Thinking about doing some guttering and drainage improvements around my house

[danlightbulb]

Edit:
Not too far wrong - checkatrade suggests £700
https://www.checkatrade.com/blog/cost-guides/ridge-tiles-price/

its because my roof has a lot of ridge tiles (marked in red):

Ive had two quotes so far. Quote 1 was for £2300 reusing the existing ridge tiles and fitting dry system. Quote 2 was for £2600 but was all new ridge tiles (because he expects some to break on removal) as well as dry system. Im getttng a third quote later this week.

I dont know what Im supposed to do. If you tell me it should be £700 but my quotes are all coming back £2k+, what am I supposed to do? I think one look at that job will suggest no-one is going to do it for £700 that's a completely unrealistic price in my view.

You've gone from a couple of DIY able jobs to your house essentially falling down in a couple of posts (And with the amount you're seemingly willing to pay, then it'd probably be more cost effective to knock the house down and rebuild)

Im not a builder, I have no building experience. I don't know how bad a wall needs to be before it becomes a risk. To me, if there are big chunks of mortar missing then that wall of many tonnes in weight is floating in mid air.

I want the job to be done decently. Slapping crap repointing over old pointing, and repainting the area to cover it up was a bodge done by the previous owner. Would you accept that on your house?

This means I need to get that paint off if possible. It would be better to do it first before the repointing gets done so I dont make a mess of the new pointing. Its very difficult to remove, Ive tried heat gun, chemical stripper. There are companies that offer high temperature steam cleaning (videos on youtube show it to be very quick and effective), I got a quote and it was £700+vat. Again, what am I supposed to do if that is what is being quoted? I cant magic a price of £200 out of thin air.

 

[200sols]

If you have a lot of work instead of pricing it all up piecemeal you may be better off getting a builder in.

FWIW looking around the paint removal quote seems the most reasonable, those machines are not cheap and a bit specialised to use but its still a bit 'spenny' to quote dlockers.

 

[Armageus]

Ive had two quotes so far. Quote 1 was for £2300 reusing the existing ridge tiles and fitting dry system. Quote 2 was for £2600 but was all new ridge tiles (because he expects some to break on removal) as well as dry system. Im getttng a third quote later this week.

I dont know what Im supposed to do. If you tell me it should be £700 but my quotes are all coming back £2k+, what am I supposed to do? I think one look at that job will suggest no-one is going to do it for £700 that's a completely unrealistic price in my view.

Even with the few extra tiles required still seems massively overpriced. The bigger question though is why has "I'm thinking of doing some guttering and drainage improvements" turned into, I need my roof ridge tiles replacing?
Is there actually an issue with them? Is the rest of the roof ok? Is there any other work that could be done whilst you've got scaffolding (e.g. Solar Panels) etc.
Just seems like a completely random thing to get a quote for.

Im not a builder, I have no building experience. I don't know how bad a wall needs to be before it becomes a risk. To me, if there are big chunks of mortar missing then that wall of many tonnes in weight is floating in mid air.

I'm not a builder, I have no building experience. But I'm happy to research, accept advice and ultimately have a go where possible.

I want the job to be done decently. Slapping crap repointing over old pointing, and repainting the area to cover it up was a bodge done by the previous owner. Would you accept that on your house?

There's a huge difference between a job being done decently, and it probably being done to an ok standard whilst you're bent over price wise (which seems to be where you're heading atm)

This means I need to get that paint off if possible. It would be better to do it first before the repointing gets done so I dont make a mess of the new pointing. Its very difficult to remove, Ive tried heat gun, chemical stripper. There are companies that offer high temperature steam cleaning (videos on youtube show it to be very quick and effective), I got a quote and it was £700+vat. Again, what am I supposed to do if that is what is being quoted? I cant magic a price of £200 out of thin air.

You're trying to micro-manage everything by getting contractors for every separate little thing, and probably overpaying for individual jobs as a result.
An actual builder (rather than separate steam cleaner/bricklayer/plumber) will probably have access to all of the trades you need and can get the paint stripped, walls repointed/repaired, and the guttering/drainage all sorted for you

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Wouldn’t a portable shot blasting machine get all that paint off easily?

