The Stone House

Private Residence Re-Roofing

One of our supply chain Chartered Quantity Surveyors approached Ian Bridge Consultancy because one of their clients had recently had a new house built and were disappointed with the finished quality of construction achieved by the builder. This related in particular to the main and ancillary roof of the building.

Upon meeting with the client, it was obvious to us that the workmanship and materials used for the roof coverings were below any standard required in term of building compliance.

At the time of our initial inspection in 2018, the building was only three years old and already significant defects were appearing.

We recommended that the first action was for us to produce a detailed Condition Survey of all roof coverings which was commissioned by the client. The results of our survey resulted in a recommendation to the client that all pitched slate roof coverings and flat lead roof coverings be removed and replaced with appropriate materials instilled to the required standard.

This advice was taken by the client and we produced a full CAD drawings package and specifications for the removal and replacement of all roof coverings which we subsequently tendered and let to a local roofing contractor.

During the course of the early stages of the project, following the removal of existing roof coverings, several significant deficiencies in the main roof structure were identified. This required the involvement of a Structural Engineer to specify remediation. Significantly, it was identified when inspecting the stone and block work gable walls, which had an enlarged cavity of 225mm. The contractor had failed to install the correct wall ties such that we identify the need to install remedial wall ties across the whole building.

What started as a simple re-roofing project morphed into a significant defect remediation contract which was an extremely traumatic experience for the owner as all these works had to be undertaken whilst she remained in occupation of the building.