A couple has been forced to collect rainwater in a wheelie bin after their roof started to leak following a solar panel installation.
Lauren MacLennan, 28, and Fraser Tracey, 26, from Port Glasgow, had signed up for a government-backed home energy improvement scheme, which involved replacing insulation, re-rendering the building and installing solar panels.
But they argued that after the solar panel installation, carried out by energy improvement firm Everwarm, they were left with a major leak in their bedroom.
The company meanwhile say they’re confident they were not at fault and were working on a resolution.
The couple, who moved into their dream home in 2021 after saving up for years, have now spent £100 on bins, buckets and tarpaulin to contain the leak.
Ms MacLennan said that it’s just a nightmare.
She said that they’d saved up for years to buy their own house and they don’t have the money to get a brand new roof.
‘We’ve been waiting at least two months and they promised us that they’d fixed the issues.’
Mr Tracey added that they did the work in the middle of the summer, so they were not going to notice that there were any issues until they got heavy rain.
‘The damage is under the panels, from what I can tell, where it’s leaking in.
‘We are under no illusion that it isn’t an old roof, but it wasn’t leaking before they carried out work on it, or at least not to the extent where it was pouring through the roof. It was never like that.
‘We would have got the roof seen to but with the way everything is at the moment we can’t spend that money.
‘If they said to us ‘sorry, we can’t put them [the solar panels] up, the roof isn’t fit for purpose’, we would’ve been fine with that.’
The couple have since been living with the bedroom leak, and dealing with it by catching water in a wheelie bin and laying tarpaulin to try and prevent damage.
Ms MacLennan, who works as a home carer, said that they were gutted by it. She said that she’s been stressed out and missing days of work.
A spokesperson for Everwarm said that the company was aware of the issues with the Port Glasgow property and was confident that they were not the result of their improvement work.
None of these green ideas appear to be working very well. Heat pumps, solar panels, cars, stay away from them all.
Everwarm should just send somebody to take a look at what has happened. Not from the ground because a lot of roofs are not designed to take the weight of solar panels, but then it’s all about money, they don’t care what happens after and never want to take responsibility.
All installation companies should survey the roof before installation to see if it’s fit for purpose.
Whoever did the quote and inspected the property should have told them that their roof wasn’t safe enough for it and that it couldn’t be done, after all, they’re the experts allegedly.
I reviewed Everwarm online on Trustpilot and they don’t have the most glowing feedback at all. There were hundreds of complaints from people who were far from happy with their service and installation.
One person said that they were a joke of a service. That they were 1.5 years into a job that they were told would only take about 6 weeks and they were still waiting for it to be finished.
Another said they were an absolute joke of a company. That they had their heating replaced and Everwarm’s reputation of having no care for people’s properties was upheld. They left damaged walls, ceilings and carpets. Their workmanship was extremely poor.
Their inspection couldn’t see any issues so they were left to deal with the aftermath and had to put the damage right themselves. The attitude of their office staff was disgusting – they didn’t pass on messages. Spoke to their customers like they were dirt, and said that anyone considering using Everwarm, should do themselves a favour and go elsewhere.
The comments go on and on, but I would be here forever telling you about them, but the bottom line is, NEVER use this company.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 