Warning ... if you intend to have your guttering replaced!!!

[Mel B]

Grrrrr ..... not a happy bunny at all at the mo, I've been sorting out some major problems with our bungalow so haven't been on here for a few days .... :-|

 

Our bungalow consists of 2 parts: the front half is the original part which was built around the early 1800s (possibly 1819) by 'paupers' who farmed the then church owned land and subsequently were allowed to construct a home on it; the rear half is a more modern extension but using old materials which doubled its size (built in 1970s). As the fascias, guttering etc dates from when it was extended (some 35-40 years ago) obviously it is a bit worse for wear now so we decided to have it all replaced with uPvc so, having obtained a few quotes we chose a company who are a local family firm who seemed to know what they are on about and we felt we could trust, at a cost of £1880 which, bearing in mind the size of our bungalow, is a good price.

 

So as arranged they came on Thursday to start the job - he'd estimating 2 days in total to strip off all the old stuff, clean everything up, then fit the new stuff and make good ... if only it had been THAT EASY!

 

Whilst removing the bottom roof tiles they noticed that some of the rafter ends were rotten and the wall plate which they rested on was also rotten in places - nothing particularly unexpected in a bungalow of this age especially since we are north facing and the wind and rain etc hits us head on. Then they stripped off some more and found a bit of woodworm for good measure but it didn't look major at that point ... continuing on he found more woodworm holes ... and more, and more ....!!!!! AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH >:-( 8-)

 

Now they have finally got to the end of the stripping off phase (stop it Dave!!! :D ) and found that the ends of the rafters on one side all needed to be cut back by at least 6 inches to get to good wood, with some of them needing replacing altogether (mostly the ones near the corners so not too long!), and a long centre one needed half of it replacing. Then they moved onto the front and started stripping again, and although they found some woodworm there, it was at the 2 front corners so again not the very long roof rafters, with a few of the others needed just the ends cutting back and replacing but not as 'bad' as at the side. They then had a good shuftie in the attic itself and whilst there are some signs of woodworm in a couple of the purlins it is only superficial and they are very sound, some of the rafters on the other side have signs of having had a bit of woodworm but don't need any repair. One additional problem though which is not normally an issue is that the ceiling in the original part of our bungalow is mainly made up of thin tongued and grooved boarding which has been fixed to the underside of the rafters and then plastered ... so quite a bit of timber there too and fortunately there has actually been very little damaged caused by the s*dding blighters to this! The one good thing is that when the extension was built they used treated timber so that is fine with no sign at all of woodworm, plus we've been able to lag more of the water pipes running at the very edge of the roof as we could get to them which we couldn't previously!!!! :-)

 

Yesterday we moved everything to the rear of the attic and covered it all up to protected it from the chemical treatment and also removed all the loft insulation from the front - what a mess ... we found a newspaper from 1964 which must have been when it the original layer of insulation was put down! The chaps blew out the dust and remaining insulation, cut out the bad timber on the side, removed the wall plate (the existing purlins are strong enough to support the roof without it fortunately), and gave all the timbers in the front half a couple of coats of woodworm treatment including the ceiling boards. They're coming back tomorrow to put in the new timber and once that's secure then they'll cut out the bad stuff on the front and replace that too, spraying it all again to be safe. Then they can actually get on with the job they originally came to do!!! *-)

 

All in all this will have been a very expensive few days and not something we expected ... the only 'good'' thing to come out of all of this is thank goodness we decided to have the fascias and guttering replaced now rather than leave it until next year which is what we might have done if the weather had turned already. I'm not sure what the final cost will be but it ain't gonna be cheap ... we didn't get a price for the additional work simply because until yesterday they didn't know how bad it all was, so we should find out tomorrow ... not ideal, but once the works was started there was no going back anyway .... oh what joy! :-(

 

So, at present we have a 'blue' bungalow ... the front is covered in blue tarpaulins to keep it weather-tight so rattles like a crisp packet! Below are some photos I took yesterday of the state of the roof before it was covered ... my poooooooor bungalow!!!! :'(

[George Collings]

Commiserations Mel.

 

Maintainance- The curse of the property owning class.

