News broke this week that the government’s finally doing something about cowboy roofers. The National Federation of Roofing Contractors welcomed the plans — an Approved Code Scheme that home improvement firms sign up to, with payments released in stages as the job progresses rather than handed over up front. About time, if you ask most of the roofers who come through our yard on Rainham Road.
The idea is simple enough. Underlay down and battened out, get paid a slice. Ridge and hips bedded and pointed, get another. It’s meant to stop the trader who takes a deposit and is never seen again, which happens more often around Barking and Dagenham than anyone likes to admit.
NFRC’s Gray Gibson made a fair point in his statement though — a badge on a website doesn’t mean much unless the standards behind it are real. Same goes for materials. Anyone can nail down a felt and call it a roof. Doing it properly means a 150mm lap on your breather membrane, batten gauge set out to the tile manufacturer’s spec, and lead flashing at Code 4 minimum around chimneys and abutments, not the bargain-bin Code 3 that perishes inside fifteen years.
We stock what the trade actually specifies: Marley Modern and Redland Regent interlocking concrete tiles, Cembrit Zeeland fibre cement slate for the conservation jobs, Glidevale breather membranes, and lead by the roll cut to size. From a full re-roof in Elm Park to a couple of hip tiles for a repair in Upminster, it’s on the shelf.
Trade or public, come and see us at Rainham Road. Or ring ahead if you want it pulled and ready — saves standing about in the yard on a wet Tuesday. rtbrs.co.uk/ has the full stock list.