Roof problems

Britannia12345

We moved into our home about a year ago and the survey we had done said the roof was sound. 

We've now got leaks in the roof thanks to the lovely weather we're having and I've been trying to get someone to have a look at it for a couple of weeks. 

Finally I found a guy on yell.com with lots of good reviews to come and have a look and the news wasn't good. He reckons the roof is buggered and needs a full replacement. He took photos of the tiles and they've been siliconed in the past to stop the leaks. The tiles under our solar panels are broken, the ridge tiles are all off kilter and many of the tiles are very loose. The underside of the roof is insulated and in a lot of places in the loft the insulation is blackened. He said it's from the constant leaking. He said he can fix the immediate problems if I want or he can change the roof for about £13000. He recommended removing the redundant chimney as well. 

I'm shocked as this isn't what I was expecting although I should have realised it's not the prettiest looking roof but I have no idea about things like this as I've always rented before now. 

Should I keep trying to get some more roofers out for quotes? How does this quote sound? He said we don't need scaffolding as it's a bungalow and it is a very large roof (it's a 5 bedroom bungalow so very long). 

Albermarle

Maybe worth contacting the surveyor who gave it the all clear.
Probably a bit late for compensation, but might make you feel better !

The underside of the roof is insulated and in a lot of places in the loft the insulation is blackened. He said it's from the constant leaking.

It is not normal for the underside of a roof to be insulated, unless it has been unfortunately spray foamed.
The roof space is better cold and ventilated.
Most roofs have a liner under the tiles ( not insulation) so maybe that is what he meant.

Britannia12345

It's weird - we have the normal insulation on the floor of the loft and the underside of the roof itself is covered in fibreglass insulation. I've never seen a roof done like that before we moved here. 

Boohoo

Britannia12345 said:

It's weird - we have the normal insulation on the floor of the loft and the underside of the roof itself is covered in fibreglass insulation. I've never seen a roof done like that before we moved here. 

Who installed the solar panels?

Any photos of the roof insulation you can put in here to show what the state of the roof is like.

Britannia12345

A local company did them years ago. Here's some photos. Not sure if they show much. 

Boohoo

Cheers for the photos.

Who put the insulation under the roof tiles?

The roo tiles on the gable end don't look too good and the guttering says a lot in one of the photos.

Britannia12345

Someone installed the insulation in 2004, there's a certificate stapled in the loft. The guttering was knackered when we viewed the house so we knew that needed renewing, I just didn't count on the whole roof having to be done. 

bjorn_toby_wilde

Difficult to say what the issues are from photos.  Ideally get a couple of other roofers to take a look. Recommendations from friends and neighbours are usually the best way as the good ones don’t need to advertise.

The quote sounds a bit pricey to me if there’s no scaffolding needed but it depends which part of the country you’re in.

I used a reputable local roofer who has been around for many years for a new roof last summer. For a 4 bed detached including scaffolding, new tiles, battens, breathable underlayment, dry ridge and verge in the Midlands quotes were from £9 - 12k.

WIAWSNB

That under roof loft insulation is a joke - utterly pointless in terms of insulation value, and can cause rot to your rafters by trapping and holding water, and cutting down needed ventilation. So, step one, please get rid.
The only insulation your house needs in the ceiling is the conventional loft insulation on top of your ceiling. The rest is aie.
The roof looks generally ok to me, but if there are leaks, these will need tracking down and addressing. 'Loose' tiles might be normal - these concrete tiles often sit there just under their own weight. 
I do see some large gaps between neighbouring tiles, so that needs checking why.
Broken tiles need replacing. The PV panels will obviously need removing first, but that's pretty easy - a roofer might be willing, but make sure they know what they are doing. I've DIYed this with no issue.
I cannot comment on the survey, except there's nothing obvious that sticks out that they could/should have noticed (I don't think), but didn't they comment on the insulation?!
What to do? Remove insulation. Check the state of the rafters. Then track down where, exactly, the rain is coming in - that will determine the repair required.
Perhaps edge ridge covers would be a good addition?
How to know? Get two more quotes.

Britannia12345

We had another roofer out today and he's sending me a quote by email later. He said the same as the first guy and questioned the vision of the surveyor as he said the same - he should have seen straight away that all the insulation was damp and shouldn't be there. Better start scrabbling down the back of the sofa for pennies......

casper_gutman

I'd be VERY surprised if a surveyor commissioned to produce a homebuyer's report or full structural survey on that house hadn't mentioned the under-roof insulation and potential issues it could be concealing. Did you definitely have a "survey", or just a "valuation"? The former would surely have picked this up, but the latter could just about be done without getting out of the car!

Even if a surveyor couldn't so much as put their head into the loft space I'd expect to see caveats with flashing lights on stating they couldn't for whatever reason. I'd definitely go back to them, because they really should have spotted something amiss.