Lead Theft

[MatthewC]

We had the first slates fitted to our roof earlier this week, and I found today that some B*******D has been up the scaffolding and stolen the bottom bit of lead from the valley, ripping up about 25 slates in doing so. This thoughtless little *******g ***t has probably made less than £10 from the metal (it was one piece about 15 ins x 5 ft) and caused about £500 of damage as lots of slates will have to be relaid, apart from replacing the damaged ones. If he'd looked, he could have found the old lead sheet which was taken off a week ago!

The irony is that I asked the roofer some while ago what they did about security of scaffolding. He gave me a sideways look and said "you've just moved from London, haven't you? It's not like that here". Well, it is and I am b*****y furious

 

[CatherineB]

:shock:

 

[Tom]

Matthew, I'm so sorry. I'm not surprised you're furious. Our site insurance would cover something like this. Do you have insurance to cover it? I know it's not the whole point but it may soften the blow a little. People who do things like this want lynching in the streets! I hope you get it sorted quickly and easily. Is there any way you can improve your security? I know it's difficult with scaffolding; it's an open invitation really :roll:

 

[d49xc]

I'm told that in London a scaffold alarm is pretty well essential

 

[Tom]

Are there such things? Blimey, I must have led a sheltered life :shock:

 

[FamilyWiggs]

:shock:

 

[citizensmith]

Bad luck, you just dont expect it to happen to you.
When we had our roof done I was very laid back about it, thought all had gone well and didnt realise all our old lead had "gone" until weeks after durring the tidying up operation on the ground - £1100 of new lead went up onto the roof so I guess at least £500 of old stuff came down and I just didnt realise its value! I'll chalk that one up to experience i guess.

 

[d49xc]

Google Scaffold alarm and you will get lots of hits.
As I understand it the main necessity for them in London is that the scaffold will give easy access from the ground to what under normal circumstances are less secure part of the house - ie upstairs windows, skylights, roofs etc - through which it would be easier to gain access to the house than the much more secure ground floor access points.
If fact I even recall being told that insurance requirements in some places actually require a scaffold alarm as a condition of remaining insured during the period of the scaffolding being there.

I'm in the rural home counties but certainly the one time I had a small scaffold which did abut a nearby window the scaffolders were very careful to put multiple scaffold poles across the window -effectively blocking it and removing it as a potential access point. The lowest ladder section was also left removable to ensure access to the scaffold could be "controlled". I was quite impressed by their consideration of such matters which at that time had not occurred to me given as I said this is rural part of the country.

 

[Tom]

I'm not sure a scaffolding alarm would do for me. My cats would keep setting it off! Here's one of them in action. I've no idea why they go up there but they all do it :roll:

 

[philpjuk100]

So sorry to hear that Matt,I know its naughty but I would "booby trap" the scaffold,you only need to unclip one of the upper planks and leave an overhang! It is called a scaffold,maybe you could hang the bu**er from it!phil.

 

[Pford75]

Sorry to hear that.

Also worth pointing out to forum members that unless you have 'site insurance' like Jaqy, you could well find that your home insurance will not cover damage or theft in the event of scaffold being in place. Either your policy will have a clause requiring you to notify insurers of building works or (and this is unfair IMO), there is a simple policy exclusion where you have failed to notify insurers of 'material changes' in circumstances. Insurers certainly see scaffold as a material change, due to the increase in risk.

Even with an alarm, it's always advisable to notify your insurers.

 

[Jill]

Matthew that is not good news, we have just had some lead flashing put on and the first thing I do as I pull in the drive is look up and check it is still there. A local school had some of theres removed one weekend which caused lots of damage. I think it is going on up and down the country. The next village even had some underground cables pinched which meant nobody had any telephone/internet lines. It is terrible what some people will do.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Yes, it is happening everywhere, even in our Market Town, one was in daylight, from the Dentists home/surgery! :shock:
Also we have had 3 car fires in a residential road, and a house fire, reportedly ( grapevine) all started deliberately.

 

[philpjuk100]

It happened in a local pay and display car park,a couple of lads pulled their pick up against a car showroom at midday put a ladder up the side of the showroom and started to pull lead off where the roofline changed.They were spotted by the attendant in the municipal toilets who alerted the police who held the ladder for them when they came down! In the local paper it reported the theft of cast iron guttering from the pub round the corner,the gutter had been removed,wire brushed and painted and was waiting to be refitted,when this was in the van the lads entered the pub and helped themselves to the draw from the till but met the publican (an ex pro boxer) on the way out! the newspaper article said the police were looking for someone with an unexplained broken nose!The publican had just had a knee replacement op if he had not it could have been two broken noses!phil.

 

[MatthewC]

Now that I've calmed down (a bit), here's a belated, frosty, photo of the damage:

 

[Tom]

Poor you No wonder you were bouncing!!!