House requires new roof.. thoughts please!

jimbog

Much the same sort of report I received on my old house when I bought it in 1995. Walked past it last year and noticed  the 2nd lot of new owners had just re-roofed it 

DVN999

Thanks for the replies! I agree with the point that we were never under the impression we were getting a house with a new roof, so yes, probably acceptable long term maintenance.... Useful thought about the slate from other houses. Next stop will have to be seeing what an actual roofer says

IronMan22

purplebutterfly said:

It does sound incredibly similar to my survey - apart from I will be able to re-use at least half the tiles (according to the roofer) and my surveyor did extensive tests on the timber in the roof, so I know that they are all structurally fine. 

Mine are rosemary clay tiles and not slate -  I don't know what difference that makes - but the torching on my tiles has also disintegrated due to age.  

We will have a new roof when we need it.  It is currently not leaking and the moisture levels in the roof are within normal range so I am hoping to wait a few years.

I think a lot of vendors take the view that, if you are buying an old house with an original roof, even a whole re-roof comes under the category of "normal maintenance". 

The cost of materials is currently ridiculous and timber is in short supply everywhere, so I'm hoping prices settle in the next couple of years or it might well cost more than the quotes I've had 

You had the same chimney breast issue and your roofs got the same tiles issue, including type - you’re not buying the same house as me are you!?

In answer to the original post - it depends on what’s reasonable. Our sellers, via the estate agent, had flagged some roof stuff and knocked a bit off the price. Their version of ‘some’ and ours was a bit different when we got the survey. They’ve agreed a bit more off too. 

I’d contact them about the survey, when you have it, and say you want to get a quote or two. If anything, this is to inform you more about what you’re buying (and you’ll be better informed by someone telling you what needs doing and when as well as actual cost) and then depending on how much, raising it with them.

I suspect our sellers knew more about the roof, hence knocking a bit more off. But there’s no harm in raising it.

It’s important though to do that as a whole - what else is the survey saying - as you don’t want to go through each item individually. 

purplebutterfly

IronMan22 said:

purplebutterfly said:

It does sound incredibly similar to my survey - apart from I will be able to re-use at least half the tiles (according to the roofer) and my surveyor did extensive tests on the timber in the roof, so I know that they are all structurally fine. 

You had the same chimney breast issue and your roofs got the same tiles issue, including type - you’re not buying the same house as me are you!?

If your house is in North West England on the coast, we might have to have a chat in private! 

IronMan22

purplebutterfly said:

IronMan22 said:

purplebutterfly said:

It does sound incredibly similar to my survey - apart from I will be able to re-use at least half the tiles (according to the roofer) and my surveyor did extensive tests on the timber in the roof, so I know that they are all structurally fine. 

You had the same chimney breast issue and your roofs got the same tiles issue, including type - you’re not buying the same house as me are you!?

If your house is in North West England on the coast, we might have to have a chat in private! 

It actually is! 

purplebutterfly

@IronMan22 sent you a PM  - pretty sure it's not the same house because yours is a terraced but doesn't hurt to check! 

DVN999

Survey is back - looks like a few things on the ‘red list’. I’ll post a screenshot of the summary here, but a few notes... 

for the roof structure, he says the timber frames themselves seem good but will need protecting/treating, as part of the re-slating and felting of the roof.

the Red for the ceilings is the plaster being held up by the paper in one of the rooms; not structural but will be messy.

the Red for the gas and electricity is due to no inspections for a while, so hopefully an easy win.

im being messed around by roofers at the moment so still no quote for the work needing done. Anyone got an idea for complete retile, natural slate, approx 750 sq ft of roof, along with repointing and sorting the chimney stacks?

we really want the place but don’t want to have our pants pulled down. We are not buying it as an investment, more a long term (7 yrs min) family home, but need to be slightly mindful of the figures.

as stated before, we are paying (at the moment) £415000, which is £20k over asking price. That’s going to leave us with £35k in the bank, which we had intended to use to extend the kitchen abs sort me an awesome workshop. 

Really keen to hear people’s thoughts, thanks in advance!

DVN999

Here is the screen shot of the summary page 

kdotdotdotdot

Rather than faffing around waiting for roofers, just budget £10k (bear in mind you've also got to get planning permission) and be done with it.  With any luck, it'll come to less than that, and if it doesn't, then that's life.

Getting hold of decent trades is a nightmare at the moment because they're flat out: if they even turn up, it's still hit and miss as to whether they'll actually give you a quote.  You could be delaying the whole process.

DVN999

I’m thinking along the same lines, although my surveyor seems to think a new roof would be around £30k?! Which is nothing close to any anecdotal evidence I’ve seen... 

I’m meeting a friend of mine who runs a building firm this morning and we will get some broad brush numbers together as, like you said, all the trades are busy!