Survey results - damaged roof felt
Discussion
Currently have an offer accepted on a house, had the survey carried out last week and the only issue flagged up by the surveyor (other than minor niggles) is the roof felt is torn. He reckoned it's been like it for years (and looking at photos of the loft I can see it's quite significant, and would agree not recent). The actual roof itself is in good condition and there's no sign of any leak.
His recommendation was to get a roofer in to quote and maybe negotiate a discount from the seller, but reckoned it would be about £5-7k in total (scaffolding, roofers to remove the tiles, replace the felt and re-roof). My questions are:
- How do you go about getting a quote? Assuming the seller is ok with it, we'd need to speak to the roofer, then go back to the estate agent who then would check with the sellers, who would then come back to the EA, who would then come back to us and we'd confirm with the roofer, to agree the time to come out and quote. Seems like a monumental faff... anyone done something similar? I know it must happen but just seems complicated to arrange.
- Does £5-7k sound reasonable for this sort of job. House is a 1970's 3 bed semi, basic pitched roof with shared chimney stack.
Probably the wrong attitude but I'm tempted to go with the sod it approach. If the house was a few years older I understand it wouldn't even be something they would flag up, and we'd be planning to get it sorted within the first couple of years anyway.
Thanks in advance
His recommendation was to get a roofer in to quote and maybe negotiate a discount from the seller, but reckoned it would be about £5-7k in total (scaffolding, roofers to remove the tiles, replace the felt and re-roof). My questions are:
- How do you go about getting a quote? Assuming the seller is ok with it, we'd need to speak to the roofer, then go back to the estate agent who then would check with the sellers, who would then come back to the EA, who would then come back to us and we'd confirm with the roofer, to agree the time to come out and quote. Seems like a monumental faff... anyone done something similar? I know it must happen but just seems complicated to arrange.
- Does £5-7k sound reasonable for this sort of job. House is a 1970's 3 bed semi, basic pitched roof with shared chimney stack.
Probably the wrong attitude but I'm tempted to go with the sod it approach. If the house was a few years older I understand it wouldn't even be something they would flag up, and we'd be planning to get it sorted within the first couple of years anyway.
Thanks in advance
Stripping a good roof in order to fix a felt tear is completely OTT in my opinion.
Unless the felt tear is causing an issue during wind driven rain events (which it should not if the covering has adequate lap and pitch) I'd live with it or fix it from the underside or else strip where the issue is, repair and re cover as a localised repair.
Unless the felt tear is causing an issue during wind driven rain events (which it should not if the covering has adequate lap and pitch) I'd live with it or fix it from the underside or else strip where the issue is, repair and re cover as a localised repair.
Many older properties don't have any felt/membrane under the tiles. Mine doesn't, main disadvantage is the dust and crap that gets in, other than that it is watertight.
A rip in the felt wouldn't put me off if I like the house, just negotiate as a much off as you can. A complete re-roof with new tiles will be £5-7k ish. Can't you just tape it up?
A rip in the felt wouldn't put me off if I like the house, just negotiate as a much off as you can. A complete re-roof with new tiles will be £5-7k ish. Can't you just tape it up?
Guess it depends on the other factors relating to the sale.
If you were the best of many offers made within a week of it going to market and you really want the house then you may take a different view to the one you would have if you are buying something that’s been on for months and you can see potential others couldn’t.
So it’s a bit of a moot point but you could get a couple of £k off if you feel in the right position.
If you were the best of many offers made within a week of it going to market and you really want the house then you may take a different view to the one you would have if you are buying something that’s been on for months and you can see potential others couldn’t.
So it’s a bit of a moot point but you could get a couple of £k off if you feel in the right position.
Thanks for the replies
Not sure we'll bother with the faff of trying to get a quote. Unfortunately taping up is probably not an option, it's not just a few small tears, and as already pointed out if it was a few years older it wouldn't have had felt anyway. The sellers have already dropped the price a fair bit and I suspect they were conscious of the issue when pricing (it would be hard to miss).
I'm reluctant to start messing around too much as the chain is targeting completion before the end of March and the subsequent hike in stamp duty, so would prefer not to do anything which might cause a delay as that will cost us far more than a couple of £k off the asking price.
Not sure we'll bother with the faff of trying to get a quote. Unfortunately taping up is probably not an option, it's not just a few small tears, and as already pointed out if it was a few years older it wouldn't have had felt anyway. The sellers have already dropped the price a fair bit and I suspect they were conscious of the issue when pricing (it would be hard to miss).
I'm reluctant to start messing around too much as the chain is targeting completion before the end of March and the subsequent hike in stamp duty, so would prefer not to do anything which might cause a delay as that will cost us far more than a couple of £k off the asking price.
Contrary to popular 'wisdom', underlay is not there to catch any water that penetrates the roof coverings - it's primary purpose is to control wind pressure in the roof void to prevent tiles/slates being 'pulled' off (see close boarding in Scotland). It has secondary benefits in creating an initial, quick, dry seal before the covering goes on and catching stray drips but avoiding the latter is very much a matter of design (lap and pitch).
Torching would provide this (wind pressure) function before felt became widely used. An old roof space where the torching has all fallen off is rarely a damp roof space IME, as the ventilation tends to be off the scale.
Torching would provide this (wind pressure) function before felt became widely used. An old roof space where the torching has all fallen off is rarely a damp roof space IME, as the ventilation tends to be off the scale.
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