Roof Wind Bracing

marie82

Hi

I am after a bit of advice please I am selling my house and the buyer has had the survey done. She has come back and said that the survey showed no problems with the roof but it is noted it has no wind bracing. I had not heard of this so have been looking on the web, is this something that is required or something that is now done on more modern houses. Also if this is something I have to have done does anyone know a rough price it may cost?

Thank you for any advice you can offer

marksoton

Wind bracing is temporary works whilst the property is in construction.

They're talking BS. Your roof doesn't need anything of the sort.

MortgageMamma

I've been advising on mortgages since 2005 and I have never heard of roof wind bracing! I wouldn't worry about it unless it becomes a condition of the offer

Slinky

Found this old thread which may give some clues.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3503985

I seem to recall when we had our extension done that there was a mention of no wind bracing to the existing roof but given the property was 40 years old and hadn't had a problem, it was probably OK as it was.

DRP

I've heard of a 'wind post'. Our structural engineer wanted one built into our new extension wall to support the roof against lateral movement caused by wind...

it was considered ridiculous by everyone else involved (BR, designer, builder), due to the small size of the extension and its very sheltered position - we avoided having to fit one by having one less window in that wall.

CathA

We had something similar when we bought this house, can't remember the exact wording but something about the roof needing bracing and the wooden struts being screwed to the joist. Me being a panic merchant was worried the house would fall down, roof blow off etc, even though it's been up for 30+ years and not fallen down yet! Shortly after the surveyor's report, we had the biggest storm here in years and I was in our old house worrying that the roof would come off of the new house. It didn't.
After we moved in, we bought the roof braces, cost a few quid from a builders merchant, hubby has screwed them in and the roof is still on. We haven't done the wooden bracing yet, roof is still on! We'll get round to it before we sell it.

marksoton

See below link...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/interiors/jeffhowell/3364323/Property-advice-On-the-level.html

teneighty

Jeff Howell is wrong, as usual. Wind bracing trussed rafters is a permanent installation and is a requirement of the NHBC, Building Regulations, British Standards and recommended by the BRE.

Having said that there are plenty of estate houses built by the big national house builders that did not have bracing fitted in the 60's to 80's and it can be difficult to fit it properly retrospectively. Unless it is in an exposed position likely to be subject to strong winds I wouldn't be too worried.

dc197

My survey said the house lacks bracing trusses and recommend them to protect against high winds.
Could this be what was meant?

Exact wording is: no bracing was evident to the trusses therefore consideration should be given to installing bracing to prevent sway of the gable in times of high winds

jbainbridge

How old is the house? E.g. it's been there for x years without issue, we don't see any problem.

leveller2911

marksoton wrote: »

Wind bracing is temporary works whilst the property is in construction.

They're talking BS. Your roof doesn't need anything of the sort.

Depends on the type of roof. If Its a truss roof then wind bracing is important.When they design the roof they also design a wind-bracing plan so the wind-braces are positioned correctly.

Wind-bracing keeps the roof trusses upright and square to the roof, basically they stop the roof from being blown down when its being constructed but more importantly when its tiled. It braces a roof laterally and diagonally.

If wind-bracing is only temporary support whilst a truss roof is being put up then tell me what stops the roof blowing over after its been tiled because it certainly isn't the tile batten that stops it being blown over.

Truss roofs need diagonal wind bracing , the trusses are constructed from thin sections of timber and spaced further apart that traditional rafters so they need more bracing and support diagonally.