 

With a history like that its a miracle its not been listed. That would have been fun.

[Mel B]

George Collings - 2013-09-29 9:20 PM

 

Commiserations Mel.

 

Maintainance- The curse of the property owning class.

 

With a history like that its a miracle its not been listed. That would have been fun.

 

Yes George, 'listing' would have been interesting!!! I imaging it never was listed (or any of the other paupers' cottages either) because there used to be quite a few of these type of properties but over the years they've been gobbled up and turned into much larger homes (they tended to be on very large plots of land) - being paupers' dwelling they didn't have any great architectural merit as such and were all very different, just built however and with whatever was available at the time. Ours is, as far as I'm aware, the last pauper's cottage in Cottingham now, with the only other remaining one we knew about being demolished about 2 years ago to make way for yet another 'mansion'. At least what we're doing will ensure that ours will last for a lot longer, maybe not another 200 years but hopefully at least past our expiry dates! In some ways we've been fortunate, we've lived here for 20 years and we've not had any major repairs as such to carry out, just stuff we wanted to do like replacing the front door (for uPvc, updating/refurbish/re-jigging the layout, new kitchen, bathroom etc, etc.

 

At least its all done we won't have to maintain the fascias etc and it will be a selling point in the future too.

[bob b]

It may well revert to a pauper's cottage Mel.....when the final bill rolls in!

[Mel B]

bob b - 2013-09-29 10:25 PM

 

It may well revert to a pauper's cottage Mel.....when the final bill rolls in!

We're already the 'poorest' ones on the block if you go by the size of the other properties and their gardens!

 

One thing that I have thought of again, though, is fitting some sore of roof light in the attic which I can then use to let light into our inner hallway which is surrounded on all sides so has no direct light coming into it, just what comes through the other rooms. I've wanted to do this for years and now, seeing as this part of the attic is more accessible due to all the 'junk' having been moved to the other end, it seems the obvious time to sort it so I am currently considering a couple of options:

 

Either installing a small opening roof skylight (both B&Q and Wickes do their own versions fur just under £100 - see links below) which wouldn't be difficult to install especially since we already have a 'gap' in the rafters where the original chimney poked out through the roof which is where I'd want the rooflight to go anyway.

 

B&Q roof skylight

 

Wickes roof skylight

 

Or alternatively I've found out that it is possible to now get plastic (ABS) Suntiles, which are direct replacements for a single rooftile and are very easy to install especially in our case as we have the concrete double pan type tiles - in the past you could buy glass versions of these but they are now only available second hand AFAIK so the 'plastic' version is the modern equivalent:

 

sun tile

 

I already have a suitable double glazed unit which I can install in the attic access hatch to allow the light from the rooflight/tiles through to the inner hallway - being double glazed it will reduce the heat-loss into the attic and probably provide more insulation than the current solid but thin hatch!

 

I have also considered a 'sun tube' but it would mean cutting a large hole in the ceiling for the tube to feed down too, which I don't want to do, so fitting a 'window' in the attic hatch makes the most sense and also will be more in keeping with an old property (think of Victorian type of houses with similar skylights in the ceilings above staircases).

[antony1969]

My advice as a roofer Mel , looks like the rest of the roof you are leaving on although it looks like you only have bog standard 1F underfelt on it , for me I would strip the rest and put breathable membrane on .

Only install Velux windows as the flashing kits with all other windows are massively inferior . Sun tunnels are good we have one in one of the bedrooms but are a nightmare to fit with your tiles .

[CliveH]

We had a similar problem Mel, with the front of or house that was originally a flat roof for part of the ground floor (the garage, hallway, downstairs loo and the study had a larger 'footprint" than the upper floor) which we had converted to a pitched roof when the inevitable happened to the flat roof and we had to "do something" - so we thought a pitched roof would be the end to it.

 

It was to a degree but sadly we noted about 15 years later that the tiles at the front looked a bit "odd" and we had strips of the under tile felt falling out.

 

The upshot of it was that the felt fitted was poor quality and had allowed the wet to get in.

