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Hi! I've got a leak in my tenement (third floor, so pretty high up) building in Scotland, and two experienced roofers are in disagreement about where the leak is and in disagreement about the best course of action. I'd love some input from people here if you have time!
1. So, where is the water showing?
After the recent spells of rain we've had, the plaster around the window shown in the image has started to become damp/wet. Damp areas are shown in the images attached at the sides of the top of the window. Wet areas are also present on each side at the bottom of the window, on each side of our window sill.
2. What did Roofer #1 say?
The first roofer to come round was an old chap who popped his head out of the window and took one look at the cement/mortar highlighted in green in the images and said it's your skews. He said the cement hadn't bonded to the slates, and you could see that the bottom of the cement nearest the slates was darker than the rest of it, therefore it was letting water in. He said this needed broken out and redone. There was a similar issue on a second chimney breast, so he quoted for two scaffold towers (third floor) and also said the chimney pots were ready to come down so he'd also recommend these get replaced.
Total quote: £5000
3. What did Roofer #2 say?
Roofer #2 came round and said it wasn't the cement/skews - he said the slate was pushed up tight against the brickwork so water wouldn't be getting in there. He also took a look further back up the roof and said there were tiles missing higher up the roof (I've highlighted the large green circle in the aerial/top down photo) and that was likely the cause as it would stream down the roof to the window. I tried to get a look inside the piece of roof above the window though it was quite difficult to access - there's a pic attached of the bit above the right side of the window and looks possible that there's a wet patch on the corner beam, so that would add up with what he's saying.
Roofer #2 also looked at the chimney pots that Roofer #1 said were "ready to come down" and he said nonsense, "they are solid".
Roofer #2 recommended we contact a scaffolder he knows first - get the scaffold erected, and then he can assess and provide a proper quote. He estimated £3500 for a single scaffold tower, tile replacements and some zinc plating on the ridge.
4. My question
So what do I do with this information? To me, roofer 2 sounds correct. The cement doesn't look very old and roofer 2's logic about the tiles being tight against the blocks made sense. Do I go ahead and get scaffolders to put the tower up once my neighbours approve, or do I need a third roofers opinion?
To make matters worse, we have a shopkeeper in the building on the ground floor who "doesn't have £1000" and is insisting on using his contact who uses a drone and a cherry picker (wtf, cherry picker for a three-story tenement?) for jobs like this - and he's not available until March. Meanwhile, I have to incur any repair costs for damage to my flat. Any input would be appreciated! Thanks!
1. So, where is the water showing?
After the recent spells of rain we've had, the plaster around the window shown in the image has started to become damp/wet. Damp areas are shown in the images attached at the sides of the top of the window. Wet areas are also present on each side at the bottom of the window, on each side of our window sill.
2. What did Roofer #1 say?
The first roofer to come round was an old chap who popped his head out of the window and took one look at the cement/mortar highlighted in green in the images and said it's your skews. He said the cement hadn't bonded to the slates, and you could see that the bottom of the cement nearest the slates was darker than the rest of it, therefore it was letting water in. He said this needed broken out and redone. There was a similar issue on a second chimney breast, so he quoted for two scaffold towers (third floor) and also said the chimney pots were ready to come down so he'd also recommend these get replaced.
Total quote: £5000
3. What did Roofer #2 say?
Roofer #2 came round and said it wasn't the cement/skews - he said the slate was pushed up tight against the brickwork so water wouldn't be getting in there. He also took a look further back up the roof and said there were tiles missing higher up the roof (I've highlighted the large green circle in the aerial/top down photo) and that was likely the cause as it would stream down the roof to the window. I tried to get a look inside the piece of roof above the window though it was quite difficult to access - there's a pic attached of the bit above the right side of the window and looks possible that there's a wet patch on the corner beam, so that would add up with what he's saying.
Roofer #2 also looked at the chimney pots that Roofer #1 said were "ready to come down" and he said nonsense, "they are solid".
Roofer #2 recommended we contact a scaffolder he knows first - get the scaffold erected, and then he can assess and provide a proper quote. He estimated £3500 for a single scaffold tower, tile replacements and some zinc plating on the ridge.
4. My question
So what do I do with this information? To me, roofer 2 sounds correct. The cement doesn't look very old and roofer 2's logic about the tiles being tight against the blocks made sense. Do I go ahead and get scaffolders to put the tower up once my neighbours approve, or do I need a third roofers opinion?
To make matters worse, we have a shopkeeper in the building on the ground floor who "doesn't have £1000" and is insisting on using his contact who uses a drone and a cherry picker (wtf, cherry picker for a three-story tenement?) for jobs like this - and he's not available until March. Meanwhile, I have to incur any repair costs for damage to my flat. Any input would be appreciated! Thanks!
