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Building insurance question - how to calculate flat roof percentage

gemma.zhang
gemma.zhang Posts: 405 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
in House buying, renting & selling
Hi all,

sorry for newbee question. The house we bought has a dormer conversion which half has flat roof( is felt on timber material ). Our insurance only covers it if its <25% flat roof, more will be considered as risky.

Anyone could help out what's correct way of calculating the percentage? Am I correct if if caculate it as - flat roof area / ground floor area?

Thanks,
Gem
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Comments

  • Fire_Fox
    Fire_Fox Posts: 26,026 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    What does the insurance company say? Their opinion trumps ours.
    Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️
  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Measure the total area of the roof (north - south x east - west). Then do the same for just the flat part. If the building is not a nice neat square it gets mote complex, but I'm sure a decent mathematician could help out.

    But as FF says, if in doubt, ask the insurer. It's not worth waiting till the fire has destroyed the house to find your policy is invalid.
  • gemma.zhang
    gemma.zhang Posts: 405 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    "Measure the total area of the roof (north - south x east - west)..."

    As the majority of the roof is not flat, then the total area of th roof should be more than the floor area of the ground floor then..
  • Fire_Fox
    Fire_Fox Posts: 26,026 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    It's unlikely your roof has a larger area than your ground floor, that would make the house top heavy!
    Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️
  • propertyman
    propertyman Posts: 2,922 Forumite
    edited 18 November 2012 at 11:04AM
    Fire_Fox wrote: »
    It's unlikely your roof has a larger area than your ground floor, that would make the house top heavy!

    Well erm as it's at an angle........it will. :o

    The roof is the hypotenuse of a triangle.

    The adjacent measurement is the ground measurement ( the flat bit)

    The opposite ( the upright bit) you can guestimate by taking the top brick at the lowest point of the roof and counting the additional bricks to the peak of the roof.

    So lets say it together like we did in school all those years ago :)
    The square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the two shorter sides.
    So a 12 foot long wall with 7 ft of extra bricks is squared

    47 + 144 = 193, take the square root, = 14(say)

    If the wall at the bottom of the roof is say 18 ft, then the area is 14 x 18, or 252 sq ft.

    Even the flat roof has a slight slope but this can be ignored. If the house is at angles or the roof has a sloped side, then it a matter of breaking it into rectangles and triangles.

    But not literally :)
    Stop! Think. Read the small print. Trust nothing and assume that it is your responsibility. That way it rarely goes wrong.
    Actively hunting down the person who invented the imaginary tenure, "share freehold";     if you can show me one I will produce my daughter's unicorn
  • theartfullodger
    theartfullodger Posts: 15,562 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Sign up for GCSE Maths..
  • Fire_Fox
    Fire_Fox Posts: 26,026 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    propertyman wrote: »
    Well erm as it's at an angle........it will. :o

    The roof is the hypotenuse of a triangle.

    The adjacent measurement is the ground measurement ( the flat bit)

    OK thankfully I do remember enough geometry to understand that! :rotfl: I thought we were measuring the floor space taken up by each type of roof, not the actual tiled area IYSWIM .... which brings me back to asking the insurance company rather than MSE.
    Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️
  • ShALLaX
    ShALLaX Posts: 114 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker Mortgage-free Glee!
    theartfullodger wrote: »
    Sign up for GCSE Maths..

    Made my day. Thank you!
  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Fire_Fox wrote: »
    It's unlikely your roof has a larger area than your ground floor, that would make the house top heavy!
    Cloisters?

    Certainly unlikely the roof has a smaller area than your ground floor, that would make the house wet!
  • ShALLaX
    ShALLaX Posts: 114 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker Mortgage-free Glee!
    "Footprint" vs area.
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