Re-tiling a roof

aprilkm

In a bout of bad luck, our roof started leaking above our master bedroom. We knew that the house will need a new roof in the near future, as the original roof is over 90 years old and we can see the daylight through the tiles 😂 With this terrible weather, we have noticed a few leaks on the insulation up to the loft, and then, to the wall of the master bedroom.

we got a few roofers around to give us quotes, and we are amazed at the amount of money it will cost to change the roof above around 50sqm of our top floor... first person had a good look at the loft, he put a ladder up to the roof and took some pictures to show me the state of the tiles, and gave me a relatively detailed quote of £21,000. This will include new tiles, felt (the roof currently does not have any), insulation, treating the timbers, pointing two large chimney breasts, scaffolding (three sides of detached house), skip, and labour. Estimated time for completion is two weeks. He suggested that we can save £3,000 if we reuse some of our tiles but he reckons it not going to be more than 50% of what we got.

the second person just looked from the outside, listened to what I said and gave me a “this is how much is missing from my pocket” estimate of £25,000-28,000!!!! 

Now, I know that the house seems fancy and they might assume we are pretty wealthy 😋, so I want to make sure I am not being robbed by anyone. Is this a reasonable amount for a property in Berkshire, because it seems crazy expensive to me...

We were planning to extend to the loft at some point, so we are bit annoyed that we have to change the roof before we get the chance to plan for the loft and do the job at the same time. Assuming the tiles are in decent condition, does it make sense to reuse 50% of them or is it crazy to think about it given that they are 90 year old tiles? 

Any opinions are appreciated!

FreeBear

My roof is also some 90 years old, and yes, I can see daylight through quite a few tiles. But that is down to how they are seated on top of each other rather than gaps open to the elements. It may be that you have a few tiles that have slipped or been rattled out of place in the recent high winds - Get another roofer to go up a ladder and reseat any slipped tiles, and you should be OK for another year or two,

£20K doesn't sound too far off for a full felt & retile job - Probably not worth trying to reuse some of the original tiles as you are unlikely to find modern replacements that are a good match in terms of shape. You could still recover some of the cost by selling the old tiles to a building reclamation yard. While you've got scaffolding up, it would also make sense to do all those other high level jobs like painting the windows, pointing of brickwork (in lime) and checking/repairing the chimney stack.

neilmcl

I would say those prices are way over the top. I've a similar sized and aged roof and have been quoted anything between £8K and £10K for a replacement. Even if your in London those quotes sound high.

As fare as reusing tiles, assuming they're slates then they can last for hundreds of years no problems, it's the fixings the deteriorate over time which is why your roof is pretty mush at it's end of life, but as @FreeBear mentions there's no reason not to spend a few hundred on a repair for now to see you through. 

Paula_Smith

We got our 4 bed semi in South London done for £11k 2 years ago.
Floor plan is approx. 6x8m

aprilkm

Thank you everyone. I was expecting around £12k, but definitely not double that... If I think about labour costs only, the 5 guys over 12 days would £12k alone!! I am failing to see how this is possible given the work required for the specific house.

i could do just repairs now, but with the cost of scaffolding at £1,500 for changing a few tiles I thought I should go ahead with the whole roof and be sure it’s not going to leak again. 

I will ask for a couple more quotes, and hope I can get a wider range of costs. If everyone says £20+k, then I guess it’s what it is 😂

aprilkm

This is the roof for reference; we only need to retile the yellow highlighted part. The rest is in good condition as the property was extended 12 years ago. Square footage of top floor is 60sqm, around 45 under what needs to be retiled.

neilmcl

aprilkm said:

Thank you everyone. I was expecting around £12k, but definitely not double that... If I think about labour costs only, the 5 guys over 12 days would £12k alone!! I am failing to see how this is possible given the work required for the specific house.

i could do just repairs now, but with the cost of scaffolding at £1,500 for changing a few tiles I thought I should go ahead with the whole roof and be sure it’s not going to leak again. 

I will ask for a couple more quotes, and hope I can get a wider range of costs. If everyone says £20+k, then I guess it’s what it is 😂

Who said you'd need scaffolding to repair/replace a few tiles/slates? I'd ask around a few more, reputable roofers for repair only.

neilmcl

aprilkm said:

This is the roof for reference; we only need to retile the yellow highlighted part. The rest is in good condition as the property was extended 12 years ago. Square footage of top floor is 60sqm, around 45 under what needs to be retiled.

How are you measuring the roof?. That looks way more than the 50sqm you first mentioned, if you're just measuring the footage of your floor then that's not how to measure a roof.

sk2402005

Just for info, i recently had my roof re felted, and 25% broken tiles replaced for £4200 in oxfordshire.

My house is a small 3 bed semi. and using a quick online calculator the roof is around 70m2

no insulation or beam treatment was included in that cost

aprilkm

The roof coverage is 105sqm. From what I have been quoted, the cost of tiles will be 60/sqm, and overall cost of materials and labour will be £169/sqm. Please don’t tell me that’s reasonable... I had an argument with the roofer that he is using the square footage of the ground floor to calculate the roof, when the top floor is 30% smaller. Think of the size of an average 3 bed house with a tiny box room; this is what the original part of the roof is covering.

neilmcl

Well, tbh by looking at your picture my immediate guess was the whole roof aree would be over 100sqm. Still that doesn't account for those ridiculous quotes you got. For a new roof you should be aiming at around £80-£100 per sqm inclusive of all materials, labour and scaffold hire.

Also, if they're quoting £169/sqm all in then where are you getting the £20K+ figures from?