ROOFING STRUCTURE LEAK AND RESULTANT DAMAGES CLAIM

ASSESSMENT

Black Bird Construction was contacted by the client’s insurance company to assess and conduct repair work. An assessment took place at the client’s property in Camps Bay, where various items were inspected and a quotation was then generated and accepted by the insurer and client. Below is a breakdown of what transpired during the claim and excerpts of the assessor’s findings have been included as a means to explain the various building work required to repair the damages. The scope of work has also been included along with photos of the damages before and after the repairs were completed. We hope you enjoy the post and if you would like to learn more about Black Bird Construction please feel free to contact us.

REPORT

Damages:

Roofing structure: As we walked into the client’s home we immediately noticed towels and plastic on the floor. This was obviously placed to ensure that no extra water leaked onto the floor causing further damages. Unfortunately, it was clear that the flooring boards in the affected area had been badly damaged already. We then set up our ladders and I had my team climb into the roof to further investigate the leak. They moved towards the affected area and noticed a couple of damaged roof tiles. The type of roof tiles installed on the roof is Everite Nutec fibre-cement tiles. From what I have seen, the tiles have torn due to a combination of strong winds catching underneath the tiles causing them to lift and pull from the roof. The force generated from the winds has ultimately caused a tear/crack to form along a few of the tiles in the affected area creating an opening where water is able to enter the home. With the rains being as intense as they are, the amount of water that has managed to leak through into the home is substantial.

Ceiling: The ceiling boards within the area have been badly affected. Due to the fact that we got to the property so soon after the damages occurred there are no signs of staining, mold or warping on the boards yet. This will begin to appear soon if left to dry. The area that has been affected is positioned right where the chimney flue exits through the ceiling.

Flooring: The laminated flooring boards have been damaged due to the water leaking from the roof. By just looking at the boards, it is obvious that the amount of water that had leaked onto the floor was quite a lot as the boards have begun to warp and peel already. There are roughly 12M2 of boards that have been affected. What is going to make this job very difficult is that the affected boards are dead centre in the living room. What makes this even more problematic is that the living room and kitchen share the exact same flooring board. This means that if we replace the flooring boards in the living room, we’ll need to replace the entire kitchen floor as well. The client has spare boards available for use but they will not be enough to replace all of the damaged boards. I am currently trying to source the exact board from my suppliers.

Repairs:

The repairs will include the replacing of the damaged fibre cement roof tiles. We will need to remove the damaged ceiling boards and install new boards. These boards will then need to be plastered and finally painted after the plaster has dried. The flooring repair work will be the most labour intensive part of the job leaving us with two options:

(a) removing the flooring partially so that we can gain access to the damaged boards and replace them with the stock the client has in storage. As I mentioned above, he does not have quite enough to replace all the damaged boards so we’ll need to re-use some damaged boards to make up for what we don’t have. I’m not sure how the client will feel about this though as it will mean he’ll have a few damaged boards in certain areas.

(b) the other option is to remove all of the existing boards and replace everything. This is going to be a very labour intensive exercise and a costly one as well. All the flooring has skirting and quadrant as a trim running around every wall and cabinet, island, etc.

Emergency repairs:

We were not able to do much during the evening we went to the client’s home as it was really dark and it was still raining pretty hard. However, we’ll be replacing the roofing tiles this week to prevent any more water from leaking into the home. I’ll provide an update once this has been completed.

SCOPE OF WORKS

BELOW IS A BREAKDOWN OF THE REPAIR WORK CONDUCTED TO THE RESULTANT DAMAGES AT THE AFFECTED PROPERTY:

Emergency repairs:

Emergency call-out fee – initial emergency call out.
Repair works to asbestos roofing tiles using a combination of membranes and waterproofing materials.
Return call-out fee for repair inspection during rains.

Flooring repair:

Remove all skirting boards and quadrants.
Remove all existing flooring boards including the underlay.
Supply and install new underlay to affected floor space.
Supply and fit new laminated flooring boards to full kitchen and living room area.

Skirting, quadrants and trims:

Remove all skirting boards and quadrants from entire floor space.
Re-fit all skirting boards and quadrants.
Supply and fit matching cover strips for flooring joins and steps.

Ceiling repairs:

Carefully remove chimney fittings from work area.
Remove damaged/waterlogged ceiling boards.
Supply and fit new ceiling boards.
Apply skim plaster to all newly installed ceiling boards.
Re-fit chimney fittings.
Prep for paintwork.

Paintwork to ceiling:

Sand and prep newly installed ceilings and cornices for paint.
Apply 3 coats of paint to newly installed ceiling area, as well as cornices.
Paint surrounding ceiling in order to keep uniformity in colour throughout the ceiling.

Paintwork to walls:

Match paint colour with existing colour and apply tint to paint.
Apply 2 coats to surrounding area walls to ensure uniformity in colour to the rest of the wall.

Rubble removal: