Flat roof

SaintAlf

Morning all, we have a really old 6m x 4m flat roof (felt) over a room in the house that's sodden and leaking.  Hasn't been maintained, needs replacing.  Quotes from photos coming in £3k - almost £7k.  Guessing about £3.5k is the right ball park, does that sound right?  Is permission or certification needed to do this, like planning permission?

Insurance requires inspection every few years by a "a professional builder/roofer", what do they mean and what they need to see?  I plan to call them and try to avoid it being called a claim...

Any tips on finding a good roofer to do this?  There's online Which?  Trusted Traders etc, probably anyone can sign up.  We asked around locally but one of the recommendations was the high quote.

TIA

Bigphil1474

Assuming it's a house and not a bungalow, it will need scaffolding up. You won't need planning permission to fix the flat roof. Never heard that in an insurance policy before. It depends what they are quoting for - are they quoting to just replace the felt covering or completely do the flat roof inside and out, for example. Get like for like quotes.

Your best bet to find a roofer is a local Facebook group. See if anyone else has asked about a roofer and check out any recommendations they got. More often than not they are the roofer themselves but sometimes you get someone recommending someone they've used and were happy with. 

We were quoted £12k to get our house re-roofed and have the dormer flat roof done over in fibreglass - I'd recommend looking at that as opposed to re-felting (Fibre glass is more expensive but will last a lot longer).

Lorian

I think you will need building control approval and may need to improve the insulation to current standards too depending what's there already.

https://www.planningportal.co.uk/permission/common-projects/roof/building-regulations-work-to-an-existing-roof

Fibreglass may increase the noise when it rains. Resitrix Reinforced EDPM is good but not the cheapest.

tacpot12

+1 vote for Resitrix EPDM if fibreglass is too expensive. 

SaintAlf

Thanks for your responses, any thoughts re the typical cost for that 6m x 4m area, and finding someone to do the work?  Facebook is one idea.  It's a bungalow so easy to get to the roof.

The insurers say they have no requirements for the inspection other than "someone who's job is a roofer/builder"...

Doozergirl

SaintAlf said:

Thanks for your responses, any thoughts re the typical cost for that 6m x 4m area, and finding someone to do the work?  It's a bungalow so easy to get to the roof.

The insurers say they have no requirements for the inspection other than "someone who's job is a roofer/builder"...

What's the specification?  Are you getting full quotes with a breakdown?  They could be just intending to replace rhe covering, but what is your insulation situation? If it hasn't been maintained and has leaks then are they replacing the boards and joists, accounting for the potential rot? 

Use someone registered with a trade association like the https://www.nfrc.co.uk/ specifically for roofers or www.fmb.org.uk for wider scope.  

TELLIT01

I don't know what its name is but a rubber sheeting seems to be widely used now and supposedly has a much longer life than felt.

Bookworm105

impossible to comment on the quote range given you describe the existing roof as "sodden and leaking"

that implies some or all of the roofing deck will need to replaced, not just the roof covering itself. some quotes may reflect that , some may not

as for the covering there will be significant price differences between a quote using felt, or EPDM ("rubber"), or fibreglass ("GRP").

Are the quotes you have got directly comparable in those terms?

EPDM is (currently) regarded as the best material to use for flat roofs, but accordingly comes at a price premium

SaintAlf

Thanks everyone - we'll get consistent quotes based on proper inspections.  @Doozergirl thanks for the trade association links, I was surprised that the insurers did not mention any.  We mentioned nfrc to one of the roofers we spoke to and they stopped replying to messages which says something.

Slinky

We also have the condition about 5 yearly inspections by professional roofer in our insurance documents. TBH I haven't done anything about it as one flat roof was new 2 years ago, the other was repaired 5 years ago and the other is the garage which we wouldn't claim for anyway. One of those things I need to get around to.

TELLIT01

A friend of ours reroofed his workshop with EPDM and offered to do my shed as the felt was starting to fail.  Material for a 10' x 8' pitched roof shed cost about £150 but it's a single sheet so no weak points.  He reckons it will last him, and me, out.