 

Thankfully my son who is a Master Thatcher :-

 

http://kevinhammondthatching.co.uk

 

was able to take the tiles off and carry out the repair - but as Antony states, my son insisted that we replace the entire old felt with modern membrane. Thankfully where the rot had got into the wood we caught it in time and with the beams all exposed we could easily replace whole beams rather than chop out the bad bits and replace. But then the whole structure is far smaller than an entire Bungalow.

 

It does occur to me tho' that if you want more light etc, is this not a good time to get an architect in to give you some idea as to what you could do with the roof if it all has to be redone anyway - why not incorporate improvements at the same time?

 

The cost to put back as was is likely to be very similar to putting back with liveable Loft Space or integral Velux windows.

 

Just a thought.

 

 

[Mrs T]

Rule No 1. Never mess with old property unless you have deep pockets or are a builder. Lesson learned sorry.

[Guest pelmetman]

Mel B - 2013-09-29 8:53 PM

 

Now they have finally got to the end of the stripping off phase (stop it Dave!!! :D ) (

 

Must be an age thing when your truss needs replacing :D

[Mel B]

Mrs T - 2013-09-30 9:02 AM

 

Rule No 1. Never mess with old property unless you have deep pockets or are a builder. Lesson learned sorry.

 

... and that was helpful how ?????? *-)

[nowtelse2do]

pelmetman - 2013-09-30 7:01 PM

 

Mel B - 2013-09-29 8:53 PM

 

Now they have finally got to the end of the stripping off phase (stop it Dave!!! :D ) (

 

Must be an age thing when your truss needs replacing :D

 

And what about felt ? :D

 

Dave

[Mel B]

 

We've found out the cost today ... £8,500 including the fascias etc!!!! 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)

 

The quote for the original job of replacing fascias, guttering etc was £1,880, so that's £6,620 for the 'extra' work which seems a heck of a lot of money!!! We let the chap know that we weren't happy with that and had some discussion about it all, he reduced it to £7,500 but we were still debating what to do and eventually, after a bit more talking and 'silence' (works wonders!), we got him down to £7,000 for everything, so £1,880 for the original job and £5,120 for the extra work. :-( It is still a LOT of money when we weren't expecting to have this expense however it will ensure that we shouldn't have any problems in the future as he is doing a very good job and removing all the bad timber and bolting in new pieces, he's given it 2 treatments of woodworm etc 'killer' and will need to give it at least one more as it is just sucking up the chemical - apparently each drum costs around £250 and he'll have used 2 by the end of it. We'll also get a 15 year guarantee for the roof/treatment etc so it will be a good 'selling point' in the future and give any prospective buyer some assurance hopefully.

 

Fortunately we can access the money to pay for the extra work but I hate to think what would have happened if we couldn't - I'm sure some people won't have it or be able to get at it. *-)

 

It is still a bitter pill to swallow but we can't do anything about it so there's no point getting upset about it all ... that's what I keep telling myself!!!! :'(

 

Fortunately there's no problem with water getting in through the roof itself, so the existing felt is doing it's job and we won't be replacing it, just putting new membrane on the repaired parts, plus I would hate to think how much more it would cost to have the whole roof taken off, re-felted and re-battened!!!!! 8-)

[Mel B]

CliveH - 2013-09-30 8:44 AM

 

It does occur to me tho' that if you want more light etc, is this not a good time to get an architect in to give you some idea as to what you could do with the roof if it all has to be redone anyway - why not incorporate improvements at the same time?

 

The cost to put back as was is likely to be very similar to putting back with liveable Loft Space or integral Velux windows.

 

Just a thought.

Hi Clive, the thought had crossed my mind but we don't need to extend the bungalow for our own needs as its actually quite big as it is. We're only having work done on the front half of the bungalow anyway as the rear extension doesn't need touching. Also it would actually be quite a major job as the existing roof space isn't high enough to create usable rooms (it's only about 4'6" high in the centre) so it would mean completely removing the existing roof, timber and all and starting from scratch therefore it would be a much, much, much more expensive thing to do and I'm not convinced that it would actually add the same amount, or more, value to our bungalow to outweigh the cost of doing it and knowing our luck the existing walls, foundations etc probably wouldn't be sufficient/strong enough anyway ...

