Cost of reroof - help please

[Peter Scott]

I am delighted to say that youngest son is proving to be a chip off the old block. With prices low and rents high, he is looking for his first house to 'do up'. Trouble is I'll have to keep my promise to buy him his first Makita tools to get started. Certainly not having mine!

We looked around a place today. Lots of potential and probably bargainable to a good price. The reason is a shot roof. The house is a

30s art deco type and had a flat roof. That was replaced with a tiled roof that slopes from front to back, by adding a few courses of bricks at the front and some new timbers. The slope is shallow and damp has penetrated almost everywhere upstairs. My son won't do the roof. Once its sealed and dry he'll do the interior.

I am out of date with prices. We need to know whether its even worth bothering with this place so we need a *very, very* rough idea of what a roof will cost. What would a figure be for stripping tiles, two layers of felt, battens and refixing tiles? Area is about 45 square metres. I think at least some of the timbers will need replacing and I think we'll need extra tiles to provide a larger overlap but the basic cost will be the starting point for his decision. The house is two storey and in East Anglia.

Peter Scott

[ARWadsworth]

That is the sort of promise that gets you go into a good nursing home when you get older and your son makes the choices:-)

[The Natural Philosopher]

Oh dear. How MUCH slope?

Maybe a complete rei-roof job including new timbers. is on.

At which point a conventional pitched roof MIGHT be a better bet. I had similar probs with a shallow pitched roof..OK until moss and so on started creating puddles behind and then it seeped in everywhere.

Frankly I'd rather have a flat roof that's designed to be puddle proof, possibly done with lead or zinc, than a shallow pitched tiled one, where you are relying on a free flow of water with no obstructions.

I'd guess at about 5 grand BUT what if what's underneath is bad? What if that still doesn't work 2 years on?

Area is about 45 square metres. I

Might be worth taking a builder or roofing firm along to view it, get an obscene quote to do it properly, and use that as a bargianing point.

Beter waste a few hundred now on a professional opinion, than ten grand later on..

Maybe a structural engineering firm like Andrew Firebrace in Cambridge would be worth a call?

They will charge you a couple of hundred for a report and possibly give you a verbal estimate,. They don't do building

[Tim Streater]

I've used them twice for opinions, and was perfectly satisfied.

[Peter Scott]

Many many thanks to all for excellent suggestions. I'll pass them on my son. I think it's about time I initiated him into the arcane delights of uk.d-i-y. I think he's ready. He knows about Father Christmas.

Peter Scott

[Tabby]

Sounds like you've got under 10 degrees, so tiles not really a good choice - as you've found from experience. There are 2 ways to resolve this:

1. Put a long lived roofing on that is suitable, such as metal or fibre cement sheet, and tile over the top, the tiling then being decorative.
2. Build up the slope with more brickwork. The latter would be mostly labour cost, and perhaps something he could do. An initial layer of tarp or felt would make it possible to spread the work out over a while, if that helps.

NT

[Tim Lamb]

Any advance on 5.0deg.? Agricultural/industrial insulated rolled steel roofing? Normally 12.5 or 15deg. but weather proof at less. May need special attention to gutter drip.

Planners might worry but there is a choice of colours and the life should exceed 25 years.

fitted to purlins rather than rafters but not an insurmountable issue.

regards