Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jun 05, 2016 1:54 pm Hi everybody.
A quick background. Christmas eve 2003 a fire started in the garage of our home caused by a cigarette butt that was placed in the bin via an ashtray before it was properly extinguished, we had almost finished a long renovation with just a few finishing external jobs to do. The fire got into the roof space and quickly spread throughout the roof cavity and in the end the roof collapsed on the middle of the house before the fire brigade were able to put it out. We were faced with a decision, take the insurance money, knock down and rebuild or have the insurance company reinstate the house to the point it was before the fire, as we had no faith in the insurance company to fix it properly we took the money and went with the knock down rebuild option. After a month of looking at various home builders and options including owner builder we decide to go with Allcastle as they were flexible enough to let us change pretty much anything we wanted to (at a hefty price for any change but I am sure that is standard) When it came to he option of roof tiles, we decided to spend the extra money and get terracotta, I cant remember for sure but I think it was an additional $4,500 for the upgraded roof tiles. Finally, in about June of (edited, it was June 95 not 94) the house was finished and we moved in, yes, it took over 12 months to build but that's another issue So, about 4 years later we noticed a damp patch in my daughters bedroom ceiling, I am a carpenter myself and know a bit about homes so I investigated and found where water was dripping through a tile, I replaced the tile myself as I had spares. Some time later it leaked again but this time worse, it was now happening all along the southern side of our house and the water was pouring in, through lights, AC ducts, through the cornice and down the walls and through the plasterboard ceiling, so I got back into the roof and investigated again pulling back a few roof tiles and looking for answers, as there was nothing obvious I contacted Allcastle. Eventually they got there with Boral to investigate, their solution, pull the roof tiles off of the lower half of the southern side of the roof, put sarking in the area it leaked and put the same roof tiles back on. At the time I reminded them that sarking is not designed as a waterproofing product, it is insulation and while it may help divert any water that comes through the roof, the proper solution is to prevent the water from getting through in the first place. I also asked at the time what they are going to do about the rest of the house, as it wasn't leaking at the time they said they will not do anything and to see how the sarking works, if it didn't work they would come back with another fix. Well, the sarking worked for about 4 years, the leak came back, much the same place but not as bad, I got onto the phone to Allcastle who basically, snubbed me, they were polite but did nothing and because by this stage the house was over 7 years they pretty much said it is not their problem now so I went to Boral relying on their 50 year warranty of their product. They came out, they looked, investigated and went away with little feedback to me besides they will take some time to investigate, months later i rang again, they said they will look into and get back to me, this has now gone on for years. Our roof doesn't leak every time it rains but now it leaks in 3 different locations, right now it is pouring through in one place on the northern side with a constant drip on the southern side as well as a few damp patches in another location. I got into the roof just now to look into it, I am not always in a position to get into the roof while it is happening but today I was. Water is dripping off the side of the sarking at a join on the southern side and pouring through a tile on the northern side, the tile is not otherwise damaged, no cracks in the tiles or obvious places for it to leak. The problem is (or at least seems to be) the design of the tile that allows water to track back up over the lip at the back of the tile with any slight breeze I did get Boral back out about 6 months ago and (you guessed it) they are investigating and will get back to me at that time they were considering the option of putting sarking under the leaks. If anybody has any suggestions for me please feel free but my main focus here is to let anybody considering using boral terracotta know about the problem and give you time to reconsider, anybody who already has boral roof tiles check them thoroughly for leaks before your warranty period is up and dont let them use sarking to fix the problem, it doesn't work. I have some photos which I can post later but for now I need to get to the hardware for some supplies to fix another problem with the house. Re: Warning! Boral terracotta roof tiles 3Jun 05, 2016 5:30 pm I can only vouch for the terracotta tiles, I will need to check but I think they are from the "swiss" range. Apparently this is not uncommon for the tiles I have. I have not heard of any similar problems with the Boral concrete tiles. I actually work for a house builder and we use Boral concrete tiles, out of 800 houses I have had some involvement with it is rare to get a leak, I can only think of 1 in the last 5 years and it was not the fault of the actual tile. That is not to say we wont get an influx of leaks tomorrow but certainly there has not been the same problems as I have had with the terracotta ones. Re: Warning! Boral terracotta roof tiles 4Jun 05, 2016 6:48 pm The photos in general dont show up as well as I hoped but still its going to give you an idea, this is above bed 4 on the northern side of the house and currently the worst leak. The water comes through at the top of the tile and runs down the underside of the tile until it reaches the batten where it drips down. I moved the insulation just before taking the photo In this picture you can see underneath the water dripping from the AC vent, again the photo doesn't quite do it justice. Here we have one of those kids