Roof leak - how unreasonable?

[KeyboardMash]

I hate getting work done on the house. I fucking hate it. Trying to work out who's reliable and who's a cowboy, making twenty calls to get one or two people to look at the issue, having people in the house fixing stuff, the expense. Hate it.

We have a leak in the roof. It's only appeared in these last few days of torrential rain - not bucketing through or affecting any electrics, but there's a sizable wet patch on the ceiling that appeared on about day three of the deluge here. My heart sank - and I ignored it for two days while at work. I could have called, but it's slightly tricky at work. I called about six people today. Two said they're too busy, one's on holiday and said to call in a week, and I'm waiting on responses from three others.

DH is giving me shit for not sorting it sooner. He's done fuck all, if course, because his job is Too Important to be making calls to roofers - but he's adamant I should have got onto it immediately. I probably should have. I am sure there are lots of very efficient people out there who would have been on the phone the second they noticed it and not stopped till they had someone booked in to take a look. I'm just wondering about proportions! Is it 90% of people would have had a quote by now and I'm a pathetic little flower for ignoring it a couple of days before doing my pathetic best? Or are there a significant number of us out there living with slight leaks and just trying here and there to get ahold of someone but accepting it's probably going to take a few days?

Just trying to get a feeling for who is unreasonable and by how much!

I would have been on the phone straight away and got someone out as an emergency as I'd be worried about the damage it might do. I have a company I use for anything like this. They're expensive but they will send someone out the same day if that's what I need.

I want to convince myself that I would be on the phone immediately, having recognised that a leaking roof is a pretty bad sign.

But then I know that we spent months ignoring the fact that our whole roof needed replacing in our previous home.

Hmm well I’ve had a ceiling collapse on me in one evenings worth of a sudden leak so there’s no way I would have left it, I’d be an anxious mess. But if your dh was that bothered he could have helped by making some calls too!

One of you should have sorted it asap. I tends to fall to me because DP genuinely can't be making calls in the day.
Leaving roofs can turn into incredibly expensive works if not sorted asap

I am a bit like you. What I’ve discovered is that it’s easier if you get a bigger company to do it rather than a one man band who organises his diary on WhatsApp. Like you I called about 5 people- either didn’t call back, didn’t turn up or no availability. In the end I called a larger but recommended firm- they had someone whose job is to answer the phone and schedule quotes. They had their own scaffolders so that got done straight away. They had drones to check the roof out. A bit more expensive but much less stressful.

Also our leak stain looked someone had painted a cock and balls on the ceiling so really could not be left.

I'm the same
Hate trying to find ppl to do house stuff
I hate ringing around for anything actually
There is an app where you can post your issue and have ppl contact you
Someone might come along who can remember the name of it

Im single and live with my son and i tend to ignore issues until i really cant ignore them any longer...I hate people in my home and dread the expense etc so tend to bury my head in the sand.

Just because your DH can't make calls during the day (can he really not? Does he not get any breaks) why could he not have researched companies to call to help you out?

I would get on with it tbh as I'm a worrier. But I think your DH is very unreasonable

Ahh good luck. Roofers and builders fixing leaks are well booked up since the bad weather has hit. I’m looking at a minimum 6 week wait for work to start here.

Tbh you really should have rang as soon as you saw it. Every day later is another job the builder/roofer has accepted pushing you further back.

Get up in the loft and get a bucket under that drip.

Is Check a Trade the app you're thinking of? I've used it a few times and always had reliable trades people get back to me through the app, once in literally seconds after I'd posted! Might be worth a try op

I find the best way to find out who is reliable is to put message in local Facebook group or just put on profile asking for recommendations. I would personally try to sort strait away as it can easily become a bigger job. Your husband can’t complain if he is not sorting either. He could easily email a company if can’t ring

We had water running down the walls in the single storey extensions in heavy rain. A slight leak above the window in the spare room and one in the utility. Finally got them sorted this year, they're finishing tomorrow...it's been raining inside since about 2021. Each year since 2021 I've been making calls, maybe a person would come out and look but i never got a quote back and certainly never got to the 'person is coming on X date to fix it' then spring arrived and I kicked the can down the road til next Autumn. So if it makes you feel any better OP I've been closing the doors on my leaks for 3 years 😂

I'll devote some more time to it tomorrow... It's less "head in the sand" than "a couple of days won't make much difference". Although obviously it does make a couple of days difference.... I get nervous about those sites where people come to you for the work - we've been bitten twice by people on there. I'm not wholly confident about people who are scratching around for work, but then the reliable ones are the ones without any availability because everyone is after them! Just feels impossible....

Yeah, I mean, I can't take any credit here because it's dh who would be onto it straight away but that's because he knows a bunch of people I various trades including roofers.

Regardless op, I can't tell you how narked I'd be in your position, with your dh carrying on like he'd have done a better job than you but he decided it was your responsibility. Arse.

You are exactly the sort of person I was looking for. 😁 Sadly there's only one of you so far, so I'll be spending tomorrow talking into random blokes' voicemails and hoping to goodness they're not out to fleece us! 😒

Do you have a local community Facebook page?
Put roofers into the search field in that and see if there's recommendations on that. Your husband is very unreasonable btw.

I left a wet patch on my ceiling for about 2 years as it always dried up very quickly as soon as the rain stopped. 2 days is nothing! The world did not end. 🤣

I eventually found my man after he overheard me complaining in the pub about another no show, he swooped in and we swapped numbers AND HE ACTUALLY TURNED UP (probably because he likes that pub and wouldn't want me hounding him at 8pm every Friday) 😂

Woohoo! Another one! It's kind of looked like it was dried out yesterday, and it's not soaked again yet despite it raining all day today. Doesn't seem that bad.... I'm not looking for excuses to not try - more just reassurance that it isn't that big a deal to cut myself a day or so slack!

Go to your local corner shop and get chatting with the owner preferably. I got three names for trustworthy companies as well as being told who to avoid for poor work and who over charges.

Honestly OP, finding a roofer at the best of times is a nightmare. Trying to find one in bad weather, heavy rain/high winds is virtually impossible. 2 days extra wouldn’t have got one much quicker. We had water running down our walls for about 2 months before I could get one round. We had to redecorate, but no major damage done.

We had a damp ceiling (only wet when rain came from a certain way) for years because it wasn't getting any worse and nobody (when we did bother getting the odd workman out) could figure out what was wrong with it. Full on leak I would probably worry about more

Also hate ringing tradespeople and I think DH is totally unreasonable to have assumed you would just sort it. If it was that important to him he could have rung himself, looked up companies or even you know just asked you if you would be able to do it that day.