Going through the painful process (in Bristol) of getting roofers out to inspect and quote for fixing a leak down the chimney stack in the loft. In addition to lead work around chimney, given age of roof/house, conversations have ranged from 'felt's not too bad, you've got another 5-10 years' to 'felt's gone, needs replacing' which leads to quotes for a new roof.
1950s semi-detached, hipped roof. So far, it's goodbye to best part of £20k (though awaiting further quotes for comparison).
If you're already in for that, with full scaffolding going up, at what point is a loft conversion a consideration given the value it'd put on the house?
Anyone got any real-experience of doing similar? These websites that give you an indication of costs seem to be wildly out.
Watching wirh interest !
How big is the roof ?
(I've got a 1850s non-felted 'staffordshire blue' (sometimes called 'Derbyshire blue") roof. Defo would lile to get it re-done with a breathable membrane, lower the 2 chimney stacks (now used for a rarely-used gas fire flue on one and as the route for the kitchen extractor on the other). Maybe some Velox windows to add).
Just had daughters roof on a 3 bed 1930s semi done, felt lats tiles gully... £5800
Where's that oldmanmtb2? Sounds flippin' competitive, especially for Bristol.
I should add my roof is concrete tiles. Size? I dunno, standard 3-bed semi size?
Darlington Co Durham, typical 3 bed with a hip, concrete tiles. Scaffold and skip in the price..
No Bristol tax i guess
It's impossible to say without looking, but improvements to the chimney stack with new lead and re-pointing would probably do that job.
Ask about using a roof felt support undertray as a repair beneath the bottom course of tiles. IM limited E older sarking felt rots just above the gutters but is ok where it's hidden from the weather. Have a look from inside the loft to see how bad the rest is
I presume there isn't, but I've wondered if there's any grants for solar panels schemes that can somehow be wrangled into getting a new roof as a side benefit.
Just had daughters roof on a 3 bed 1930s semi done, felt lats tiles gully... £5800
That's what we paid... its a typical cost around here
Ask about using a roof felt support undertray as a repair beneath the bottom course of tiles. IM limited E older sarking felt rots just above the gutters but is ok where it's hidden from the weather.
This is exactly what we've just done.
Fitted new fascias over the existing wooden ones that needed repainting - this pushed the gutter out a little so put trays in all around the house as the "felt" was rotten where it was exposed but fine elsewhere. You may need scaffolding all round though - Depends on your builder, we had it there already for the fascia work.
OP chances are you just need the lead flashing sorting around the chimney stack.
£9k for cheap fake slates / £12k for basic Brazilian slate on a 1900 3 bed terrace in Sheffield.
We said we'd have to think about it, the roofer came back and fixed our leak by filling all the window drains with silicone sealant.
He wont be getting our business.
This brings me onto another issue, almost every single workman we've had has underestimated the time to do the job & only realised when they are half way through, abandoning the largely great work and finishing up with a rushed job my bind dog would be ashamed of. Finding someone genuinely good is so bloody difficult.
Just had daughters roof on a 3 bed 1930s semi done, felt lats tiles gully... £5800
We paid a similar price on our 30's semi just before COVID, that's in Staffordshire
PS for the work I suggested ^^, try a general builder rather than a roofer, it might be cheaper
If you want to feel better my roof cost £250 000.
ok I have a flat in a big building and was done by the council under statutory notice. they didnt hsve the right to do it and as a result i paid nothing
utterly beautiful leadwork and 4 inches of insulation on the flat roof.
Partly as a consequence of Storm Eowyn damage we’ve just had a new roof on our 1970 link-detached (like oldmanmtb2, concrete tiles, 3 bed, Durham) - that was £7500. It transpired that some of the woodwork needed replacing too so we added that on to the job to save on scaffolding costs.
Also in Bristol and had been thinking about a new roof but those prices, blimey.
North Wiltshire 1930s semi, just been quoted £12-£18k (4 different roofers) for full replacement of the original roof.
debated putting it on the market and crossing fingers, but will probably stay another couple of years to try and get some value out of it.
Detached 2 bed bungalow new roof cost 10k 5 years ago. We had to wait 2 years as roofer was flat out, others could start straight away but avoided, they just round up loads of kids to do it.
Loft conversion done properly to regs gets spendy. You could use veluxes but there's loads of wasted space in the eves, storage but not livable areas. A decent dormer should add bedrooms and bathrooms, done properly you should be getting your money back.
Doing the 2 together is a good idea, as the wait time you would be waiting for planning permission. Just look at what others have done to see what's possible.
I am currently planning it, just the access stairs is tough to meet regs, I can see how these projects spin out of control. Best thing for me is getting a good builder, architect and structural engineer who all work together. I spent ages chasing up blind alleys getting 1 of the 3, 2 of the 3, then all 3 together was the difference between project go and stop.
Good luck and don't give up at the first hurdle, looking back it was a massive learning experience.
