Want to sell but our roof is leaking

SUESMITH_2

ts_aly2000 wrote: »

Many rooves on houses do leak, particularly in very heavy rain. It's really not very much to worry about. Now if it leaks in normal rain then it's a serious problem.

I would buy a house with a roof that leaks in very heavy rain. Mainly as I don't suffer from OCD and life goes on.

well seeing as quite a few of my family are time served slaters and tilers i think they would disagree with your view and no non of us suffer from ocd thank you very much.

a roof should not leak

Poppycat

It happened to us in Feb 2007 when we bought this house, the bay windows roof was leaking. The people who sold house had emigrated to Australia so rather than pursue them it costs us about £650 to have epdm fitted we did have front porch done as well as water would hang on it as there was no way for it to go

PasturesNew

Sometimes with leaks, you just can't get to the root cause.
If there is a small occasional leak only in a few inches, only in extreme rain when the wind is blowing in a particular direction, you can't get somebody out to advise.

When they turn up, it's dry and sunny and they can't see anything and you can't recreate the conditions. Therefore, they will only quote you for a large job, to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

I had a problem like that once. I had 2-3 blokes round scratching their heads as it wasn't raining right then. Then another came over. Said he knew what it was and said it'd be £25 to fix it. But he never turned up. Tried phoning him at a later date, left a message with his wife, he never called back. Then another roofer was doing my main roof and I mentioned it. He did a quick fix and that seemed to fix it. But who knows, it would need it to rain again at a ferocious rate in the right direction before I'd really know.

Water ingress is a bit of a !!!!!! sometimes.

Running_Horse

PasturesNew wrote: »

I had a problem like that once. I had 2-3 blokes round scratching their heads as it wasn't raining right then. Then another came over. Said he knew what it was and said it'd be £25 to fix it. But he never turned up. Tried phoning him at a later date, left a message with his wife, he never called back. Then another roofer was doing my main roof and I mentioned it. He did a quick fix and that seemed to fix it. But who knows, it would need it to rain again at a ferocious rate in the right direction before I'd really know.

Glad I'm not the only one to have problems with roofers not turning up etc. Even had one demand £50 for a free quote, refundable from whatever he chose to charge.

margaretclare

How can you live in a house with a leaky roof? And how can you even think about selling it to someone else and not telling them?

I thought there was recent legislation which said that you're obliged to tell a prospective purchaser about any problems?

We had our roof replaced in 2006. Properties around here have had to have roofs replaced before a sale went through - asbestos tiles, common at the time these were built, no longer allowed.

Ours was not leaking at the time we had it done - springtime - but we thought it probably wouldn't last another winter: it was possible to see daylight when looking up through the loft. Immediately the roofers started to remove the old tiles, a whole row of them crashed down - the nails holding the old tiles had corroded.

I couldn't live in a house with a dodgy roof, because you just do not know when it's going to go, especially with our weather patterns. The roof is one of the most important things for keeping you dry and warm.

We found that the best way to find a reputable roofer was to ask around. We live 2 doors from a builder and we asked him - he recommended a small firm that does work where he works. They never advertise but have more work than they can handle! Since then, neighbours came around having watched our roof being done, asked if we would recommend the firm - we said 'Without doubt, too right we will!' So 2 of our near neighbours have had their roofs replaced by the same firm.

Margaret

RHemmings

http://www.askthebuilder.com/B188_Roofing_-_Locating_a_Leak.shtml

http://www.askthebuilder.com/B188_Roof_Leaks_-_Ten_Most_Common_Leak_Locations.shtml

http://searchwarp.com/swa68079.htm

http://www.mygreathome.com/fix-it_guide/roof_leak.htm

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/locateroofleak

http://homeimprovement.superpages.com/roofing/how-to-find-a-leak-in-a-roof.html

http://www.roofhelp.com/hintsandtips/chasingleaks.htm

There's lots of advice out on the web. Has the OP really applied all of this advice in attempting to find the roof leak?

karjam

macaque wrote: »

Without wishing to sound too harsh, you come across as fekless and lazy. Solving a roof leak is hardly rocket science but it is clearly too much for you. Alternatively, you could pay someone else do it. Unfortunately you have kicked that option into touch by running up ridiculous debts. Now you want someone on the forum to tell you how to sell a water damaged house for the full price. The answer is that you cannot. You have two choices, repair the roof and water damage or take a hit on the price.

First of all, nowhere in my post did I say I was actually going to try and con anyone into buying a water damaged house. My question about being held liable if I didn't say anything was in response to the first answer I received which seemed to be suggesting that this was a way of getting round it.

I actually believe in Karma and think that if you do something bad to someone then bad things will happen to you.

I was hoping for some constructive replies such as others I have received about getting quotes and reflecting it in the price etc.

Secondly, I am not fekless or lazy. Fixing a roof is rocket science to me as I am not a roofer. Our house doesn't have a tiled roof and is of 'butterfly' construction. There is no obvious hole, large or small. We bought it from the council about 5 years ago and it has leaked 3 times in this time. It is a tiny drip which we probably wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't heard it drip in the middle of the night. Oh and I don't have an attic.

Secondly, how dare you be so judgemental as to say I have run up ridiculous debts! You don't know me and you have no idea what those debts are. I thought this was supposed to be a forum where people helped each other, not attacked them!

maninthestreet

karjam wrote: »

First of all, nowhere in my post did I say I was actually going to try and con anyone into buying a water damaged house. My question about being held liable if I didn't say anything was in response to the first answer I received which seemed to be suggesting that this was a way of getting round it.

I actually believe in Karma and think that if you do something bad to someone then bad things will happen to you.

I was hoping for some constructive replies such as others I have received about getting quotes and reflecting it in the price etc.

Secondly, I am not fekless or lazy. Fixing a roof is rocket science to me as I am not a roofer. Our house doesn't have a tiled roof and is of 'butterfly' construction. There is no obvious hole, large or small. We bought it from the council about 5 years ago and it has leaked 3 times in this time. It is a tiny drip which we probably wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't heard it drip in the middle of the night. Oh and I don't have an attic.

Secondly, how dare you be so judgemental as to say I have run up ridiculous debts! You don't know me and you have no idea what those debts are. I thought this was supposed to be a forum where people helped each other, not attacked them!

£27,000 of (unsecured?) debt may well be managable, given an appropriate level of income, but you say you dont have enough money to pay for the roof repair. To be brutally honest, if you cannot afford to have the roof repaired, how are you going to pay all the costs involved in moving house?
I'm assuming you are buying another house at the same time as selling your current house. What are the reasons for your house move?