Hello,
New member here and I hope I'm posted this correctly -- apologies if not. But the experience here and any opinions would be very welcome.
My offer was accepted on a Grade II house, c. 1700, mid-terrace, which was once a large house divided into two. I absolutely love the property and price agreed is my maximum budget. Vendor not keen on lowering price further. To make things trickier, I am trying to move back to the UK from Australia, so am doing everything very long distance at this stage. (Not totally crazy: I bought the house in Oz this way, so there is a precedent and it worked out fine, except it's not GII listed.)
Sadly, the results of the L3 survey stressed high damp readings in the roof support beams, particularly at front of house, and recommended getting in a reputable roofer to check it, which I did.
(Well recommended online anyway...) Surveyor told me cost could be considerable to fix and estimated 30k, but he isn't a roofer. Actual estimate is almost double that, which was a punch in the gut and not really feasible for me. That's for replacing the entire roof of tiles with variables attached (type of tile etc) with a 6 - 8 week time frame. Was not expecting that much at all! We replaced a Victorian slate roof in London and a tile roof to colourbond here -- not remotely the same, I understand, but a fraction of the cost. I did ask for a worst case scenario quote and I guess I got it!
I don't think the roof is leaking; the surveyor seemed to think the problem with the damp comes from an old roof membrane that isn't breathable enough and thus causing damp. The vendor was apparently unaware of the problem; I believe her husband (a civil engineer) dealt with house repairs/ renovations so that seems true enough. I have asked to get a second roofer in for another opinion. No answer from estate agent yet. Would really really hate to lose this property but not keen to go into debt to keep it either.
Questions:
1. Does this estimate sound reasonable? (it was very detailed and roofer was very helpful) Don't have the roof size but upstairs is roughly 30 ft by 27 ft if that helps. I have pics of roof exterior and interior loft space/ beams.
2. Why does the entire roof need replacing? a Dormer was added to the back (with planning permission) so I'm presuming that part of roof is OK. Stupid question: is there any way to remove the problematic membrane without removing the entire roof? Or reduce moisture in the beams? (in this house, for example, we installed a fan under the house which helped a lot with damp and shifting doors, but that's an 80s house.)
3. The surveyor mentioned that sometimes support beams were added next to the compromised (damp) roof beams-- does roof need to be removed to do that?
4. Other clever options?
I can attach pics from the survey. Wasn't anticipating all the hassle but I love the house enough to deal with installation of a new roof if vendor would drop price significantly, but I doubt she will.
Thanks for any thoughts. Sorry for length and naivety of query.
New member here and I hope I'm posted this correctly -- apologies if not. But the experience here and any opinions would be very welcome.
My offer was accepted on a Grade II house, c. 1700, mid-terrace, which was once a large house divided into two. I absolutely love the property and price agreed is my maximum budget. Vendor not keen on lowering price further. To make things trickier, I am trying to move back to the UK from Australia, so am doing everything very long distance at this stage. (Not totally crazy: I bought the house in Oz this way, so there is a precedent and it worked out fine, except it's not GII listed.)
Sadly, the results of the L3 survey stressed high damp readings in the roof support beams, particularly at front of house, and recommended getting in a reputable roofer to check it, which I did.
(Well recommended online anyway...) Surveyor told me cost could be considerable to fix and estimated 30k, but he isn't a roofer. Actual estimate is almost double that, which was a punch in the gut and not really feasible for me. That's for replacing the entire roof of tiles with variables attached (type of tile etc) with a 6 - 8 week time frame. Was not expecting that much at all! We replaced a Victorian slate roof in London and a tile roof to colourbond here -- not remotely the same, I understand, but a fraction of the cost. I did ask for a worst case scenario quote and I guess I got it!
I don't think the roof is leaking; the surveyor seemed to think the problem with the damp comes from an old roof membrane that isn't breathable enough and thus causing damp. The vendor was apparently unaware of the problem; I believe her husband (a civil engineer) dealt with house repairs/ renovations so that seems true enough. I have asked to get a second roofer in for another opinion. No answer from estate agent yet. Would really really hate to lose this property but not keen to go into debt to keep it either.
Questions:
1. Does this estimate sound reasonable? (it was very detailed and roofer was very helpful) Don't have the roof size but upstairs is roughly 30 ft by 27 ft if that helps. I have pics of roof exterior and interior loft space/ beams.
2. Why does the entire roof need replacing? a Dormer was added to the back (with planning permission) so I'm presuming that part of roof is OK. Stupid question: is there any way to remove the problematic membrane without removing the entire roof? Or reduce moisture in the beams? (in this house, for example, we installed a fan under the house which helped a lot with damp and shifting doors, but that's an 80s house.)
3. The surveyor mentioned that sometimes support beams were added next to the compromised (damp) roof beams-- does roof need to be removed to do that?
4. Other clever options?
I can attach pics from the survey. Wasn't anticipating all the hassle but I love the house enough to deal with installation of a new roof if vendor would drop price significantly, but I doubt she will.
Thanks for any thoughts. Sorry for length and naivety of query.