 

We just want a bit of light into our 'enclosed' inner hallway if we can, something I've always wanted, so that's why I'm looking at installing a simple roof light of some sort and I should be able to put it in myself in an case.

[antony1969]

Mel B - 2013-09-30 8:41 PM

 

 

We've found out the cost today ... £8,500 including the fascias etc!!!! 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)

 

The quote for the original job of replacing fascias, guttering etc was £1,880, so that's £6,620 for the 'extra' work which seems a heck of a lot of money!!! We let the chap know that we weren't happy with that and had some discussion about it all, he reduced it to £7,500 but we were still debating what to do and eventually, after a bit more talking and 'silence' (works wonders!), we got him down to £7,000 for everything, so £1,880 for the original job and £5,120 for the extra work. :-( It is still a LOT of money when we weren't expecting to have this expense however it will ensure that we shouldn't have any problems in the future as he is doing a very good job and removing all the bad timber and bolting in new pieces, he's given it 2 treatments of woodworm etc 'killer' and will need to give it at least one more as it is just sucking up the chemical - apparently each drum costs around £250 and he'll have used 2 by the end of it. We'll also get a 15 year guarantee for the roof/treatment etc so it will be a good 'selling point' in the future and give any prospective buyer some assurance hopefully.

 

Fortunately we can access the money to pay for the extra work but I hate to think what would have happened if we couldn't - I'm sure some people won't have it or be able to get at it. *-)

 

It is still a bitter pill to swallow but we can't do anything about it so there's no point getting upset about it all ... that's what I keep telling myself!!!! :'(

 

Fortunately there's no problem with water getting in through the roof itself, so the existing felt is doing it's job and we won't be replacing it, just putting new membrane on the repaired parts, plus I would hate to think how much more it would cost to have the whole roof taken off, re-felted and re-battened!!!!! 8-)

 

With the extra work Mel he should have given you some indication what the final cost could be .

If the guarantee is not insurance backed then it is worthless .

You obviously have a problem with the headlap on the tiles . For you to have had such rot at eaves level indicates your tiles have been laid with less than the required headlap , this means water gets in higher up then roof runs down the old felt eventually rotting it away at eaves level , if it were mine I would check the headlaps and if not correct you would have to re-roof , extra cost but only half a job if not done .

[colin]

I sometimes wonder with the 'old house' if the timbers hold up the thatching, or the other way around there's so much woodworm, but the bit that worries me is the brickwork on the inglenook it's so crumbly, we've been assured it's o.k. but I can well imagine a big crash one day and the whole lot coming down.

[CliveH]

Hmmmm - makes me realise how lucky I am to be reasonable at DIY myself and of infinitely more value - to have two sons who are even more able.

 

And one who had all our tiles off in an hour, had replaced the suspect wooden bits by lunch and re fitted a modes membrane, re-placed the battens and re hung the all the tiles by the late afternoon.

 

From the looks of it Mel, what we did was approx one side (of the four sides) of what you have. And we re-did ours in less than a day.

 

Is it worth getting a second quote Mel?

 

Do you know this builder well?

 

You do hear of roof scams - and my son never negotiates on price because his view is that if he coukld have done it cheaper then he would have quoted that price.

 

So we are always suspicious when the first price drops as yours has.

 

If the first price was reasonable then there are corners going to be cut and if it was not reasonable then I am not sure he is a good advert for his trade/profession.

 

 

[Guest peter]

I'm sure that will make Mel feel a lot better Clive. :D

I feel really sorry for you Mel. It's one thing to get someone in to do soffits etc, but roofing could be a bit out of their area of expertise. Hopefully I'm wrong and it all goes well. The price seems a bit steep though, my old next door neighbour is a builder and he replaced all the ridge tiles on our old very large bungalow for £320 all in. He said he could re-roof it for about £5000. So your bill is a bit steep, but they have you by the short and curlies, so to speak.

[Colin Leake]

We had a completely new roof put on our daughters large bungalow, all new tiles, new membrane, new insulation, new facia and gutters and some wood replaced. Got quotes before the job was done. Whole job took less than a week and was done very efficiently. The reason for the work was that when I went to replace a few tiles for her I found to my horror that all the concrete tiles had started to crumble! I did want to uses a different type and design of tile but planning would not allow us to do so.

