# getting outside advice



## Guest (Dec 16, 2003)

My wife and I just moved into a row-house 6 months ago. We have a small, flat side-roof which shares a common wall (made of brick) with my next door neighbor. His roof slopes towards the common wall and covers the top of the wall; our roof is flat (w/ a slight pitch to the back) and is attached to the wall about 8 inches below his gutter on the side of the common wall.

From day one, we had a slight leak in the roof along the common wall. Two months ago we had a local roofing company install a modified bitumen 2-ply system. Per the contract agreement, we paid in full on completion of the job. One week later, we had a hard rain and it leaked (worse than before the job was done and in a different location) - in addition, my neighbor on the other side of the wall now also has a leak. Over the past 2 months the company has sent out the same salesrep who did the original inspection three times.

His initial thought was that the leak was in my neighbor's roof and was coming through the common wall. Confirming his suspicions, he found loose nails under a layer of silver sealant, which had been holding down a piece of flashing bent over the edge of my neighbor's roof just above mine (perhaps to help water run directly into his gutter, rather than onto my roof). The salesrep suspects that when the roofers worked on my roof they had to bend my neighbor's flashing and popped out some of the nails. In addition, the inspector found 2 areas on my roof, where the 2-ply system had not been properly installed, causing some of the other leaks. They plan to fix the 2 leaks on my roof, but will not be responsible for the water leaking in from my neighbor's roof.

Assuming that the company fixes the leaks on my roof, should they also be responsible for the leaks coming from my neigbor's roof? Although his roof may be the source of the leak, they were responsible for disturbing the patch that he had installed. The bottom-line is that the leak was significantly smaller before we paid to have a new roof installed.


----------



## Grumpy (Dec 12, 2003)

Are you saying that his roof drains onto your roof?

Ask the company to send a different person just for an additional perspective. Maybe a different set of eyes can find the problem.

Assuming they caused the leaks in your neighbors roof by working on your roof, when they fix your leaks they will probably end up fixing hers just because it't the same leak. If they are in direct responsibility for the leak on your neighbor's house then ethically I think they should fix it.

Did you have a whole new roof installed or just a partial?


----------