Tool station have them starting at £60, you could probably hire a professional one from HSS for a lot less than you are being quoted for.

It would get all that paint off in no time and clean up any other areas of the brickwork with little effort.

 

[danlightbulb]

You're trying to micro-manage everything by getting contractors for every separate little thing, and probably overpaying for individual jobs as a result.
An actual builder (rather than separate steam cleaner/bricklayer/plumber) will probably have access to all of the trades you need and can get the paint stripped, walls repointed/repaired, and the guttering/drainage all sorted

Good quality builders are off doing extensions and loft conversions for £40k plus, they aren't interested in a few small repair jobs. I messaged a couple a few weeks ago, had no replies.

If I did find a full on builder to do all the jobs we aren't going to be talking a few hundred quid are we, it will be easily into a few £k.

 

[danlightbulb]

The bigger question though is why has "I'm thinking of doing some guttering and drainage improvements" turned into, I need my roof ridge tiles replacing?
Is there actually an issue with them? Is the rest of the roof ok? Is there any other work that could be done whilst you've got scaffolding (e.g. Solar Panels) etc.
Just seems like a completely random thing to get a quote for

I was just using it as a comparison price for the £1k I was quoted to do the brickwork repairs.

But to answer your question yes the mortar is falling out of the ridge tiles in places and the flat roof felt covering is badly worn out. So it's a preventive job before it starts leaking or ridge tiles actually fall off.

 

[danlightbulb]

More messy work it's very slow going but it's coming off. This is a combination of heat gun, paint stripper, wire brush in drill, metal scourer pad and brick cleaning liquid.

Obviously I don't think it will ever be back to it's natural colour so I'll need to consider whether I do repaint it. Maybe I could get the wall rendered instead after my repairs are done.


I apologise for being argumentative the other day. It's because I am worried about this house and it's structure, having found lots of things wrong so far. I'd really appreciate if people would come back into the thread as I really do need the advice and support.

 

[200sols]

For me it looks better unpainted. Over time any remaining whiteness will weather away as well

 

[b0rn2sk8]

I still think you are going to need something a bit more 'aggressive' to remove the paint. Something like a wire brush isn't going to get into the pores of the bricks. Have you considered the shot blaster I mentioned?

 

[radderfire]

Asking in local estate agents and builders merchants, and on local Facebook groups may help you find decent people, although I agree it's difficult.

The advantage of having different people is that you don't have all your eggs in one basket.

All you can really do is continue to get quotes, and go with who you think you can trust.

 

[Lean]

This forum has a lot of guys on it with "all the gear, but no idea". The over engineering or over elboriting project seems to be a standard. Buildings are never perfect. If you arent happy with the paint, change the colour of it. If you arent happy with the paint at all, render it. If you want the paint off, it will cost you time and money. Money that would be better spent on something else. Some of you guys over think things tbh.

 

[danlightbulb]

I still think you are going to need something a bit more 'aggressive' to remove the paint. Something like a wire brush isn't going to get into the pores of the bricks. Have you considered the shot blaster I mentioned?

I did take a look yeah, the very cheap units don't seem to have good reviews, and I couldn't really see a viable hiring source for a more professional unit either.

Asking in local estate agents and builders merchants, and on local Facebook groups may help you find decent people, although I agree it's difficult.

The advantage of having different people is that you don't have all your eggs in one basket.

All you can really do is continue to get quotes, and go with who you think you can trust.

I've put a request on the my builder app now for repointing only and have 3 more people interested, will see what prices I get back.

This forum has a lot of guys on it with "all the gear, but no idea". The over engineering or over elboriting project seems to be a standard. Buildings are never perfect. If you arent happy with the paint, change the colour of it. If you arent happy with the paint at all, render it. If you want the paint off, it will cost you time and money. Money that would be better spent on something else. Some of you guys over think things tbh.

I don't think it's wrong to want to do the right thing. This is my house and I want it to be in good condition. Too many people skimp on important maintenance jobs (eg not replacing roofs that are end of life) or bodge them (eg painting over poor brickwork with the wrong sort of paint). Now I'm the one spending money to put it right because to leave it risks further deterioration.

