Roofing - Joining terrace house to neighbours

[Kitrox]

Hello all!

Could use a bit of advice. I am currently having my house re-roofed and so far I have not been very impressed by the quality of work. The latest thing I have noticed is the joint between my house and the neighbours isn't flush, there is a raised mound which is causing the tiles to raise up where the joint is.

I have pointed this out to the roofers and they say that because I have newer, treated batons, my roof will now be slightly higher than the neighbours, and therefore the joint will not be flush. I am using natural slate tiles, which they say makes the problem worse as they do not flex.

I have not noticed this with any other house before, and looking at other houses that have recently been re-roofed, I cannot see this either.

Does this sound / look reasonable to you?

How are you supposed to join new and old terrace roofs together when they should be flush with each other?

Thanks!

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Your images don't work.

 

[pete50]

I'm no roofer so I wouldn't know the ins and outs of putting slates on a roof. What I do know is that that looks b****y awful. Also the tiles are raised and that could let wind under which would take the tiles off and could let water in. If that was my roof those, so called, professionals would be told to start again or go back to sweeping roads.

 

[Kitrox]

How about now?

 

[Kitrox]

I'm no roofer so I wouldn't know the ins and outs of putting slates on a roof. What I do know is that that looks b****y awful. Also the tiles are raised and that could let wind under which would take the tiles off and could let water in. If that was my roof those, so called, professionals would be told to start again or go back to sweeping roads.

Agreed.

 

[^woody^]

This is common and nothing to do with the battens.

It tends to be due to the party wall being slightly higher than the adjacent rafters (which may have settled over time). You may well find that this was like it previously and wil be present along the rest of the houses in the terrace too.

It may be that the required rockwool fire barrier that the roofers put on the party wall has forced the felt and battens up slightly, but I doubt that very much, as hardly any roofers do this.

 

[wessex101]

Christ that's rough.

Being charitable lets say it is the battens. Old battens are thinner but we are only talking a few millimeters, they could have notched the battens where they join the neighbour's roof to get them flush or run a lead roll down the slope of the roof between the new and old slates.

I love their argument that it's partly due to the fact you chose natural slate rather than those "bendy" artificial slates. Total bullshit.

 

[Kitrox]

This is common and nothing to do with the battens.

It tends to be due to the party wall being slightly higher than the adjacent rafters (which may have settled over time). You may well find that this was like it previously and wil be present along the rest of the houses in the terrace too.

It may be that the required rockwool fire barrier that the roofers put on the party wall has forced the felt and battens up slightly, but I doubt that very much, as hardly any roofers do this.

I didn't notice any rockwool barrier between the houses. It is a Victorian terrace house with a sold wall between the houses. Before the tiles went down I saw the battens were thicker than the neighbours older ones but I assumed they would be sanded down to meet them. I assumed wrong!

What would be best practice here? A spine between the two houses? A bonded gutter?

Thanks,

 

[Kitrox]

Christ that's rough.

Being charitable lets say it is the battens. Old battens are thinner but we are only talking a few millimeters, they could have notched the battens where they join the neighbour's roof to get them flush or run a lead roll down the slope of the roof between the new and old slates.

I love their argument that it's partly due to the fact you chose natural slate rather than those "bendy" artificial slates. Total bullshit.

Looks pretty bad, the front of the house is the same. They are doing my neighbours house too, and the neighbour went for 'bendy' tiles, these have been joined in a similarly lumpy fashion to their neighbours. Is is a simple case of sanding down the batons so they level out gradually?

 

[wessex101]

I don't know what the official technical method is supposed to be I would accept a combination of cutting a small notch in the back of the new battens (not noggins you dumb arse) and possibly slightly packing out the old battens so they finish up flush without too much of a ripple in the roof slope. Like I said we are only talking a few millimeters.

If it is a case of hogs backing over the party wall as Woody suggested it is a matter of removing the "hump" in the wall. More work but still doable.

 

[^woody^]

There is only a 5mm difference in thickness of tile battens, so I suspect there could be other things at play there.