toy buckets that has about 5 litres of water in it, it had been in place for about 12 hours, my son put the towel in there to stop the constant dripping noise while he was trying to sleep. Next is above bed 3, the water hasn't quite come through the ceiling yet but it isn't far off, it was dripping when I took the photo at about 1 drop every 2 seconds, the red arrows show where the water drips down from the side of the sarking into the insulation I will see if I can get some better photos but no promises Re: Warning! Boral terracotta roof tiles 5Jun 05, 2016 11:33 pm Omg that's really bad...surely they have to take responsibility. That's a complete failure of their product...that you paid $4.5k to upgrade to. More than disappointing it's dangerous and will end up costing a fortune with all the damage its lead to. I feel for you. Re: Warning! Boral terracotta roof tiles 6Jun 06, 2016 8:08 am Wow, that's disgraceful. Is there like a building ombudsman or something similar that you could go to? I would have steam coming out of my ears if that were my house. I feel for you and really hope it's sorted out as that's just not acceptable. I would be worrying about fire risks âšī¸ Re: Warning! Boral terracotta roof tiles 7Jun 06, 2016 1:11 pm I am still hopeful that Boral will fix the problem, I have actually just been on the phone and sent an email with these photos. At this point I wont go any further with the content of the conversation or emails but I have been told that they have a solution in mind and will be fixing it shortly. The main objective of me posting here in the first place remains and has been achieved and that is to give warning about a concern I have with the terracotta product on my roof. Also to confirm it was the "Swiss" profile, anybody about to choose tiles might want to reconsider using that profile or at the least ensure other measures are in place such as a steeper pitch, more overhang and sarking the entire roof. The sad part is they actually are a good looking tile and they look as good today as they did the day they were put on the roof, its just that they leak a few times a year, if they were over a pool they would be perfect I will provide an update on my progress with getting it fixed, for now Boral are saying the right things so fingers crossed Re: Warning! Boral terracotta roof tiles 9Jun 08, 2016 4:13 pm The pitch is around 24 degress which is fairly standard. The profile has a large flat section on one side of the tile then a round section that laps onto the next tile, the flat section has a short lip at the top of the tile which doesn't appear to be high enough to stop water getting over in my situation. A quick google image search on "boral terracotta swiss" should give you some more details on the actual tile, i wont post the link myself as it does lead to their advertising material In my case the problems are compounded because it is a 2 story house surrounded by a lot of single story houses so the wind hits us harder than most other houses in the area. Also, when we had the house built i opted not to use sarking, sarking is traditionally an insulating product and if you do have leaks it makes it harder to find where they are from. It can also trap excess heat in your roof space and have a negative effect when you are trying to cool your house on those hot summer nights which are frequent and in some cases severe in my area. Relying on tiles to do their job is common and been done quite successfully for well over a century in this country so to me at the time it was only a thermal decision not to use sarking and certainly thats how it was promoted to me, sarking was an optional extra that could provide additional thermal benefits. It seems now however with some tile profiles in some wind situations where sarking is a "recommended" part of keeping your tiles from leaking, firstly because it keeps the wind from being able to blow through the roof which can cause a vacuum effect and secondly it is a secondary backup when the tiles do leak. Now it comes down to who should take the blame; The builder for not understanding the product they sold me is not fit for purpose in my situation The roofer for not advising the product is not fit for purpose The roof tile supplier / manufacturer for supplying a product that doesn't do its job in some circumstances. Then after the first leaks were detected who do we blame for not fixing the problem properly or completely, the house at that point was still fully covered by the builders warranty and they opted for a bandaid solution that in the end lasted until the house waranty expired. The installer who provided the bandaid solution rather than at that point advising it should be fixed properly Or the supplier who's product leaks. My advise at the time was that their fix was inadequate but they insisted it was their right to attempt to fix it how they pleased so long as they fixed it. As it stands now, the roof supplier is prepared to fix where the original leak was detected and where their bandaid solution failed, they agree it was "perhaps" not the right solution at the time and have therefor "as a gesture of goodwill" offered to resark that side of the house where the original fix was not done properly. They have stopped short of taking any responsibility at the moment for any leaks that began after that point in any additional areas and suggested that that should be the responsibility of the builder. I have to agree that the builder should take more responsibility but it is the tiles that leak. At the end of the day I just want my house to stop leaking. Hi everyone I have a terracotta tiles roof When I climb inside the roof cavity I can feel that there is a draft inside the roof as the wind goes through the roof which is… 0 2236 We're looking at replacing the roof of a heritage listed home so it needs to be terracotta tiles, wondering if anyone has any recommendations, hints or… 0 769 Do you have solar on the roof, because if its not a laying defect it looks almost like someone has been walking all over the roof in the mid section of the tile (weakest… 2 1238 |