 

The price fo the total job was a shade under £8000 which I thought well worth it.

 

If you're wondering why we paid for their new roof for many years she has looked after our house and garden when we are away so we thought it would be a constructive way to show our appreciation.

[Mel B]

I've just had a rough work out of the size of our bungalow etc.

 

The 'original' roof area that we're having repaired is approx 8m x 6.2m (26'4" x 20'4") a total area of 49.6sqm (534sqft), which is bigger than your average 3 bed house roof! Then we have the 'newer' part which is around 52sqm (560sqft), plus the flat roof area of around 10sqm (107sqft). Adding all this together makes a total floor (or roof!) area of 111.6sqm (1201 sqft)!!!! 8-) All I can say is thank goodness it is only the 'smaller' part of the roof that has been affected ....!!!!! *-)

 

One thing that has increased the work has been the removal of a load of concrete at the end of the bottom roof tiles, which was extremely solid, similarly the ridge tiles were also well stuck so they've had to be careful when removing it all and have tried not to damage the tiles etc so they can be re-used. I can't knock the quality of the work they're doing which is very high - we could have 'bodged' it a bit if we'd wanted, and indeed he did say he would do it however we wished, but as we don't know whether we'll be staying here for another couple of years, 10 years or even longer, the last thing we want is to have to go through all of this again, so no bodging is being done. We're not even doing a 'lets just do the necessary now and see how it develops (if at all) in the future' because when it is all finished we won't be able to see what's going on inside the bottom of the roof at all (ie the end of the rafters etc) as the ceilings are 'angled' where they meet the outside walls so once it's all put back and 'weather tight' there'll be no way of monitoring the bottom 2ft of roof internally, so short of stripping off the external fascias we wouldn't be able to check, so it is vital it is done properly now - the last thing I want to do is have to take all the 'new' fascias etc off in a few years because we've got problems again!!!

 

You can see in the below picture where they cut back the rafters and the angle of the ceiling plaster board which is how the ceiling is internally - the horizontal batten on the left is where the 'flat' part of the ceiling starts.

 

I don't think we're being 'ripped off' but it is a shame we didn't have an idea of what it was going to be sooner. When they found out the job was going to be much, much bigger than just putting on the fascias etc they could have walked away as they had other jobs lined up, so in that sense they have been fair with us.

 

As for getting another quote, we're way too far down the road now, but if we had gone for another firm it could have been quite a lot more, judging by the original quotes we got just for the fascia etc work. If I had had an inkling of what was 'lurking' before work commenced I may have done things differently as I could have done a good deal of the tile removal and joinery work myself, but it would have been a big job for me on my own (hubby's working this week!).

 

I think one reason he dropped the price was because we were very 'surprised' (to put it mildly) at the cost as we usually do work on the bungalow ourselves so haven't actually employed any external help on building work etc for around 20 years, the last time we had someone do work for us was when we had a new gas boiler put in (about 8 years ago) which is a bit specialised! As he'd put some jobs off until next week, if we'd stopped work he'd then have had time on his hands I suppose so maybe he thought it better to cut his cost as low as he could to still keep going (for him and his side-kick) and if we do need work doing in the future that we can't do ourselves he might also get that work too if he accommodates us now. I'm guessing of course, but at least it's better than the original price of £8,500!!!

[antony1969]

Mel B - 2013-09-30 11:12 PM

 

I've just had a rough work out of the size of our bungalow etc.

 

The 'original' roof area that we're having repaired is approx 8m x 6.2m (26'4" x 20'4") a total area of 49.6sqm (534sqft), which is bigger than your average 3 bed house roof! Then we have the 'newer' part which is around 52sqm (560sqft), plus the flat roof area of around 10sqm (107sqft). Adding all this together makes a total floor (or roof!) area of 111.6sqm (1201 sqft)!!!! 8-) All I can say is thank goodness it is only the 'smaller' part of the roof that has been affected ....!!!!! *-)

 

