Roof and ceiling drooping

[Lee101]

Hello to everyone here,
I am very worried right now, we have had our top roof done and scaffolding was used to help the roofers. The scaffolding was put up on the front porch, down the side and on the single storey kitchen roof. The problem is the kitchen roof!
The scaffolders were big and heavy footed working on a Sunday, we heard a lot of banging and noises that worried us. The scaffolding has been up for around 2 weeks now and these are my concerns: the kitchen cupboard directly under a beam gets jammed for the first time, you can see the wood of the cupboard bowing, cracks in the dated artexed ceiling appearing, the blind over the main window rubbing against the plasterboard above, the beam has come away in places...... From the outside you can see the roof dipping in the middle.
Has the lintel snapped? What do we do?
Thank you so much in advanced for your responses, we have small children that are fed in the kitchen and are worried about all of our safety.
Please get in touch, I have more pictures if you need them.
Thanks
Lee

 

[George_engineer]

Yeah it appears they've damaged the lower roof. Did they stack tiles on the upper scaffold platform?

Take loads of pictures and talk to the company doing the work. I would not let the kids continue to use the room until the roof and ceiling has been checked. Even a lump of plaster coming down will be a serious enough injury to a small child.

If they aren't immediately apologetic and promise to get it checked and fixed then I'd get onto your house insurance company.

 

[Lee101]

Yeah it appears they've damaged the lower roof. Did they stack tiles on the upper scaffold platform?

Take loads of pictures and talk to the company doing the work. I would not let the kids continue to use the room until the roof and ceiling has been checked. Even a lump of plaster coming down will be a serious enough injury to a small child.

If they aren't immediately apologetic and promise to get it checked and fixed then I'd get onto your house insurance company.

Thank you for your response, we will get on to this straight away.

 

[Lee101]

Thank you for your response, we will get on to this straight away.

We are just wondering if it's the roofers responsibility or the scaffolders for the damage to the roof?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

We are just wondering if it's the roofers responsibility or the scaffolders for the damage to the roof?

Advise both of your concerns.

 

[23vc]

I’m trying to work out what’s actually happened/moved looking at that pic. Can you post a pic of the issues inside?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I’m trying to work out what’s actually happened/moved looking at that pic. Can you post a pic of the issues inside?

The lower of the two planks on the roof, appears to be quite bowed by the weight.

 

[Lee101]

I’m trying to work out what’s actually happened/moved looking at that pic. Can you post a pic of the issues inside?

 

[Lee101]

The lower of the two planks on the roof, appears to be quite bowed by the weight.

I think the lintel has broken

 

[^woody^]

Scaffold should be designed and not just thrown up.

TG20:21 is the standard, and requires that roof to be properly assessed and calculated to take the scaffold. There should be a plan and design documents, and a handover sheet passed to the builders from the scaffolders. Following handover the builder should be inspection the scaffold (and the roof) at least weekly.

You, as the client can ask for the documentation to prove that the scaffold has been properly designed, and regularly inspected.

I doubt there will be any.

​

 

[Lee101]

Scaffold should be designed and not just thrown up.

TG20:21 is the standard, and requires that roof to be properly assessed and calculated to take the scaffold. There should be a plan and design documents, and a handover sheet passed to the builders from the scaffolders. Following handover the builder should be inspection the scaffold (and the roof) at least weekly.

You, as the client can ask for the documentation to prove that the scaffold has been properly designed, and regularly inspected.

I doubt there will be any.

​

That's great info, thank you

 

[George_engineer]

We are just wondering if it's the roofers responsibility or the scaffolders for the damage to the roof?

Who do you have a contract with? I wouldn't get into the weeds of the design and construction - fundamentally if they break something they need to fix it. An independent check, or someone from your insurer, would help keep things factual and done right.

If it's a bit less formal and you've employed them both separately then unfortunately they'll just blame each other (scaffolder will say roofer overloaded the scaffold, roofer will say the scaffold was built wrong...).

 

[Lee101]

Who do you have a contract with? I wouldn't get into the weeds of the design and construction - fundamentally if they break something they need to fix it. An independent check, or someone from your insurer, would help keep things factual and done right.

If it's a bit less formal and you've employed them both separately then unfortunately they'll just blame each other (scaffolder will say roofer overloaded the scaffold, roofer will say the scaffold was built wrong...).

The roofers employed the scaffolders

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The roofers employed the scaffolders

Is the roofer a proper company, with liability insurance, or one you found on Checkatrade?

 

[mrrusty]

The roofers employed the scaffolders

That's good news at least - you have no contract with the scaffolders, only the roofer, so it's irrelevant if they try and blame the scaffolder.

My approach would be to approach the roofing company, show them the damage, and say "your work has obviously damaged the extension structure, how do you want to play this? do you want to just sort it out for us? or would you like us to get a building surveyors report, that we would expect you to reimburse us for, so you can claim on your insurance?"

This sort of approach forces the builder to make a decision which both work for you. The under-text that can be left unsaid at the beginning is "I know you damaged it, you know you damaged it, and if you try to deny it, it will go legal"