Six month old new roofline is now hanging off due to the snow.... help!

[Sarah_Louise]

Hi there,

 

We had a new roofline (soffits, boards, gutters, downpipes, the lot, basically) put on our house in the summer. Sadly the heavy snow has hit and as of today it was holding up just fine despite a few of the neighbours not being so lucky with their gutters hanging off. Anyway, then we heard an almighty bang, looked out and there we have it, not the gutter, oh no, the gutter is fastened on tight (at the moment) to the boards they attach to the house walls but instead, the whole lot has come away from the house - like literally ripped straight off from the corner to about mid-way (the weight of the remaining snow is now warping the UPVC and twisting the (still attached) downpipe.

 

Its messy and awkward and not looking easy to fix, plus also think its going to all come down with an almighty bang during the night.

 

We live in a non-standard (BISF style) "pre-fab" house so we didn't just have old rotten timbers covered up with UPVC as there was no wood up there to start with - so can't even say it was a bodge-cheapo job. But alas whatevers been done hasnt been done right. We didnt get any written guarantee (sadly) with the work but just wondered if we have any legal leg to stand on?

 

I've heard roofers (etc) claiming that warranties and guarantees (even when they're in writing) aren't always adhered to when its snow-related as they claim its an "act of god" type get-out which is one thing if its the gutter thats come off (quite common) - but in our case we're literally talking the entire roofline hanging off the side of our house - meaning the roof isn't supported or anything. Goodness only knows what more damage it could cause as and when it does all come tumbling down (matter of hours I'd guess).

 

I've got the bloke coming out to look at it who did the job for us in the first place, tomorrow morning, but before he turns up I just thought I'd see if there should be any kind of reason why we might be covered by law or something? As I have a feeling he'll just turn up and say its x number of hundred quid to fix it.

 

Help!

[buzby]

No need for a written guarantee - there is an expectation that you'll get longer than a year, even though the snow has been pretty heavy, there may be other factors we don't know about. The first thnig to do is call the firm and tell them the uPVC has fallen off, and can they arrange the problem to be rectified, as it's only been up X months. Then see what they say. DO take phonots of the damage....