One thing that has increased the work has been the removal of a load of concrete at the end of the bottom roof tiles, which was extremely solid, similarly the ridge tiles were also well stuck so they've had to be careful when removing it all and have tried not to damage the tiles etc so they can be re-used. I can't knock the quality of the work they're doing which is very high - we could have 'bodged' it a bit if we'd wanted, and indeed he did say he would do it however we wished, but as we don't know whether we'll be staying here for another couple of years, 10 years or even longer, the last thing we want is to have to go through all of this again, so no bodging is being done. We're not even doing a 'lets just do the necessary now and see how it develops (if at all) in the future' because when it is all finished we won't be able to see what's going on inside the bottom of the roof at all (ie the end of the rafters etc) as the ceilings are 'angled' where they meet the outside walls so once it's all put back and 'weather tight' there'll be no way of monitoring the bottom 2ft of roof internally, so short of stripping off the external fascias we wouldn't be able to check, so it is vital it is done properly now - the last thing I want to do is have to take all the 'new' fascias etc off in a few years because we've got problems again!!!

 

You can see in the below picture where they cut back the rafters and the angle of the ceiling plaster board which is how the ceiling is internally - the horizontal batten on the left is where the 'flat' part of the ceiling starts.

 

I don't think we're being 'ripped off' but it is a shame we didn't have an idea of what it was going to be sooner. When they found out the job was going to be much, much bigger than just putting on the fascias etc they could have walked away as they had other jobs lined up, so in that sense they have been fair with us.

 

As for getting another quote, we're way too far down the road now, but if we had gone for another firm it could have been quite a lot more, judging by the original quotes we got just for the fascia etc work. If I had had an inkling of what was 'lurking' before work commenced I may have done things differently as I could have done a good deal of the tile removal and joinery work myself, but it would have been a big job for me on my own (hubby's working this week!).

 

I think one reason he dropped the price was because we were very 'surprised' (to put it mildly) at the cost as we usually do work on the bungalow ourselves so haven't actually employed any external help on building work etc for around 20 years, the last time we had someone do work for us was when we had a new gas boiler put in (about 8 years ago) which is a bit specialised! As he'd put some jobs off until next week, if we'd stopped work he'd then have had time on his hands I suppose so maybe he thought it better to cut his cost as low as he could to still keep going (for him and his side-kick) and if we do need work doing in the future that we can't do ourselves he might also get that work too if he accommodates us now. I'm guessing of course, but at least it's better than the original price of £8,500!!!

 

 

When someone can knock £1500 off the original £8500 and still make a nice tidy profit alarm bells would ring for me .

Get the remaining tiles headlaps checked , they need to be lathed at maximum 12 inch if not you will indeed be bodging the job , trust me I'm a doctor .

[CliveH]

Mel - Antony, in his first sentence, has just posted almost word for word what my son said when i mentioned your situation to him.

 

The second sentence is technical speak of which i have no knowledge but if it were me I would be PM'ing Antony as the expert for the details so as to have some knowledge of how the job should be done.

 

I have no intention of making you feel "bad" - apologies if I have - but would suggest a second opinion.

 

 

[Guest Peter James]

Sorry to hear that Mel.

I would like to know what he is putting on thats £250 a drum, can you see a label and google it, is the drum sealed?

Incidentally woodworm isn't the problem it used to be as homes are dryer now with better air circulation, central heating etc. These critters need water as much as we do. If there isn't enough moisture in the timber they can't nip out for a drink & come back. They will die of thirst just like we would if we only had dry food and nothing to drink. So often the best solution is to simply dry the timber out, rather than spray it with anything. But there isn't much profit in simply telling a homeowner to put some heating in the affected area and dry it out.

I am not accusing anyone of anything, but I have heard of cowboys spraying coloured water around the loft (which will cause damp and make the problem worse), claiming its special expensive woodworm treatment.

