We’re having a small extension built and the builder commented that the valley gutters where two pitched roofs meet at 90 degrees looked very suspect. I had a look with him and although there’s no evidence of leaking it certainly seems to have been bodged in the past.

It looks as though the original valley was formed in zinc and at a later time this was covered with some type of plastic which looks almost like that used for corrugated sheeting and is now brittle and broken.

The roofer he uses has quoted for stripping off the tiles adjacent to each of the two valley gutters and re-forming them in lead before re-fixing the tiles and making good.

Each of the two valleys is around 4 metres long and his price is £1,100 +VAT.

It’s a bungalow and there’s already scaffolding on one side for the extension.

Is this fair? It seemed a lot to me but I do know lead is very expensive.

John.

Myself, I'd be looking for a builder who isn't vat registered. Not hard for a sole trader to keep under the threshold. Even 1100 isn't cheap though. You could offer 800 cashor shop around.

I used to do this sort of work. If it is not done properly it can devalue your house. It might be years later you discover the shortcuts the cheaper operator did. Get a list of operations/materials so you can compare like quotes. Always get at least two quotes from Local Authority approved suppliers of those services. Or do it yourself if you are fit young and healthy.

Just done a 6 metre one of these today, depending where you buy lead it costs £100-150 for a 450mm wide by 6m long roll, that width will do most valleys, it took me and a mate one and a half days to strip side slates fix new lead and re-slate using new slates including re-bedding disturbed ridges clearing up etc. so if you reckon on 2 blokes/2 days plus materials (lead, extra slates etc) plus any access required you wouldn't be far out. hth
Roger

I've done loads of valley gutters in fibreglass ,£ 38m2 was our lowest price....

That's not horrendously bad...but not brilliant.

If the valley has been coated previously there for sure has been some problems in the past.

I'm a roofer and two four meter valleys will take £300 worth of lead, and I recon without seeing it I could probably do it in a day without seeing any complications.

If you re do it in the same sized Zinc, you could possibly get away with stripping out one side of tiles and because Zink is sturdy it could be pushed in from the opened side.

A weeks pay for a days work ,,, no,, do it in fibreglass much cheaper,,,

I think GRP is better than lead in domestic jobs as it last years and to get the same performance you need lead code 5.