First time buyer - House roof query
Turbo Mini Forums

Hi

I am been looking for a house for a while and have found on that both my girlfriend and me really like.

There is just one niggle - the roof is at a slight pitch but is covered in felt as apposed to the traditional tiles.

I just wondered if anyone knew much about this and whether this should put us off.

Thanks

Jon

If the pitch is less that 10 degs its classed as a flat roof, you need to find out how long since it was last recovered, i beleive built up felt has a life of approx 25yrs,

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and also used to hide bad or poor tiles or leaky roof underneath.

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if i was buying a house again, i would pay for an independant assessment and give them a list of things you want them to check. The others provided by the bank only drive past and say it is ok, i have fell short and know of others who have had pay out loads to repair the house because a full assessment has not be undertaken. pay the extra and have it done.

also if you suspect the roof is worn, get the owner to get it checked or put in a reduce amount to incorporate the cost of the repair

Edited by philc on 3rd May, 2010.

When we bought the house we had a choice of 3 surveys. The free one which isn't worth any thing, the expensive 'Home buyers' survey and one somewhere in the middle.

The full home buyers survey involves digging down to look at foundations and other potentially destructive tests so most vendors won't want that to happen.

We went for the one in the middle. The surveyor spent half a day at the house and we ended up with a 40 - 50 page report detailing everything. It cost a few hundred quid, but I knew exactly what we where getting when we moved in and were the money was to be spent.

For my first house I had the benefit of using my dad who was a civil engineer specialising in 'difficult' roofs.

get a local building surveyor to do a full survey of the house - its the only real way of finding out what the condition of the roof is;

The biggest issue i have with felt roofing is usually a new cap sheet laid over the top of an already knackered original roof - it might look fine but it has nothing to adhere to.

Go onto the RICS website and look for a surveyor in the area;

Rob

if it looks ok today, it will still need a lot of work in 10yrs time. I doubt its new, so has a number of years on it already. 10yrs passes very very quickly in the life of a household.

Steer clear imo.