Residents call on Housing Executive to repair hole damaged ‘WW2 roofs’

OVER a dozen tenants in a Cookstown estate are living with gaping HOLES in the roof of their homes because the Housing Executive has failed to replace temporary roofing dating back to the Second World War, it’s been claimed.

Bungalows in the Killymoon Crescent area are in such a bad state-of-repair spots of daylight can be seen escaping through gaps in the metal clad roofs.

Constant damp and leaks have also been reported in the tin homes, with at least 12 Housing Executive properties reported to have damage.

The houses were erected as temporary structures for those returning from the Second World War in 1945 with a life-expectancy of ten years.

Speaking this week, Killymoon Crescent resident Mark Quinn told the MAIL how last year he had to defrost the attic of his family’s home due to an intense build up of frost.

“Last year we counted eight or nine holes,” the 31 year-old said.

“Not only are we out of pocket from fixing the damage ourselves but we are losing a lot of heat from the roof space as well.

“There’s no insulation and last year we had to actually defrost the attic because the build up of frost.”

“There’s no felt on the roofs, the chip board is flaking off - the leaks are continuous.”

Mark added: “I have been here five years and we rung the Housing Executive as soon as we moved in.

“They never got back to me on it. We contacted them again four or five years ago but it looks nothing is going to be done about it.

The young dad said he is also concerned about dust emanating from the aluminium style roofs.

“It’s like a white dust, apparently it is bad for your lungs, so that is another concern to us, especially with a child in the house,” he explained.

“There’s quite a few houses in the estate with this problem. There’s approximately 20 homes in the estate and about 12 or 13 of them are Housing executive owned and they have the same problems as us. Everyone is in the same boat.”

“We just want it done before the next bad spell of weather, and that could happen next week,” sad Mark.

Cookstown Councillor John McNamee says he has called an urgent meeting with the Housing Executive over the issue.

The Sinn Fein representative said: “Speaking to a number of residents it’s clear that not enough is being done to resolve the continuous problems with the leaking roofs.

“The unique style of these homes sets them apart from the normal Housing Executive property and over recent years there has been an acceleration in the problems with the metal cladding roofs.

“One resident can see daylight from her roof space. Leaks and constant damp are a number of issues.”

Councillor McNamee continued; “I think the only solution here is to refurbish the roofs and that is what I will be discussing with the Housing Executive.”

In response to the Killymoon residents claims, a Housing Executive spokesperson said: “We have received complaints from two tenants concerning roof insulation in Killymoon Crescent.”

“One of our Maintenance staff inspected the roof space today in No.18 and found that part of the original insulation boarding is broken.

There is a good level of insulation and there is no evidence of water ingress in the property.

“There is nothing to suggest that the roof needs upgrading.”

“As regards the other property at no.11 the tenant recently reported their concern about insulation. e inspected this property and found it needs upgraded and we have undertaken to do this.”

“Killymoon Crescent is included in our next external cyclical maintenance scheme to be undertaken in Cookstown. In addition a number of kitchens in Killymoon Crescent will be modernized in a scheme programmed to start within the next three months.”

“We would point out that tenant representatives from Killymoon Crescent sit on the Cookstown Housing Community Network which meets quarterly and discusses a range of programme, performance and response maintenance issues.”

“At the November and February meetings no issues were raised about Killymoon Crescent nor at the inter agency meeting in December.

“The District Manager in Cookstown is very happy to meet with tenants to discuss their concerns.”

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