A mammoth undertaking

Marking the leaks - a different colour spot for each rainstorm

The saga of my leaking porch roof is still ongoing. I’ve withheld a sum of money from the builder’s most recent invoice until the leak is fixed to my satisfaction, and in the meantime I’m noting the effects of each rainstorm with coloured sticky spots indicating the centre of each puddle on the porch floor. You can make out the orange spots from three weeks ago, and the yellow dots which I marked up using a torch in the downpour late on Wednesday night. The purple spots from two weeks ago haven’t come out in this picture – they blend into the tiles too well.

I phoned the builders on Thursday morning to give them an update on the evolving decor on my porch floor, and told them that I still have green and blue spots in reserve for future rainstorms! Fortunately we can all laugh about it. They accept that it’s their responsibility to get it fixed, and have said that I’m being entirely reasonable in the sum I’m holding back – which makes me think that I should have retained more, but never mind…. I was told that the boss would phone me back to arrange access and tell me his plans on what he’d try next, but that didn’t happen. Instead, I was sitting reading the newspaper over breakfast this morning in my dressing gown when a white van pulled up on the drive and two roofers leapt out. If I’d known they were coming I would have made sure I was dressed, but fortunately my dressing gown is long and fluffy and covers absolutely everything!

They’ve had another go at it, and think they’ve identified the root cause – a bent bit of lead that was directing water in the wrong direction. That’s now been remedied, and they think that should fix it. I remain sceptical however, and will wait until after the next heavy downpour before I pronounce myself satisfied.