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Hello,
I am in the process of buying a house. The house had a new roof covering put on 3 years ago so I asked if this had any guarantee, I also had a homebuyers survey done. These are the roof related issues:
1. No guarantee for the new roof
2. Building regulation approval was not obtained for the works
3. There is no ventilation in the roof space
4. No evidence of structural calculation/reinforcement for heavier new roof (although it had been there 3 years and no signs of timber bowing etc).
What to do?
Did they switch from slate to tile or something? We had a Victorian house like - was fine 10 years later when we moved.
re: building regs - best ask the councilw hat the implications of not having it are - I assume there's some sort of indemnity insurance the seller can get though.
does the roof have breathable felt? If so it doesn't need the vents.
One of the issues with the building regs for roofs is that insulation required between the rafters blocks the ventilation from the felt (or the roof vents). So you end up with a damp roof void in old houses, hence some roofers don't worry about it.
You can get indemnity insurance, however that will only cover you in the event of the council insisting on you bringing it up to building regs in place at the time of installation (which never happens on changes over 1 year old), and does not cover you for poor workmanship.
Personally, if you like the house I would ask for the insurance *and* get a decent roofing contractor to look at it for you.
If you don't want to buy a house, have a survey.
Sorry that's not much help. You can get roofing surveys done, by a roofer. They'll be able to offer more useful advice. We're in the process of selling an old house with original roof and our buyer has had this done - good idea I thought.
Is it just new coverings or trusses too? Have a look at this on the [url= http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/commonprojects/roof ]Planning Portal[/url]so sounds like you may need restrospective approval. With regards to weight it depends on how much heavier it is. There are allowances. From a ventilation point of view there are certain membranes that 'don't require' ventilation as it's a breathable membrane but you would need to check this out. should be a fabric type underlay and have printing visible on it saying the name. If felt then it should have venting in it
the roof could still be ventilated if breathable membrane has been used.
Also I would add do not trust the surveyor, as a lot of them don't like getting there suits dirty so would not have looked at the roof or gone into the roof void to have good look around, they call it a head and shoulders roof survey, where they stand on a step ladder and confirm the roof is there and that's pretty much it (mine missed blown chimney stacks, and the rafters patched with 1" batten). If you get a trusted roofer to look at it they will check it by actually getting into the roof.
the roof could still be ventilated if breathable membrane has been used.
Could be but if true breathable membrane then it shouldn't be otherwsie it doesn't function
From memory when I looked at the internal roof space about 3 months ago there was a blue sheeting on the internal side of the roof - did not look breathable.