Box gutter lining material?

[Agile]

A friend has a 1900s three story house with a double pitched roof with a box gutter between about 9m long from front to back of the house.

They have a quote to reroof and the roofer has quoted for two layer felt to line the box gutter. Probably original is/was in zinc.

Is this the normal material to use now?

How effect is felt for this application?

Tony

 

[Jackrae]

I'd be happier with lead or copper

 

[Agile]

Yes, but my question was is it now normal to use felt?

And how effective is felt for this?

With lead, the cost would be perhaps £300 more and there can be expansion issues on a straight length.

I am looking for views on these topics!

Tony

 

[Agile]

Oops

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Felt is a bodge IMO and not normal, you can get GRP if on a budget nowadays. Or zinc would be fine and cheaper than lead. I dare say it could also be lined with epdm or fibreglass instead of felt.

Traditionally this would have potentially been a problem in lead as it would have needed to be stepped though nowadays you can get flush lead movement joints. Google T-pren joints.

 

[Agile]

Is the average roofer actually capable of doing it with zinc?

Can they be trusted to do it properly with zinc if they normally quote for felt?

What percentage would be done in felt/zinc/lead nowadays?

Tony

 

[catlad]

Tony none of it sounds normal to me if the other post relates to this post then I would think about your choice of roofer.

 

[Agile]

Its not my roof or roofer!

Just trying to get a little advice to feed to her.

Because of the time of year it seems very difficult to get any roofers interested.

This one was the only one to reply to a quote request with rated people.

Any other suggestions to get other quotes?

Tony

 

[yorkie1969]

Tony,

First of all please do not rely on Rated People , CheckATrade or other such websites. You only need to look at numerous posts on here to see why.

Secondly, it is perfectly normal to use felt for such an application, as it would be to use fibreglass, zinc or lead. In fact the options are endless.

All I would add is get the right person to do the job. Most roofers can fit felt and many can fit fibreglass. Lead or Zinc is more specialist so a Leadworker or a Hard Metal Specialist would be needed.

IMO the best material would be lead as it should last a lifetime but only if fitted by a specialist leadworker. It would be the most expensive but you get what you pay for.

Finding someone to fit zinc would be very hard as there are not many that do it.

GRP would be a bit more expensive than felt but a better option.

The roofer has quoted in felt because this is clearly the one option he can do himself therefore he gets the money rather than someone else having a bite of his cherry.

The most important thing I could say to anyone on here is get the right person to do the right job, you wouldn't get a butcher to bake you a cake so don't get a "builder" to do your roof.

Kind Regards,

Mark.

 

[terrypin]

Box guttering of this age will certainly have been lead originally.

Lead would be my preference.

 

[Agile]

I agree but the question of how good a job would he do comes into it.

Also the advice is that expansion joints are needed which are another potential problem.

Lead is only better if done properly and I rather doubt that the fellow is much of an expert on that either.

Such a problem.

Problem is that with only one quote and a reasonable price she is inclined to give him the go ahead.

Tony

 

[terrypin]

It all depends upon construction of the gutter. Some are stepped which makes it a pretty straight forward job.

Is there any way you can get photos of the inner run?

 

[yorkie1969]

Tony,

Stop seeing problems and work towards a solution.

Get a leadworker to fit the lead. Expansion joints are very straightforward for a leadworker, then get a roofer to slate or tile it back in. All leadworkers will know many roofers that they work with on a daily basis that could do this for them. No problem!

Kind Regards,

Mark.

 

[hardmetalking]

I could do it in zinc......