Hi
Bit of a long description but please bear with me. Around 18 months ago we decided to do the first major bit of work on our newly bought house. The flat roof we knew (from the surveyor's report) needed re-doing, so I asked my dad if he knew anyone and he got details of someone from a friend. He seemed nice enough, and he got to work.
We have one fairly large flat roof, which covers the garage at the side of our semi, extends to connect to the main building (covering the "passageway to the garden") and also extends to cover part of our kitchen extension (back end of the garage).
That was re-felted, and we also had new plastic gutters fitted onto the main roof, and new plastic fascias. The laths on the main roof were also replaced (and some broken tiles). Some of the laths had rotten due to a very minor leak in the loft. Anyway, it was a lot of work, and cost a lot (even more so as we had just moved in after getting married).
When dad inspected it he seemed to think it was a bit untidy at best, so he got another friend (someone who has been a roofer for a long time, but doesn't do flat roofs) to inspect and he confirmed there was a lot of shoddy worksmanship, on the flat roof and the main roof.
We were extremely disappointed/gutted, but didn't think at the time there was anything that could be done, as money had exchanged hands and besides we couldn't afford any further work. We just wrote it off as a lesson learnt.
That was in the summer, and a few months later in winter after some heavy rain I noticed a very small leak in the extended kitchen, coming from where the flat roof meets the original building. Apparently the wrong type of lead lining had been used. Anyway, as a quick fix we painted some Ronseal 10 Year Roof Seal on all the cracks/joins and that stopped the leak...
We've since had a lot of work done inside the house, but a couple of days ago I noticed another leak from the flat roof, this time where it meets the main house underneath the "passageway". The passageway already had some plaster falling away from the ceiling from a long time ago, but now there is at least one new "bulge" where the water is dripping through.
I've spoken to my dad and he only has the mobile number of the builder, and on the "warranty/certificate" we got for the work done it just has his company name. Dad doesn't think he can obtain his address and is very insistant that pursuing him will be more or less a dead end and won't be worth the hassle. Dad's point is that we painted the Ronseal onto the joins, and it did the job, and that now it just needs another coat. This is a quick fix in my eyes, surely that's not the expected maintenance you have to do on a flat roof every 12 months or less? Dad also says he wouldn't let that guy anywhere near this house again anyway, after the quality of the previous job.
Anyway, I might get another person in (hopefully a proper roofer this time) to give a quote on how much it would cost to get it "done properly". We get three little advert magazines posted every so often with local builders/companies advertised, I'll just go by the size of the advert!
What are my rights legally? Surely I can expect for a newly laid flat roof to last longer than this without leaking? Can I get some kind of refund? Can I get another builder in and claim the money back from builder #1?
I haven't taken any photos but I'm hoping to take some tomorrow if the weather is ok.
Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.
Bit of a long description but please bear with me. Around 18 months ago we decided to do the first major bit of work on our newly bought house. The flat roof we knew (from the surveyor's report) needed re-doing, so I asked my dad if he knew anyone and he got details of someone from a friend. He seemed nice enough, and he got to work.
We have one fairly large flat roof, which covers the garage at the side of our semi, extends to connect to the main building (covering the "passageway to the garden") and also extends to cover part of our kitchen extension (back end of the garage).
That was re-felted, and we also had new plastic gutters fitted onto the main roof, and new plastic fascias. The laths on the main roof were also replaced (and some broken tiles). Some of the laths had rotten due to a very minor leak in the loft. Anyway, it was a lot of work, and cost a lot (even more so as we had just moved in after getting married).
When dad inspected it he seemed to think it was a bit untidy at best, so he got another friend (someone who has been a roofer for a long time, but doesn't do flat roofs) to inspect and he confirmed there was a lot of shoddy worksmanship, on the flat roof and the main roof.
We were extremely disappointed/gutted, but didn't think at the time there was anything that could be done, as money had exchanged hands and besides we couldn't afford any further work. We just wrote it off as a lesson learnt.
That was in the summer, and a few months later in winter after some heavy rain I noticed a very small leak in the extended kitchen, coming from where the flat roof meets the original building. Apparently the wrong type of lead lining had been used. Anyway, as a quick fix we painted some Ronseal 10 Year Roof Seal on all the cracks/joins and that stopped the leak...
We've since had a lot of work done inside the house, but a couple of days ago I noticed another leak from the flat roof, this time where it meets the main house underneath the "passageway". The passageway already had some plaster falling away from the ceiling from a long time ago, but now there is at least one new "bulge" where the water is dripping through.
I've spoken to my dad and he only has the mobile number of the builder, and on the "warranty/certificate" we got for the work done it just has his company name. Dad doesn't think he can obtain his address and is very insistant that pursuing him will be more or less a dead end and won't be worth the hassle. Dad's point is that we painted the Ronseal onto the joins, and it did the job, and that now it just needs another coat. This is a quick fix in my eyes, surely that's not the expected maintenance you have to do on a flat roof every 12 months or less? Dad also says he wouldn't let that guy anywhere near this house again anyway, after the quality of the previous job.
Anyway, I might get another person in (hopefully a proper roofer this time) to give a quote on how much it would cost to get it "done properly". We get three little advert magazines posted every so often with local builders/companies advertised, I'll just go by the size of the advert!
What are my rights legally? Surely I can expect for a newly laid flat roof to last longer than this without leaking? Can I get some kind of refund? Can I get another builder in and claim the money back from builder #1?
I haven't taken any photos but I'm hoping to take some tomorrow if the weather is ok.
Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.
your posts will be modded away - mine were , and I`m polite about travellers - and I`m polite to them . I just don`t trust many of them 
