Just had the verges raked-out and replaced on both gable ends of my garage. Had another roofing company out to do some work just after they'd been done and they called me outside to show me the verge tiles were loose. They demonstrated by lifting an adjacent tile and the verge tile lifted with it. I've got no idea if this is normal, or not.
The roofer who did the verges just came to take a look and, unsurprisingly, claimed there was nothing wrong with the work. When I asked him if it was normal to be able to lift the verge tiles with my finger tips (just reaching-up to the lower ones and pushing them), he was a little tougue-tied but said if you're going to mess arund with them, they will lift but he claimed they're not going anywhere. He went-on to say they're bedded on a sharp sand and cement mix with bonding and you won't get a stronger mix than that. His words didn't make sense to me so I said well you're saying it's a strong mix, but how am I able to lift tiles with just my finger tips? We went round in circles a few times and he basically is saying there's nothing wrong. I used an analogy with him of a brick wall where bricks are on a bed of mortar. Once set, you can't just lift bricks with your fingers... you need a wrecking ball! He claims that's totally different and if you grabbed the end most corner brick of a wall and jiggled it around, it would just come away in your hand (haven't actually tried that, but I seriously doubt it!)
So, right now, I'm stuck between another roofing company (who do more soffit work, etc, rather than traditional roofing work) saying the verges are no good and the roofer who actually did the work saying they are. The roofer who did the work has been in business for 35-years and has 100% MyBuilder and CheckaTrade ratings and his headed paper claims he's a member of the Confederation of Roofing Contractors (going to phone them on Monday to double-check that).
He's offered to come back and sort anything I'm not happy with and has suggested injecting some Grip Fill under any loose tiles I'm particularly concerned about (shouts bodge to me).
For what it's worth, his quote was £500 and it took him 2 days (2 half-days with 40-min tea breaks and a day I wasn't at home, so I'm going to be generous and call that a full day's work). So, he's charging top dollar for the amount of labour (and a bag of sand/cement). I had another couple of quotes before I contracted him for the work and they were similar. This isn't a job I'm paying someone £100 cash for to do a quick fix... I'm paying for a proper, professional job and that's what I expect.
Comments and advice welcome.
The roofer who did the verges just came to take a look and, unsurprisingly, claimed there was nothing wrong with the work. When I asked him if it was normal to be able to lift the verge tiles with my finger tips (just reaching-up to the lower ones and pushing them), he was a little tougue-tied but said if you're going to mess arund with them, they will lift but he claimed they're not going anywhere. He went-on to say they're bedded on a sharp sand and cement mix with bonding and you won't get a stronger mix than that. His words didn't make sense to me so I said well you're saying it's a strong mix, but how am I able to lift tiles with just my finger tips? We went round in circles a few times and he basically is saying there's nothing wrong. I used an analogy with him of a brick wall where bricks are on a bed of mortar. Once set, you can't just lift bricks with your fingers... you need a wrecking ball! He claims that's totally different and if you grabbed the end most corner brick of a wall and jiggled it around, it would just come away in your hand (haven't actually tried that, but I seriously doubt it!)
So, right now, I'm stuck between another roofing company (who do more soffit work, etc, rather than traditional roofing work) saying the verges are no good and the roofer who actually did the work saying they are. The roofer who did the work has been in business for 35-years and has 100% MyBuilder and CheckaTrade ratings and his headed paper claims he's a member of the Confederation of Roofing Contractors (going to phone them on Monday to double-check that).
He's offered to come back and sort anything I'm not happy with and has suggested injecting some Grip Fill under any loose tiles I'm particularly concerned about (shouts bodge to me).
For what it's worth, his quote was £500 and it took him 2 days (2 half-days with 40-min tea breaks and a day I wasn't at home, so I'm going to be generous and call that a full day's work). So, he's charging top dollar for the amount of labour (and a bag of sand/cement). I had another couple of quotes before I contracted him for the work and they were similar. This isn't a job I'm paying someone £100 cash for to do a quick fix... I'm paying for a proper, professional job and that's what I expect.
Comments and advice welcome.
