Did my roofer do a poor job?

[milly23]

Hello,I would really be grateful for advice from any professional roofers out there.The flat roof above the bay window in my bedroom was leaking so I paid a roofer to refelt it with torch on green felt.After he left I went onto the scaffold to take a look at his work and where the felt meets the wall (upstands?) it had not been properly stuck on in parts and to finish off he had just sealed the join with silicone.I was surprised as I was expecting some lead or similar to be embedded into wall and covering the join as I assumed this was how its done. I also noticed that on other parts of the roof the felt was not properly stuck down in some areas. A couple of days later he said he wanted to come and do some more work for his peace of mind. This time he stuck on some sticky flashing tape along the wall to cover the join.Is it normal for roofers to finish off a job like this? I always thought flashing tape was only a temporary measure.
Later he informed me that he could not guarantee his work due to the age of the building (its a flat in a large victorian house,but most of the houses in this town are at least that old),and as I didn't have much confidence at this point I went up and sealed every join with roof sealant.
Recently we had heavy rain and I could distinctly hear water dripping on the ceiling though strangely no wet patches showed through,I would really welcome some advice.

 

[Gerrydelasel]

Did it have lead flashing embedded in the wall originally?

 

[milly23]

No it didn't have lead flashing originally,the previous roofer had actually attached the felt to the wall with a strip of metal which was screwed in with woodscrews and and stuck with a bead of silicone and the present roofer commented on what a bad job it was.

 

[^woody^]

The felt should be turned up and into a joint in the wall at least 150mm above the roof surface. A better job is to turn the felt up the wall and then to put flashing into a joint and then hangs over the felt upstand.

The flashing is normally lead, but there are now lead replacement flashings that perform just as well. Some of these are self adhesive, and you might not be able to tell their difference to the much cheaper and inferior "flashband" product.

If the felt and or flashing is well stuck to the wall then it may well perform and keep water out. But its not ideal, and it must be properly stuck. However, if you were paying a professional firm, then you could expect the felt or flashing to be tucked into the wall.

A roofer should be able to guarantee his work whatever the age of the building. The building has nothing to do with the felt he has laid on to it. That sounds like he is expecting it to leak, so is just trying to tell you not to bother him when it does.

Bottom line, he was not a proper roofer.

 

[milly23]

The felt should be turned up and into a joint in the wall at least 150mm above the roof surface. A better job is to turn the felt up the wall and then to put flashing into a joint and then hangs over the felt upstand.

The flashing is normally lead, but there are now lead replacement flashings that perform just as well. Some of these are self adhesive, and you might not be able to tell their difference to the much cheaper and inferior "flashband" product.

If the felt and or flashing is well stuck to the wall then it may well perform and keep water out. But its not ideal, and it must be properly stuck. However, if you were paying a professional firm, then you could expect the felt or flashing to be tucked into the wall.

A roofer should be able to guarantee his work whatever the age of the building. The building has nothing to do with the felt he has laid on to it. That sounds like he is expecting it to leak, so is just trying to tell you not to bother him when it does.

Bottom line, he was not a proper roofer.

Thanks a lot for your reply,I found him on mybuilder and he was a qualified roofer with good reviews.Excuse my ignorance but when you say the felt should be tucked into the wall do you mean a groove is made and then the felt is pushed in at a right angle? This wasn't how he did it,he cut the felt off and sealed it down with silicone. He did tell me that there was a 10 year guarantee which by I assumed he meant his work,but it turns out he was only talking about the felt itself,my fault I guess for not double checking before I hired him.I'm starting to think maybe I should hire another roofer to take a look at it before the scaffolding comes down.

 

[handyjack]

Thanks a lot for your reply,I found him on mybuilder.

That was a mistake. His reviews probably come from friends and relatives. Word of mouth is the way to go.

 

[^woody^]

Something like this