大象传媒

Sharron Taylor chats to Rhodri Owen

When you get a new roof on your house, the last thing you expect is your home to be as wet on the inside as it is on the outside.

But that鈥檚 exactly what happened to Sharron Taylor from Ogmore-by-Sea, whose house has suffered from damp since flat roofs were replaced.

Sharron and husband Chris decided their home needed modernising in 2009, so they found a local roofer in Bridgend.

Malcolm Butler from MJW Roofing Services, also known as ACE Roofing, said he'd carry out work to roofs on the property for 拢1,500.

But within a year of the job finishing, Sharron started to notice a damp problem.

鈥淲e'd be sitting here and there'd be brown dirty water running down the inside of the wall,鈥� Sharron told X-Ray presenter, Rhodri Owen.

鈥淲e had an issue with damp on the wall and we said it's got to be the roof so we went outside.听 My husband took the fascia off and had a little look and the roof was absolutely soaking.鈥�

As the problem got worse, Sharron decided to ask Mr Butler to come and see if there might be a problem with the roof.

鈥淗e told us it was coming in under the fascia and it was nothing to do with the roof.鈥�

Sharon then got in touch with her insurance company, who sent out an independent surveyor to inspect the property back in November 2011 鈥� and the surveyor's findings didn鈥檛 reflect well on Malcolm Butler's roofing skills.

The inspection revealed that fibreglass on the roof above the lounge was not sufficiently applied and as a result water was penetrating the roof. It also concluded that sections of roof were of poor design and detail and that damage was the result of poor workmanship.
The surveyor also thought the roof should be replaced under guarantee.

鈥淚 was horrified,鈥� Sharron said.

鈥淚 knew we had a problem there and he said we needed to get the roofs re-done.鈥�

X-Ray asked Chartered surveyor Kevin Thomas to inspect Malcolm Butler鈥檚 work.

鈥淭hat is absolutely soaking wet,鈥� he said.听 "You can already see you've got algae growth in amongst the matting and in a marine environment like this, it's not going to last any time at all."

And with winter closing-in and Malcolm Butler refusing a refund or to carry out repair work, Sharron employed another roofing company.

鈥淲e had to shell out nine hundred pounds just before Christmas out of our savings, which has pretty much wiped us out now.鈥�

But, after X-Ray contacted him, Mr Butler has now promised to repay the full 拢1,500 within 30 days.

* Kevin Thomas offered some valuable advice to X-Ray viewers who are looking to replace flat roofs.

鈥淵ou're well worth paying someone to write a small specification for you of what you have priced by the relevant builder,鈥� he said.

鈥淭he other thing you need to have from anyone who's quoting for this sort of work is the guarantee and it really should be an guarantee underwritten by an insurance company.鈥�

听