Advice on Homebuyer report findings

TheGoldengoose

Good evening,

I’m looking for some advice. I’m a FTB, had an offer accepted on a property, and just had a Homebuyer report done. House is 1985 construction. As I’ve never had a survey done before, I was a little freaked out by one of the findings regarding the roof. The Survey stated:

1. “The roof is built of preformed gangnail trusses. Some bracing is installed but there is insufficient bracing to prevent lateral movement. Strengthening is required in accordance with current regulations and additionally, mild steel straps should be installed between gable end walls and adjoining trusses. Condition Rating: 3”
2. “The roof void needs to be ventilated to avoid condensation affecting timbers and other surfaces.”

If I’m honest, I don’t have any knowledge about building/roof construction etc which makes me a bit anxious. Is this finding a major issue to resolve? Any idea how much this sort of corrective work would cost?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

youth_leader

You could ask the vendors if they would allow a roofer to visit to give you a quote for this work, and if they query it, you could send them this survey extract via the EA.  

Irishpearce26

So this is simple, 1985 regulations were much different to 2021 regulations. Will the roof collapse? Unlikely! Sounds like the surveyor is recommending some extra timber struts which would be about £150 but as someone has said get a roofer in to check as he may say the roof is perfectly stable. Ventilation again the roofer can advise however he may try and sell you and expensive product when proper ventilation in the house will be fine, better if you install lap vents in the felt which you can do your self at a cost of £40.

StandingInTheSun

Ring the surveyor to clarify their findings. They'll be far more open on the phone than they will be with writing and may tell you things they weren't comfortable putting on paper.

stuart45

It's most likely to be the diagonal bracing that's missing. They are normally lengths of 4x1 going from near the ridge to plate double nailed to every rafter. It's a job for a chippie rather than a roofer. Most houses from around that time or earlier don't have them, they were introduced into the regs later on as it was found that a few roofs suffered from racking caused by the wind loads.
If I was a chippie I would probably want a bit more than £150 to get all the timber into the roof space and work amongst a load of fibreglass. 
The straps are to help hold the gable end in place, although this house was only 8 years old and should have had them in place.
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TheGoldengoose

Many thanks everyone for the feedback. I thought it might have something to do with the building regs having changed since the house was originally built.