[Pampam]

Phew my worst nightmare ! Having to throw money at a property you think your not going to stay in . Still at least your lucky enough to have the money to do it . Horrid little worms I bought an antique pot cupboard from hemswell a couple of months later spotted the fresh dust in corner of cupboard I burnt it £250 up in smoke bit of a knee jerk reaction but had a house with "woodworm" 30 years ago and cost loads to put right like yourself good luck and hope you get it sorted satisfactorily . Pp

[Mel B]

They've finally finishes the roofing and the fascias, guttering etc - it's been a 'hard slog' to get here and I've had them re-do some bits I wasn't happy with - I did warn them before they started that I would want it done to my satisfaction and they do say they don't expect payment until the customer is happy! They didn't finish until gone 7.00 pm tonight to get it all done so we've said we want to have a good look at it in the morning and check everything is in order before we say it's okay, and also want an invoice form them to confirm what they've done, especially the woodworm treatment, so that we have it on record for any future purchaser of our property.

 

Doing the fascias and guttering etc has taken them a lot, lot, lot longer than they initially thought it would - a more modern property would be very easy as it has mainly straight walls and brick lines, whereas our bungalow, being built from old reclaimed bricks and of the age it is, isn't overly 'straight'! I don''t think they've done a property as old as ours before otherwise they would have know how 'fiddly' and time consuming it would be and therefore their quote should probably have allowed for at least an extra halfday's labour.

 

It does looks very nice though with white fascias, black guttering and down pipes - much smarter than the white guttering we had previously.

 

The timber (woodworm) insect/dry/wet rot treatment they used was Boracol 10RH, which is also a wood preservative too, so not just a woodworm treatment; I've been having a read up about it and it is also used on yachts too apparently!

 

http://www.diyrefurb.co.uk/buy/boracol-10rh_67.htm

 

I've found it at two prices on the web for the same product (25 litre can) at both ends of the spectrum - one at £245 and another £90, so quite a difference!!! I shall certainly be asking questions tomorrow when he comes back as to why he's telling us it's so much as I can't possibly believe that he's paid £245 when it can be got for £90!!! 8-) If he has, then I don't see why WE should have to pay £155 a can more (assuming he DID use 2 cans = £310) because he's overpaid for it by such an extent!!!! >:-(

 

I'm just glad its done and we can get back to normal now ... once we've relaid the loft insulation!!! *-)

[Mel B]

Peter James - 2013-10-01 6:14 PM

 

Incidentally woodworm isn't the problem it used to be as homes are dryer now with better air circulation, central heating etc. These critters need water as much as we do. If there isn't enough moisture in the timber they can't nip out for a drink & come back. They will die of thirst just like we would if we only had dry food and nothing to drink. So often the best solution is to simply dry the timber out, rather than spray it with anything. But there isn't much profit in simply telling a homeowner to put some heating in the affected area and dry it out.

Hi Peter, ref the treatment used, see above posting. As for the woodworm - it is definitely there and as some of the timber is very old the woodworm has probably been munching away slowly for yonks. We've been here for 20 years now but the woodworm was probably already here before we moved in but was just 'hidden' - as I understand it can take quite a while for the little blighters to munch! Our bungalow is North facing with absolutely nothing to prevent the wind/rain etc coming straight at us across the fields - many years when we first moved here we had a very nice hardwood front door hung but could not stop the wind and rain coming in round it so we had a uPVC one put in and even with that, when the weather is really, really bad, the wind and rain can creep in.

 

Some of the timber in the attic was very, very dry and we do have a very good airflow in there but there's no way we would just 'leave' the woodworm and try do dry out the attic more/heat it to try to persuade it to 'leave' or kill it from thirst! Its a catch 22 situation, we need ventilation to keep the attic 'healthy' but then that can allow cold and damp in .... we install loft insulation to stop the heat being wasted by going into the attic but then need some heat to keep the attic dry ... !!! *-)

 

As the roof tiles have been relaid with the bottom row now sitting onto the bottom batten the gap under them at the front edge has been reduced to about half what it was so hopefully this won't allow the wind/rain to be blown in as much as it could be in the past, this was exacerbated as the original battens had rotted away, we've also now got the vast majority of that part of the roof covered in breathable waterproof membrane which again should help to keep the roof aired but without allowing water in. We've also paid to have felt support trays installed all round (these sit at the edge of the roof and are installed under the felt and over the guttering) to provide some more protection, especially as the original felt had rotted at the edges.

 

http://www.monier.co.uk/products/product-catalogue/product-range/product/underlay-support-tray-3.html