Slate roof - losing tiles - expected?
Discussion
We moved into a new build Taylor Wimpey house in May 2013.
Since then, we have had 8 different roof tiles come off and be replaced by the developer.
One time, a tile on the rear of the house flew over to the front an dhit my car on the way down (it was an old Mondeo at the time) which has made us nervous of parking in our own drive when the weather is like it has been the past few days.
There are 2 showhomes, and 6 other houses in an arc on the front of the development.
Every house is missing at least 2/3 tiles at the moment and we have all lost some over the weekend.
When the wind gets up, the noise is incredible, it sounds like the whole roof is flapping about.
Does this sound normal?
The slate roofs do look nice, the houses further into the estate have flat tiles on them and do not appear to suffer from any wind damage at all. Are we sacrificing aesthetics for resilience?
We are thinking about approaching TW to discuss as it is affecting all of us in the front but I wanted to get a feel for whether we are being unrealistic and given the recent storms, is this kind of thing expected to a certain extent.
Since then, we have had 8 different roof tiles come off and be replaced by the developer.
One time, a tile on the rear of the house flew over to the front an dhit my car on the way down (it was an old Mondeo at the time) which has made us nervous of parking in our own drive when the weather is like it has been the past few days.
There are 2 showhomes, and 6 other houses in an arc on the front of the development.
Every house is missing at least 2/3 tiles at the moment and we have all lost some over the weekend.
When the wind gets up, the noise is incredible, it sounds like the whole roof is flapping about.
Does this sound normal?
The slate roofs do look nice, the houses further into the estate have flat tiles on them and do not appear to suffer from any wind damage at all. Are we sacrificing aesthetics for resilience?
We are thinking about approaching TW to discuss as it is affecting all of us in the front but I wanted to get a feel for whether we are being unrealistic and given the recent storms, is this kind of thing expected to a certain extent.
AmiableChimp said:
One time, a tile on the rear of the house flew over to the front an dhit my car on the way down (it was an old Mondeo at the time) which has made us nervous of parking in our own drive when the weather is like it has been the past few days.
It would make me nervous of going outside, and for family, visitors and people passing by.I can't believe that you're even asking the question.
TA14 said:
AmiableChimp said:
Does this sound normal?
No. A properly constructed slate roof should give you at least 50 years without any problems. A noisy roof and loosing tiles means that something is very wrong.something is indeed very wrong, no way should those roof tiles be coming off from the fixings. Have a look around some older builds in nearby locality, have they lost roof tiles?
As said there is something very wrong here.
I assume they are fiber cement slate effect tiles?
If they are heres the Marley Eternit fixing guide - http://www.marleyeternit.co.uk/~/media/Files/Produ...
Might be worth giving the NHBC a call to log the issue as well just in case it gets swept under the carpet.
I assume they are fiber cement slate effect tiles?
If they are heres the Marley Eternit fixing guide - http://www.marleyeternit.co.uk/~/media/Files/Produ...
Might be worth giving the NHBC a call to log the issue as well just in case it gets swept under the carpet.
TA14 said:
NB:
Indeed, however I would suggest the OP has a wander around, off the development, just to see how perhaps more mature housing stock has fared during the storm winds. If the tiles are still on those roofs it further indicates a problem on his development and not caused by storm winds perhaps. AmiableChimp said:
There are 2 showhomes, and 6 other houses in an arc on the front of the development. Every house is missing at least 2/3 tiles at the moment and we have all lost some over the weekend.
barryrs said:
As said there is something very wrong here.
I assume they are fiber cement slate effect tiles?
If they are heres the Marley Eternit fixing guide - http://www.marleyeternit.co.uk/~/media/Files/Produ...
Might be worth giving the NHBC a call to log the issue as well just in case it gets swept under the carpet.
I have 2 sitting in my garage that came off back in October. To my untrained eye, they look and feel like proper slate - when the labourers have replaced previously, when they dropped one there were shards of material all over the place, thin slithers that again look like slate to me.I assume they are fiber cement slate effect tiles?
If they are heres the Marley Eternit fixing guide - http://www.marleyeternit.co.uk/~/media/Files/Produ...
Might be worth giving the NHBC a call to log the issue as well just in case it gets swept under the carpet.
I will try and take a photo and post up later.
The site manager (who has been pretty good over the first year and a half) said the houses at the front got "proper" slate roofs with board, then felt then slate tiles on top as the designers want the frontage to look the best to try and sell more houses.
I have spoken to my neighbours and we are all in agreement - I am going to type up an initial email and send it to Taylor Wimpey Customer Services. We are going to arrange for an independent inspection from a roofing company as well.
I don't want to report to HSBC just now as it takes things out of TW's hands once we do that so i'll give them a chance to come back to us and see what they say but will escalate to HSBC if required.
Thanks for all your help in this, I suspected this shouldn't be normal but to be honest, i'm an IT bloke, roofing ain't my area!
Cheers.
Oh, and our latest 2 to come off at least have cracked horizontally and come off - you can see where part of the tile still remains underneath the row/tile above but I believe at least one of my neighbours has some with the holesat the top so the whole tile has come off in that case.
AmiableChimp said:
I don't want to report to HSBC just now as it takes things out of TW's hands once we do that so i'll give them a chance to come back to us and see what they say but will escalate to HSBC if required.
NHBC - we went them a long time ago and they were utterly useless. My impression is they only get involved if it's a mega issue or, I suppose, if the original builder has gone bust.Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff