Opinion on roofing work

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We've just had some work done on the roof and I have some concerns about the finish. I'd like to know if a), the concerns are valid and b) what I should be saying to the builder in terms of best practice etc.

Its the roof of a lean-to extension at the back of a terraced house. Its a small area and they replaced all the timber in order that insulation could be installed alongside a new membrane. You'll see in the photos that a little bit sticks out further as it is a store room. The tiles were to be re-used as was the leadwork. We had had some re-rendering done last year and knowing that a new roof was likely, or at least some changes to the roof, we had new leadwork installed where the roof meets the house before rendering over it. The leadwork along the parapet wall is not new.

My concerns are - and apologies for probably not having the correct terminology:

1) the finish of the leadwork. This may be cosmetic but I was expecting it to nicely tie in with the profile of the tiles, even if it was being re-used.
2) the termination of the leadwork at the end of the parapet wall. Whilst the instruction was to re-use the existing lead, they did mention that they may need a bit more, and indeed I remember say that I had some leftover from the previous work should they want to use it! It seems like this bit has just been torn/pulled round.
3) gap between the edge of the tile and the parapet wall. Its hard to tell how big this is and I don't think the tiles are meant to abut the wall exactly, but the gap looks bigger than I might have expected.
4) overhang of tiles and membrane. The membrane is untidy and is wicking water from the gutter. Not sure if this is because the tiles are overhanging too little or the membrane is too long, or something else.
5) The visible battens are getting wet at the corners, which seems like a major and fundamental issue.
6) There is nothing to stop insects etc. getting in under tiles - not sure if this is a something that this style of roof normally has though, but we did have problems before with a wasps nest under the tiles.

Other than the untidiness of the lead, you need a step ladder to see these bits properly. I'll admit that I should have got out there sooner, but I was making final checks before paying so I'm glad I've seen this now.

If there are issues here, I hopes its more of a tidy up rather than take off the whole lot of tiles. We will have a chat to the builder in the week but I would like to be informed about what I should be asking for or what hasn't been done here. There is a local roofer who we usually use, but because this package of work involved a bigger variety of things that the roofer doesn't cover, we used a building company instead.

Edit: I'll also add that this was done with BC sign off, and they seemingly didn't have any issue, but I suppose that was looking at the insulation and the structure.
 

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That's looks terrible.
I'm no roofer but you don't need to be to see that's poor
 
Water will get driven up that even if it goes down ok. Broken Britain right there.
 
Other than the untidiness of the lead, you need a step ladder to see these bits properly. I'll admit that I should have got out there sooner, but I was making final checks before paying so I'm glad I've seen this now.

Hopefully, that, and those photos, are not the finished job?
 
Water will get driven up that even if it goes down ok. Broken Britain right there.
Can you be specific on which bits? I can already see that water is getting to the battens - do you mean that or under the lead (or both?!).
Hopefully, that, and those photos, are not the finished job?
It is, as far as I understand. I possibly should have checked sooner, but they were working on some other areas. So I’ve only got out on a stepladder for my check of have they done everything they were meant to do.
 
We've just had some work done on the roof and I have some concerns about the finish. I'd like to know if a), the concerns are valid and b) what I should be saying to the builder in terms of best practice etc.

Its the roof of a lean-to extension at the back of a terraced house. Its a small area and they replaced all the timber in order that insulation could be installed alongside a new membrane. You'll see in the photos that a little bit sticks out further as it is a store room. The tiles were to be re-used as was the leadwork. We had had some re-rendering done last year and knowing that a new roof was likely, or at least some changes to the roof, we had new leadwork installed where the roof meets the house before rendering over it. The leadwork along the parapet wall is not new.

My concerns are - and apologies for probably not having the correct terminology:

1) the finish of the leadwork. This may be cosmetic but I was expecting it to nicely tie in with the profile of the tiles, even if it was being re-used.
2) the termination of the leadwork at the end of the parapet wall. Whilst the instruction was to re-use the existing lead, they did mention that they may need a bit more, and indeed I remember say that I had some leftover from the previous work should they want to use it! It seems like this bit has just been torn/pulled round.
3) gap between the edge of the tile and the parapet wall. Its hard to tell how big this is and I don't think the tiles are meant to abut the wall exactly, but the gap looks bigger than I might have expected.
4) overhang of tiles and membrane. The membrane is untidy and is wicking water from the gutter. Not sure if this is because the tiles are overhanging too little or the membrane is too long, or something else.
5) The visible battens are getting wet at the corners, which seems like a major and fundamental issue.
6) There is nothing to stop insects etc. getting in under tiles - not sure if this is a something that this style of roof normally has though, but we did have problems before with a wasps nest under the tiles.

Other than the untidiness of the lead, you need a step ladder to see these bits properly. I'll admit that I should have got out there sooner, but I was making final checks before paying so I'm glad I've seen this now.

If there are issues here, I hopes its more of a tidy up rather than take off the whole lot of tiles. We will have a chat to the builder in the week but I would like to be informed about what I should be asking for or what hasn't been done here. There is a local roofer who we usually use, but because this package of work involved a bigger variety of things that the roofer doesn't cover, we used a building company instead.

Edit: I'll also add that this was done with BC sign off, and they seemingly didn't have any issue, but I suppose that was looking at the insulation and the structure.
Did they lay that roof from the road or did they get closer to the building?
 
All sounds pretty negative. The question is though, what should they have done instead? If I have a conversation with them, what am I actually going to ask that they remediate. Because if its that bad to start with then it would suggest they aren't expert roofers.
 
So I've had a chat with two independent roofers and the builder who has done the work.

Both roofers agreed that the leadwork and eaves finishing is really poor. One roofer said that it was a more fundamental issued whereby because they had basically just lifted the roof up via deeper rafters, but didn't make any adjustments for the pitch or finishing at the eaves. They've therefore had to stack the battens up at the end to prop the tiles up leaving stuff exposed. This is a little bit beyond be technically, but there is a slightly shallower part of the existing roof where there is an outdoor store room tacked on to the end of the house.

There seems to be some debate about whether it would be possible to install eaves trays here - builder says they can't.

Its very frustrating because although I asked for the lead to be reused, it wasn't communicated to me that this would compromise the design of the roof when new rafters were put in. The builder seems to be saying that because of these constraints, and that they didn't quote to rebuild the wall where the eaves sits (make it lower), they've sort of done the best they could. It seems to me like they didn't factor this into the design at the outset/communicate speak to me once they realised they were going to have issues.

They are offering to sort the lead, although not as extensively as the independent roofer has suggested is required. Then the builder proposes running the roof membrane over the end of the battens, with the fascia board just beneath it, and adding a cut-down felt support tray to help water run off. They would cut openings in the batten to allow any trapped water to escape.

I'm at a bit of a loss because it feels like I'm being asked to accept workaround because the original design wasn't thought through, but its being pushed as an due to the lead being kept in place. I would really prefer a specialised roofer to deal with this, but I also don't want to take everything out and start again due to the disruption.
 
I would really prefer a specialised roofer to deal with this, but I also don't want to take everything out and start again due to the disruption.

It seems you have employed a builder, rather than a roofer who would know what they were doing. I would suggest cutting your losses, and getting a roofer you can trust, rather than waste more time with a builder, and risk damage long term.
 

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