(roof)
Well the insurance company decided that the damage was not the fault of the previous repairers (they chose). So much so, that they have chosen the same people again.
I think the phrase “not best pleased” would well cover my position on this.
Storm Amy, if severe, was relatively unexceptional, we may get another one like it this year, it would be quie surprising indeed if we didn’t see one next year.
If the work has not been found at fault, there is no reason not to redo the job in the same (inadequate) manner, which one can expect to be just as vulnerable to Amy 2.
While we are fortunate to have the insurance, quite apart from the excess due (again), there is no question that our premium will rise substantially with each claim.
We are at liberty to seek an alternative roofer of our own choosing, but, the initial work which we had voluntarilly done, required us to go through about 20 contractors, most of whom either never bothered to appear or never got back in touch, save the complete cowboys whom we foolishly trusted at the end (too relieved to finally find someone, to actually look closely enough). Thus we were quite delighted last time that the insurance company sent their own people (well, people they selected).
I struggle to see how this will end well, as again we have – unreachable – heavy lead sheets lying about on our roof, waiting to be caught by storm Barbara, or Catherine or Dolly, and deposited somewhere, or more alarmingly, on someone. The small comfort that this time they are only at the back of the house, is more than offset by a close inspection which shows that, while the front ones remain in situ, they are clearly “peeling” at the edges.
The first time, I contacted the police, the local council, my insurers, everyone I could think of, and the truth is, no-one really wanted to know. The idea that they represented some kind of potential threat falling on a very busy main road, was somewhere between a fairy story (from me) and a joke. Building standards made it clear – without using the actual words- that any attempt on our part to demonstrate negligence would be a lengthy process unlikely to succeed (absent some other roofer willing to come to court to testify for prosecuton , as it were).
Mostly I shake my fist at life with my tongue firmly in my cheek, however I strugggle to find any underlying humour this time. I can only resign myself to having to write this story (or a more tragic one) again..
Next time on IaDL : Comedy, smiles, jokes galore… maybe even some music?
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Dalmallyfest the Asylum 