I'm thinking rendering might be a good solution actually. I'd still need to take the paint off because can't render over a non porous paint surface. And I still need to get the pointing repairs done either way.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Check the return policy but if it’s rubbish and doesn’t work, just take it back.

 

[danlightbulb]

Check the return policy but if it’s rubbish and doesn’t work, just take it back.

I also can't see where to get the media from other than Amazon where its £25 per 25kg bag, and not sure how long a 25kg bag lasts, I fear not that long, so could be quite costly to try it. Apparently you can't just use sand in a sandblaster, it's illegal now. Has to be special media.

 

[200sols]

This forum has a lot of guys on it with "all the gear, but no idea". The over engineering or over elboriting project seems to be a standard. Buildings are never perfect. If you arent happy with the paint, change the colour of it. If you arent happy with the paint at all, render it. If you want the paint off, it will cost you time and money. Money that would be better spent on something else. Some of you guys over think things tbh.

People like to 'over engineer' or in other words, do a proper job that will last the test of time. I dont think 'all the gear, no idea' is fair either.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

I also can't see where to get the media from other than Amazon where its £25 per 25kg bag, and not sure how long a 25kg bag lasts, I fear not that long, so could be quite costly to try it. Apparently you can't just use sand in a sandblaster, it's illegal now. Has to be special media.

So your risk exposure is a £25 bag of shot and you’re contemplating a £700 cleaning contractor?

You are doing 6m2, you aren’t going to be spending a material amount of money on shot.

The way I look at it, you’re contemplating a £700 contract to clean 6m2. Your budget is therefore £700.

You can buy a lot of machine for £700 which you can either re-sell and recover your cost or keep it and use on other jobs, e.g. you could do the entire house.

Edit: if anything, you are going to end up with a really clean patch of wall that’s going to look a bit odd compared to the rest of the house. You probably want to consider doing that entire facade for consistency.

 

[danlightbulb]

So your risk exposure is a £25 bag of shot and you’re contemplating a £700 cleaning contractor?

You are doing 6m2, you aren’t going to be spending a material amount of money on shot.

The way I look at it, you’re contemplating a £700 contract to clean 6m2. Your budget is therefore £700.

You can buy a lot of machine for £700 which you can either re-sell and recover your cost or keep it and use on other jobs, e.g. you could do the entire house.

Edit: if anything, you are going to end up with a really clean patch of wall that’s going to look a bit odd compared to the rest of the house. You probably want to consider doing that entire facade for consistency.

Yeah Im not spending the £700+, it was too expensive.

Im also reading that you need a fairly hefty air compressor to make these work. The cheap units you buy aren't inclusive of any compressor.

I'll see how it looks after Ive finished the wire brush method. Im not sure shotblasting would actually get rid of the inherent colour of the bricks anyway would it? Its odd as if you look at my picture the unpainted bricks are a kind of yellowly colour but the bricks that have been under the paint are much darker and lighter at the same time. I.e the bricks appear naturally darker underneath with a wash of white over them.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

The bricks are likely to be different colours to what they were originally thanks to general pollution and general dirt. Thats why I mentioned you’ll probably want to do something with the whole to get it all to a consistent colour if you do something a bit more aggressive.

Have a look at some before and after pictures of the old yellow bricked buildings in London after 100 years of London grime and a full cleaning. They are unrecognisable.

 

[danlightbulb]

The bricks are likely to be different colours to what they were originally thanks to general pollution and general dirt. Thats why I mentioned you’ll probably want to do something with the whole to get it all to a consistent colour if you do something a bit more aggressive.

Have a look at some before and after pictures of the old yellow bricked buildings in London after 100 years of London grime and a full cleaning. They are unrecognisable.

Yeah, sandblasting was a good idea, its just going to cost a lot of money to try it. Either I find a company that can do it, or I outlay for a sandblasting pot, media and large compressor up front to sell on later.

Probably would be cheaper and look nicer to get the section of wall rendered once my repairs are completed.

 

[CooK1E]

Are you sure it needs a massive compressor? You can get some fairly decent units for around £100. Granted they might be running pretty often, but if you are only using it for a small amount of time it will be fine. Plus a compressor is always useful around the house for various other things