Want to know what, if anything, I should do about the roof job on my new extension- roof just finished, scaffold still up... From the pics it's obvious the cosmetic finish is not the best, mortar smeared pretty rough. And aside from no dye being used in the mortar mix there is some pretty large voids filled with mortar,mainly to fill in large gaps between the ridge and hip tiles. Does the job look otherwise sound or should I take issue with builder over the work? Not had any problems so far with the builder. I've worked in trades myself so I know perfection is rarely possible but value opinions on this please.
That is horrible, and clearly done by someone who has no pride in his work. The very least he could have done is sponge off the excess mortar before it set. What I would have done (what I did when I recently mortared a terra-cotta coloured roof) was use reddish brown building sand (available from most building suppliers in small plastic bags costing a couple of quid) so that the mortar colour matches the tiles. The gaps make perfect hidey holes for wasps and other things. If that's what you want, then that's OK, If not, get him to fill them as he should have the first time round.
Dog rough. Either the apprentice, Stevie Wonder or a paraplegic employee of the builder did it. I'm afraid they'd be doing it again if it was my roof.
I'm paying for architect contract administration with staged payments so I've emailed him and sent photos saying I want it sorting out before next payment.
If the builder made such a mess of what you can see, what has he dome to what can't be seen? Get your architect round to check ASAP.
I tend to have some sympathy for a tradesman who makes a mistake or overlooks some detail, we've all done it, but just having no pride in their work is unforgivable in my book. How could you walk away at the end of the job thinking that looks acceptable, why didn't the other trades kick up a fuss, it reflects on all of them after all.
We've all rushed to finish something before dark, or we've dropped something mid-stream to attend to something more urgent, but he could have come back the next day and the mortar would still have been workable/cleanable then. Now it's going to take 10 times the effort and a lot of aggro to sort out. This wasn't just a mistake; it's clear evidence of lack of pride in his work.
The ridge/hip tiles were only laid yesterday (and in the rain). Builder sent team of two back this afternoon and looks like they've replaced the worst ridge tile but looks like they have just spread some more muck (with a bit of a red tinge to it) over the top of yesterday's effort. I know they didn't rake out the old muck as I heard them in action. Been up and the joints are just powder- you can rub the red surface away with a finger so it seems obvious what they've done there.Also, the joints now look heeuge- almost as high as the ridge tiles themselves! Architect not got back to me yet. Would value more opinions as before.
Don't know why the builders didn't use dry ridge system The next door house look much tidier an is using this system and look much nicer. Plus on first picture the ridge tile has a screw which could let water in? Mortar is very likely to fall out over a few winters. Also very bad spacing of tiles resulting in large joints and small off cuts.
Yeah, agree with all of that and still far from happy. I'll wait and see what architect says but i'll be pushing for all the ridge tiles to be ripped off and re-laid. It's a brand new roof under there and new tiles on top so no excuses for this standard of work I reckon.
While scaffolding is still up would get builders to replace all the ridges and relay and stained ones from the mess they have created. The second picture, not sure what this is, is this where it joints/meets next doors house?
No, this pic is the valley at the rear of the house where the new part of the two storey extension (on the right) meets the original roof (on the left). Builder -re-used the old tiles on the original part of the roof, which is fair enough I guess as they were still serviceable. Sorry, pic should be rotated 90 deg clockwise This is how the valley part of the roof looks now- still don't know wtf he's done at that top right corner, sand + cement everywhere on that ridge tile.
The idiots used the screw because they clearly didn't know about hip irons! When they relay and rebed the whole lot, Insist that they get up there with a sponge and a bucket of water and clean up any mortar that gets where it shouldn't be.
Wasn't much point me mentioning they'd obviously laid it in the rain as the finish is that disgraceful that the rain is irrelevant. Seriously, get them to redo it all, and ask the architect to pop around and see if he feels it's a fine example of his designs, being as your paying his wage.