How the hell am I supposed to pay this

You have to prove it and you have to have had locally recorded winds above a certain amount to even be able to claim.

One of the storms last year blew off some of our tiles and caused a leak. Insurance said they couldn’t help as our local weather station had only recorded 39 mile an hour wind, rather than 40, or something very similar.

Extend the mortgage and remember that by doing it now, you are saving the far greater cost of doing it later when the roof actually fails.

Plus it will add to the value of the place when you come to sell. We once got a 5% reduction on the asking price on one property because the roof was in a dreadful state.

Sorry OP, sounds stressful. We are also getting quotes to get our roof fixed and many have advised waiting until spring/summer when the weather is dry anyway. If you have £5k now and are saving £300/mo, assuming all goes well, you’d have enough by August. That would probably be a better time to do it anyway, so win win!?

@Netheip just PM’d you

I’m not sure why in your financial position you’re contemplating doing a £10k job that doesn’t actually need doing yet. If you’re £5k short it will probably take under 18 months for you to save the difference without borrowing. Your roof only needs to last this coming winter and it will be repaired before the next one.

Alternatively in your place there’s no way I’d be spending £10k preventatively. My available cash is similar to yours. I’d get more quotes to do the work that actually needs doing. Some torn felt, damaged flashing or missing tiles definitely doesn’t mean the whole roof needs replacing.

Roofs are pretty robust. The top layer of slates is basically sacrificial and can be completely wrecked without any danger of the roof leaking. So it depends on how bad the roof actually is.

But repairs to large sections are almost never cost effective. By the time you add the cost of the scaffolding and materials and labour, you'd be better off just getting the whole job done properly.

Have you tried reading the post properly before commenting?

Yeah

Does it actually need doing

We had a roof leak.

And the guy tried to fix it twice and failed.

Then said the damage was too bad and it would need replacing for a few grand.

Took another 2 different roofers before the guy fixed it properly and now it's been fine for over 2 years. Cost a few hundred rather than a few grand.

Just make sure the work is actually needed. And it cant be patched repaired before you go for the drastic option.

I'd get some more quotes - maybe look at Checkatrade website

Can you get up into the attic and examine the roof supports and tiles for wet and daylight? If you can't get up there could a friend?

Yes, I’d say just make it waterproof for now and do what you need to do to prevent further damage. You might be able to get this done for less than 10k. Also see if you can wait a bit longer and save more money in the meantime.

OP, I'm in the building trade - first thing is if you don't have the money, just get it water tight by replacing the damaged tiles - this will cost you a lot less and stop deterioration getting worse.

Roofers are notorious for making a bigger job than it needs to be - for example if its an old roof it may not have sarking felt (underfelt) and they make a fuss about it - but that was a post ww2 innovation, roofing from before never had it, and its not needed.

Critical issue is the timber not rotting, and the way to prevent that is replacing cracked tiles and letting the whole structure breathe.

If the timbers are getting damaged it's leaking. Can you see the timbers in the attic and check they are dry? I would just get the missing/damaged tiles replaced. Then save money to be able to do the roof sometime in the future. The roofing firms are very keen on replacing the whole roof for obvious reasons. You probably need to find a small company that will just do a repair.

Do you have a friend with a drone they could send over to take a proper look?

We got a quote to fix our roof and it was £30k!

We have been in this situation in the past. We ended up getting a longer term personal loan (Tesco and Sainsbury’s offer them for 7 - 10 years, or used to anyway) and borrowed the money that way. We didn’t want to remortgage to do it.

Make sure you really do need the work done. It’s very easy for roofing companies to say the whole roof needs doing when it really doesn’t. With hindsight we probably could have got away with less work. Get several quotes.

Patching it up can be more expensive in the long run. I would get some more quotes but I paid 7.5k for a new roof about 8 years ago on a 4 bedroomed house. A roof is an important part of the house. I see people getting other home improvements and they have a roof that is sagging with broken tiles - madness.

Also it might not leak but the timbers can become damaged and then that can be very costly to repair.

I would try to find someone who is practical to have a look and be there when you get the quote. As it may not need replacing.

Would insurance cover it - does anyone know? If you phoned the insurance company & say it happened during a recent bout of bad weather, wouldn’t they stump up?

As others have said it can probably just be patched, you dont need "a whole new roof". I know someone who had similar, they asked around for more quotes, eventually found someone who replaced tiles for a couple of grand. Roof is now fine, no leaks.

Doesn't sound like reroofing is required yet. I would get a few more people in to have a look but ask a male friend or neighbour to be there in your place. Might be cynical but having had a lot of building work done recently, I know that some tradespeople (not all) treat women differently if there isn't a man around. My husband got very different responses. Just my experience.

I imagine its slipped tiles, I had the same issue it was raining inside. Few bits needed repointing & a few tiles needed moving back into position, cost 1k.

Take it from someone who’s had many old houses and many very old roofs that shed tiles.

It’s not leaking. You have a few slipped and broken tiles. You don’t have the money. Get a roofer to patch up all the current damage and aim for re-roof another time. Will probably cost between £1-2k depending on size of roof and if scaffolding needed.

I would also go for patching it up.

Get a few more quotes. Even a few grand less on another quote could be helpful.

Haven't read the thread but wanted to say when our roof was leaking we had quotes from 10k to 25k. They all wanted to do new roof for their own profit. Thankfully my brother's friend was a retired roofer and I asked him to give his professional opinion. It just needed repairing, which he offered to do, cost about 3k in the end. If you know anyone who knows anyone who could get up there to give an objective opnion, even if you have to pay for scaffolding hire, I'd start there. Even if we had a new roof it might not have solved our problem because of pitch height... but no one mentioned that. Hope you get sorted.