Bought new house, leaking chimney and possible roof replacement

ec112

Looking for advice about some roofing problems we've discovered in our house we've just bought.

It's a mid terrace Victorian house and we bought it and moved in a couple of weeks ago. We had a couple of viewings (both during dry weather) and had a full buildings survey done (again in dry weather) so neither us nor the surveyor picked up that there was a significant leak in the chimney of the property. Although now on reflection, it's obvious even from the house pictures that there is defective lead flashing on the neighbour's side which is likely causing the leak. The timbers on our side are now soaked and probably rotting. We were thinking of redoing the roof within the following 5 years anyway.

My questions are:
1. Is it the neighbour's responsibility to fix the lead flashing on their side, if our side is fine? In all honesty, I'd rather the first conversation we have with them, not to be demanding they pay to fix their side of the roof so I'd be happy to have our roofer fix it if they're up there anyway doing work.

2. How do you know a roof needs fully replacing? From what we can tell, it's got the old type sarking felt, it's leaking, the battens by the leak are sodden and there's moss growth all over the outside so am thinking it does need replacing as I don't want to pay for scaffolding now to fix the lead and then again in a couple of years to keep patching problems.

3. Could anyone provide a ballpark figure for a roof replacement they've had recently? It's a 3 bed mid terrace.

We've got 2-3 roofers coming next week to quote for both repairs and full roof replacements but in my head I'm thinking it'll be upwards of £10,000.

Thank you in advance to anyone who read all that!

Grizebeck

If it needs doing just get it done then Job done
Don't bother scrimping.  
It will need a new membrane anyway with sarking so just do it

propertyhunter

Can't tell you the cost of the full roof repair, but this year I had the flashing fixed and repointing done for one chimney as there was a leak, and the timbers were wet and not in good shape. The total cost for new flashings and making good all the pointing on the chimney and flaunching cost £1200 (including VAT). This included the cost of the scaffolding. I had quotes  from £400 (x1), £1200 (x2) and £1700 (x1). I got burned going cheap previously so went with the person who seemed as if they were the most competent. It took 3-4 days to do the job. 

propertyrental

If the lead flashimg on the neighbour's side needs work, you cannot avoid a discussion woith the neighbour.

Even if you are willing to pay yourself (which you don't need to - you could ask/force neighbour to pay) you would need their consent to get work done on their roof/chimney.

SarahB16

propertyhunter said:

Can't tell you the cost of the full roof repair, but this year I had the flashing fixed and repointing done for one chimney as there was a leak, and the timbers were wet and not in good shape. The total cost for new flashings and making good all the pointing on the chimney and flaunching cost £1200 (including VAT). This included the cost of the scaffolding. I had quotes  from £400 (x1), £1200 (x2) and £1700 (x1). I got burned going cheap previously so went with the person who seemed as if they were the most competent. It took 3-4 days to do the job. 

I have a three-bed Victorian mid-terrace and am waiting for a roofer to call round as there are two small leaks in my roof.  The timber is still hard but I've noticed a white mold on two of the beams. 

Can I ask @propertyhunter what did you do with your timbers.  I'm guessing you had them replaced and were they easy to replace?  

I don't think my timbers are at that stage however if would be good to hear if replacing the timbers was also included in the work you had done? 

Thank you.

propertyhunter

@SarahB16 - they're pretty rotten and there was no felt underneath the tiles! My house hasn't been touched for 50 years, and replacing the roof will be part of a plan to renovate the entire house in a few years time. I'm forced to wait because the economy is looking a bit weak in my profession right now, but it should hold for 2-3 years. 

The roofer who did the work did say that I shouldn't spend more than a few grand repairing the roof because there will come a time when just replacing the entire roof makes sense. 

mexican_dave

Just to be clear when people are talking about "replacing timbers", do you mean 50 x 25mm roof battens (a roofing job) or do you mean structural timbers maybe 50 x 120mm or more (holding up the battens, tiles, etc) which is potentially more expensive?

Wyndham

I had a new roof last year - but a bigger property so it would have been much more expensive and I don't want to scare you by telling you the price!

I'd say two things. First, it will cost more than you think it will, as everything is expensive at the moment. Second, if you want a good roofer, you will likely have to wait for them. If a roofer offers to do it quickly, then it's a red flag.

We got three quotes, and having had a bad experience before we were looking for roofers who were prepared to give guarantees. We got the quotes around last February, agreed on our preferred choice in March, and the work happened in September. Took about a month (again, yours may be a shorter timeframe).

Since then, there have been several storms, and after years of looking for the next leak each time we had rain and wind together, we're finally starting to believe that we've finally sorted the problem. This is such a relief that it makes it worth every penny!

Bigphil1474

We live in a 100 year old mid terrace with a dormer to front (maybe 60% across). Had a couple of quotes for redoing the roof last year - one from a mate of a mate reusing 70% of existing slate tiles, and to reclad walls to dormer and fit fibre glass roof = £11k. The other was to replace the entire roof and reclad/fibre glass to dormer = £14k. The dormer cost was in the region of £1-2k from memory. Hope that helps.

daveyjp

If the roof is original and now 125+ years old it is probably time for replacement.  Look at adjoining houses and see how many have original roof covering.

Remember if you go from slate to a heavier tile the roof timbers may need strengthening anyway.