Low Pitch Dormer missed by Survey

neil_f

Afternoon Everyone

I bought my first house last November - and I've had a leak in my dormer for the last few weeks

All 3 roofing companies who have been out to fix it have said they won't repair it, due to the low pitch (12 degrees) on the dormer meaning replacement tiles won't stand up to the weather. All have said they don't believe it would have passed building regs, and don't understand why it wasn't flat in the first place

They have all recommended swapping it out for a flat roof, which will cost £1000s. I got a HomeBuyer Survey done prior to purchasing, and there's no mention of the pitch on the dormer whatsoever (it actually says its in good condition, which it isn't either)

I've asked the Surveyor for their complaints procedure as I expect them to contribute towards repairs - do I have any chance of getting anything back??

Cheers
Neil

Doozergirl

Got a picture of said dormer and pitch?

G_M

Yes you have a 'chance' but it's not guaranteed.

Unless the firm makes an offer which you are happy with, you'll need written evidence in order to pursue the matter further.

So another RICS surveyor's report (just on the dormer - not the whole house!) backed up by written roofer's quotations.

neil_f

I can't figure out how to attach a picture - its asking for a URL ??

I've requested a survey of the dormer roof to take back

The dormer is mentioned only twice in the survey, neither reference pitch - but one does say about further testing, do you reckon that covers them?

"You are advised that the tiled element to the dormer may be constructed in
an inferior fashion to the remainder of the property. Without destructive
testing it is not possible to be conclusive with this respect and there does
not appear to be any immediate cause for concern; however, caution
should be exercised when carrying outworks to this area."

and

The roof is of traditional double-pitched timber, rafter and purlin
construction, faced in slate with a prominent dormer to the rear.
Roof slopes were generally found to be free of any undue deflection.

Doozergirl

Yes, that first part covers them, very clearly. It is inferior. The thing about pitch relates exactly to tiling. 12 degrees is not steep enough for tiling to be effective. So you can either say that the pitch is too shallow or that the tiling is inferior. Two sides of the same coin.

He's saying he can't check without taking it apart, which is fair enough. We had a sunroom on a property which had a really ugly flat roof. We increased the pitch a bit and treated it as a flat roof correctly to make it watertight but we also put a 'dummy' tiled roof over just to make it look more attractive. It might have immediately looked like it wasn't good enough, but it was.

To post an image you would host the image elsewhere, like Imgur or Tinypic and then post the link. It sounds like you don't need to, you just didn't interpret your survey very well, I'm afraid.

System

So they have said the dormer looks like it might be an issue, don't think you can have any recourse to them if the dormer is an issue tbh.
Presumably they have surveyed it from the ground? You can get tiles which can be used at very low pitches and the visual difference between 12 and 17.5 degrees from below will be a tough spot imo.
I think you just need to concentrate on getting the best solution for making it watertight rather than thinking about taking legal action against a surveyor which will likely be drawn out for months and months

AdrianC

neil_f wrote: »

The dormer is mentioned only twice in the survey, neither reference pitch - but one does say about further testing, do you reckon that covers them?

"You are advised that the tiled element to the dormer may be constructed in
an inferior fashion to the remainder of the property. Without destructive
testing it is not possible to be conclusive with this respect and there does
not appear to be any immediate cause for concern; however, caution
should be exercised when carrying outworks to this area."

Sounds more like you should be ringing them and saying "Yep, you were right about the dormer."

neil_f

thanks all... I was only following advice from the roofers - but I suppose they would recommend i challenge the surveyor if it increases their chances of getting some work booked in...

Interestingly, I've had quotes ranging from £380 to £14,500 to fix the issue....

Think I'm going to go with one about £2k, fitting Centurion tiles and redoing the cover & insulation underneath...