Roof Repairs

revengep8nt14

Hi,

I'm new to any roof repairs and have no idea how much it should cost.

I have mould on my roof felt as seen in the loft.

I've had a roofing firm come out and have been told the GRP valleys are all cracked and are leaking so they need replacing.

- 2 lead valleys (max 10 metres)
- 2 roof vents
- repointing tiles back in
- labour

The quote has come out at £2400 - does this seem accurate?

Thanks

CliveOfIndia

It's very hard to say.  Where abouts in the country are you, for starters?

The second thing I'd ask - do you trust the company?  Did you respond to a random advert on FB, Check-a-trade, that sort of thing?  Because do bear in mind, any Tom, !!!!!! or Harry can pay (or even not pay) to advertise on such sites.  Far better to get personal recommendations from local residents if possible - that's one area where FB can actually be useful, if you're able to ask for recommendations on a local community group.  I.e. people in the local area who have actually used a particular roofer and were happy with their work.

How much labour are they quoting - 2 men for 1 day, 4 men for a week?  Like all trades, a properly-qualified tradesman doesn't come cheap (nor should it), so the labour can make up a large proportion of the total cost.

But a big element is also scaffolding.  If it's needed, it can be surprisingly expensive, and often a roofer will sub-contract the scaffolding part of things to a scaffolding firm, and that can push the price up massively.

revengep8nt14

East Midlands. I haven't found them on check a trade but they are on there and have all but positive feedback. They've been very helpful so far so can't fault them. I just want a second opinion.

Annemos

Scaffolding is rather expensive, if that is involved? 

revengep8nt14

I've had another roofing firm have a look and reckons the whole roof needs taking off as the membrane is too far gone with the mold? Ball park figure of 15-20K

revengep8nt14

Annemos said:

Scaffolding is rather expensive, if that is involved? 

No, reckons he doesn't need scaffolding as its easily accessible

flashg67

repair quote doesn't sound unreasonable - have they said this is the cause of the mould?. Hard to tell fully but the insulation looks to be right up to the felt and might be restricting air flow?

I'd expect 10-12k for an average re-roof for a 'standard' size house though.

Annemos

Me not a roof contractor, so please excuse any rubbish I might be spouting! 


I suppose you then have the question. Should the original roof tiles be retained? Or just go for new ones. (Possibly even with dry verges etc.)

One of my neighbours had a Contractor who decided to keep the old tiles when re-doing all the felt and battens. But our tiles are not made any more. (A type of Bold Roll clay tile era 1980.)

They are very easy to damage when taken off. So neighbour now has one vertical row on the back that is a completely different tile as regards the aesthetics (colour and texture). And also the attaching bits underneath did not match. That's why it had to be a vertical row, as opposed to horizontal. 

I have heard that it is sometimes not that much more expensive to replace the tiles, rather than go to all the effort of cleaning and trying not to damage the old ones. 

Also maybe the age of the old tile also has to be considered. What is its normal life-span? 


In contrast, the other neighbour had all new tiles and as far as I can tell, the dry system. It really does look wonderful.   Oh and this was 2 years ago. 3 bedroom house on our estate and it cost 15,000 pounds (East Midlands). Whole roof replacement with new tiles. (Full scaffolding. 2 chaps. From memory took them about 10 days. Also all new guttering, I believe.)

Albermarle

revengep8nt14 said:

I've had another roofing firm have a look and reckons the whole roof needs taking off as the membrane is too far gone with the mold? Ball park figure of 15-20K

AFAIK, the membrane is not critical to the performance of the roof. It is more of a back up protection in case the roof itself leaks.
Many older homes have no membrane/roof liner at all, and function perfectly well. ( Ours was like this before we had a loft conversion)
So my obvious/stupid? question, is why is it necessary to have a major job done like replacing the roof, just because the liner has gone a bit mouldy? Perhaps there is a good reason, but just thought I would ask the question.

MysteryMe

Could get a quote from someone belonging to this trade association
https://www.corc.co.uk/

revengep8nt14

flashg67 said:

repair quote doesn't sound unreasonable - have they said this is the cause of the mould?. Hard to tell fully but the insulation looks to be right up to the felt and might be restricting air flow?

I'd expect 10-12k for an average re-roof for a 'standard' size house though.

They've said it's dripping through the valley and causing the mould but if that was the case it would be concentrated in one area - not everywhere. I can't tell if I have eaves vents. Can't see any daylight either.