to but it's about 3 to 5 years away that..

 

[blup]

Raise it with the roofers when they're back, an angle iron or metal bracket might sort it but there are roofers on here who will give a professional opinion.

The advantage of the gap between loft spaces is that you have spotted the broken lath, the disadvantage is that it presumably compromises fire safety.

Blup

 

[Alastairreid]

Thats on your neighbours side of the roof, you have informed them thats about all you can do.
As above I would get the firewall taken up to full height.

 

[catlad]

nailing through the bonding gutter!

 

[Atariguy82]

Thats on your neighbours side of the roof, you have informed them thats about all you can do.
As above I would get the firewall taken up to full height.

This is the thing really, it's their side, their contractor and their money. I could go out tomorrow and speak to them but I would be amazed if I wasn't just told that all is well or to get lost. I read about installation and it says that timbers on the adjoing roof should be inspected and replaced to the nearest rafter if applicable. Given that the chinney stack is a mere 2ft wide and was already stripped bare when they did the new battons I think it's a bit lazy not to just do it from there anyway but I also appreciate that that one iffy batton could have been an over sight.

You can see the nail head and then a secondary piece ran over that so perhaps it's fine it's just.... sloppy. I looked them up, they are a very reputable local firm with plenty of good reviews and the few rows of my slates they needed to take off have been replaced to an excellent standard from what I can see. It's the little botches like that gutter that would really make me unwilling to get a quote for ours from them - if that is botched then what else might be?

 

[catlad]

It is poor in my opinion they should have gone to the next rafter.
Why the bonding gutter has the neighbour changed their slates?

 

[Atariguy82]

It is poor in my opinion they should have gone to the next rafter.
Why the bonding gutter has the neighbour changed their slates?

Hi Catlad,

Yes, the slates have been replaced with Marley Grey concrete tiles. I spoke to neighbours yesterday in passing and the roofers have reassured them that this is "one of the old laths above the chimney that they haven't done but it won't leak" - ah well, that's ok then (?)

It rained yesterday and I went up into the loft, can't see any leaks, it's all dry but time will tell I guess. Neighbours very happy with the work and I think the roof looks great but like you say, they should have gone to the next rafter - all to save 2ft of batton?

Just seems very lazy to me.. well, time for me to brick that hole up!

 

[datarebal]

Lazy , slap dash or just not willing to go to the next rafter which appears to be the neighbours. (Yours)
The last thing they want is the neighbours saying they damaged their roof

 

[Atariguy82]

Lazy , slap dash or just not willing to go to the next rafter which appears to be the neighbours. (Yours)
The last thing they want is the neighbours saying they damaged their roof

The part that gets me is if they really were not willing to go from my rafter (which was bare at the time) then even after that lath broke, surely rather than over lapping the bonding gutter it would have been more savvy to simply replace that one piece with the abundance of off cuts that went in the skip than to do start again and leave the bad work underneath?

It's crazy, I took before and after pics and my roof near the join is much nicer than it was with only good slates fitted..

I guess the chimney stack has been declared "no mans land" then. My roof replacement will need to wait another 3 to 5 years and will start from my rafter then.. last thing we want to have to do is take the bonding gutter out and a row of next doors tiles to do above the chimney stack!

 

[catlad]

They have now doubled the load on that roof with concrete tiles.
I'm guessing with no thought to that aspect.

 

[Atariguy82]

They've used new battons going across, I know that much but as to the specifics of the battons I have no idea.. original roofs are Welsh slate but most in the road have been replaced now, mainly concrete. The weight is an interesting point though, particularly on the no mans land chimney section..

 

[Sonic70]

Have they also broken the batten above that one as well?

 

[datarebal]

Those battens should not even be there

 

[Atariguy82]

Have they also broken the batten above that one as well?

The one above it has a split in it, it's not completely broken and from what little I can see from putting my phone in and taking a pic with the flash, the others still look ok. If it had been my roof being done I would have asked them to do that part again because this is just what I can see from the gap in the chimney stack, the busted batton is on neighbours side but they seem happy with it so hope it comes with a good guarantee!