As the price of lead has been rising, so has its attractiveness to thieves. Lead is commonly used in the UK to line the flashings of buildings – the joins between tile or slate roofs, and brickwork or masonry. Private and historic buildings, mainly churches, have recently been targeted by thieves across the UK, costing churches nearly £23mm in repair costs over the past 5 years.
It’s made harder still for many listed churches that cannot use modern alternatives – such as Tecnatorch, which has no value to thieves – to replace the flashings, making them vulnerable to repeat attacks. Steve Haywood, of Haywood’s Roofing in Birmingham, is a RatedPeople.com tradesman, who has been helping his community by replacing and repairing lead flashings on local churches.
We joined Haywood’s Roofing onsite at their local church, Bishop Latimer to see how Tecnatorch can prevent thieves from coming back to steal again.
Haywood’s Roofing have worked on over a dozen domestic homes and 6 churches this year that have all fallen victim to lead thieves in the Birmingham area. Aware that the local churches were struggling to fund the repairs, Steve completed the roofing job at Bishop Latimer Church at a low cost, turning down other work to ensure the church was made water-tight before more damage could occur. However, since our on site visit, the church has been attacked again!
Despite the behaviour of a minority of people damaging the historic buildings in their communities, tradesmen like Steve should be recognised for their contributions to their local communities.
Steve Haywood is a five star rated member of RatedPeople.com, with over 140 ratings. Here are Steve’s tips to avoid hiring a ‘cowboy roofer’.
Roofers tend to get a bad press – labelled ‘cowboy roofers’ – but they are not all alike, Steve is proof that the good ones do exist. If you are looking for a quality roofer in your area, post your job on RatedPeople.com, we will put you in touch with up to 3 local roofers who will quote for your job. You’ll be able to review their ratings from previous customers and make an informed decision when you hire your next roofer. Once the tradesman has completed your job, make sure you rate him!
