loose roof tiles - help

[vinnyvegas]

We have just had high winds over the last couple of weeks and I noticed a loose tile on the front roof. I asked about at work and have come up with a recommended roofer to replace and have a look at the roof while he was up.
I received a message to contact the roofer yesterday regarding the roof and was informed that the roof was in a bit of a mess. Please bear with me on the following as i have no knowledge of the roofing game and am still probably in shock!!!
The roofer has informed me that a lot of the slates are loose and have worked free from the battens and in his experience it would be better to remove all the slates both back and front from the roof and start again with a better slate and thicker/wider batten.They could be ripped off in the next lot of high winds. The roofer has quoted £6000 all in for removal/product and labour which dont seem too bad. The issue is that he says it would be easier for someone to do it this way than rather recover and break the tiles. Dont know off hand exactly how many tiles are loose but he said that this was the best way forward. I have an insurance assessor coming next week to have a look and the roofer says that he would like to be there to talk them through what he has seen. Can we claim through the insurance company or should this have been picked up by the surveyor as we have only been in the house 18 months. I am not knocking the roofer in any way and he has been more than helpful. We must be talking a lot of tiles that are loose and need replacing.
The house and roof are approx 12 years old
The roof is in a cheap version of the Spanish slate used in this country (so i am informed by the roofer)
The roof appears to rattle when there are high winds.
Any advice would be more than helpful - big blow just before Christmas. Thanks in advance.

 

[Xenon]

Without seeing the roof its hard to tell, could be nail sickness but that doesn't add up if its got a spanish on it really. Must be a big roof for 6k as well.

 

[catlad]

Well its a short life span 12 years, it must have been done badly. I dont think it can be a nail problem after such a short time.

 

[vinnyvegas]

The price quoted was for front and back.

Would it be wise to reclaim and fit the tiles as they are to me not too old.

Thinking back the roofer may have commented that the battens used may not have been wide / deep enough

The roofer is on about just binning the tiles in a skip with no mention of reclaiming as it would not be wise for time management.

The roof to me looks in good order with no signs of any leaks

 

[^woody^]

Roof slates should last 60- 100 years, so I would caution against this roofers advice. Slate roofs can rattle

At the moment you have a problem with one state. Sort that out and then get some other quotes later on

Normally, insurance will be for damage caused by the weather not bad tiles, and I think your roofer may want to be there to try and get the whole roof out of the insurance company

 

[catlad]

I would only put those on a roof if the customer bought them and I was short of work they are bottom of the pile

 

[^woody^]

If this house is only 12 years old and part of a wider estate, then all the other houses with the same slate must be having the same problem if the tiles are at fault

 

[vinnyvegas]

The house that we have bought was built privately and looks in good condition. The issue appears to be the tiles coming off the lats with the high winds. Looking from the ground up everything appears to be lined up and straight. I would be looking at reusing the same tiles rather than replacing the full lot which to me is an un required expense.

 

[catlad]

It sounds like the roof was built on a budget. Those slates are 30 year life span so think how long you are going to live there before you put them back on!

 

[BethesdaSlate]

It sounds like the roof is sub-standard due to poor workmanship along with poor quality materials. Your adviser could well be right as these types of problems are all too common where roofers who are more used working with tiles attempt to carry out natural slate roofing.
Using undersized battens can be a real problem when using natural slates as this can cause 'batten bounce' during slating, which can lead to fractures in poorer quality slates, which may only become evident well after the roof has been completed.
I'd say trust your roofer to advise the Insurer about this, the insurer is not going to cough up if he doesn't have to - the roofer is obviously confident of what he's talking about.
Good luck

PS £6k is not excessive to re-slate an average house roof.

 

[joe-90]

Why do you lot think this is an insurance issue?

 

[Xenon]

PS £6k is not excessive to re-slate an average house roof.

Define average? A standard mid terrace front and back with 1 stack would be about £2500 with scaffold. (50m2)

 

[Xenon]

Why do you lot think this is an insurance issue?

I actually agree with Joe. If a full paid for survey was carried out pre purchase and if there is a fault and it was overlooked, then there may be some recourse with the surveying practise, barring that, its not an insurance claim. It won't be nail sick at 12 years old, and the regs on batten size changed less than 12 years ago.

 

[vinnyvegas]

Thanks for al the advice folks.
I know nothing about roofing just your average Joe Public.
What I cant get my head round is - Why do we pay money for surveys when things are overlooked until there is an issue and it is put down to high winds by the surveying company.
The insurance company may say the opposite and the work was shoddy and not pay out because of this.
To me I should have comeback on one or the other as it is only 18 months since the survey (and the house is approx 13 years old)
The roofer thinks that the issue is with the size of the battens that were used originally but were acceptable at the time (covered by building regs) because the house was built 13 years ago not shoddy workmanship. With high winds they have worked themselves loose, where as the regs changed in 2003!!! and a larger/wider batten would have to be used now. Obviously there were issues prior to 2003 for the regs to be changed.
Thoughts please folks

 

[BethesdaSlate]

Regarding batten sizes, it was the 1997 Standard that changed to 50x25mm minimum batten size, so 14 years ago, and even previous to that it was always recommend to use a batten of 'adequate size and strength'. This was to counter the effect of using up to 600mm truss centres that where now becoming more common.

Pricing: Re-slating including all scaffolds,skips, leadwork, etc etc. for £50 per m2? anyone doing it for that price must be missing something!! Certainly won't be using good quality slates. I'd be suspicious of anything below £65 per m2. (unless of course you are buying the materials and doing it yourself)