Re-roofing costs

[FManc]

Hi. Just looking for some advice really. The house we’re buying is going to need reroofing in the short to medium term. It’s a 1930s 3 bed semi in Manchester. The house is in a conservation area so it will need to be like for like i.e. replaced with small clay tiles. Anyone had similar done (with small clay tiles) as we were wondering how much it came to? Appreciate it’ll be more due to the nature of the tiles. We want to try and get a roofer over to have a look but think we might struggle as everyone seems so busy at the moment. Thanks

We own a 1930s house and had over 100 roof tiles replaced recently. The roofer (who only does repairs) said a new roof would cost between 10k and 20k. However this is a 5 bed house of around 2000 sq ft and in East London.

Friend had hers redone in Ashton-U-Lyne a couple of years ago - small 3 bed pore-war semi. Came to about £8k if I recall (not sure on tile choice) but would give you a ball park figure.

@fabulousathome

We own a 1930s house and had over 100 roof tiles replaced recently. The roofer (who only does repairs) said a new roof would cost between 10k and 20k. However this is a 5 bed house of around 2000 sq ft and in East London.

Ah thanks. The figure of £10k - £20k isn’t as bad as I thought then. Would that estimate have been with the small tiles as well?

I would check to see if it really does need a new roof by getting a roofer up there. My survey said a new roof despite no leaks because others had had one. My roofer went up and said that whilst quite a few need replacing the roof was in good nick. It cost very little including the slates to fix

@user1471538283

I would check to see if it really does need a new roof by getting a roofer up there. My survey said a new roof despite no leaks because others had had one. My roofer went up and said that whilst quite a few need replacing the roof was in good nick. It cost very little including the slates to fix

We had a building survey carried out which suggests some more immediate work needs doing (a good number of shaling tiles and some slippage on ridge and hip tiles). On the basis of getting that fixed, it suggested a lifespan of a further 7-10 years but obviously it’s impossible to say; it could last longer or it might not.

We still want to get a roofer over to look at the more immediate work that needs doing. Though don’t know if we’ll be able to as it’s job that will most likely be several months away at best.

Hi OP, we had a roofing quote for our 1930s semi just before lockdown, for a whole roof replacement (our roof tiles are not salvageable) the quote came in at 14k + VAT (we are in Southeast).

@StormzyinaTCup

Hi OP, we had a roofing quote for our 1930s semi just before lockdown, for a whole roof replacement (our roof tiles are not salvageable) the quote came in at 14k + VAT (we are in Southeast).

That’s great thank you. Was that for a like for like replacement? Or using bigger tiles?

That’s great thank you. Was that for a like for like replacement? Or using bigger tiles?

Yes, that was like for like tiles as we wanted to keep same as neighbouring properties.

These are called Rosemary roof tiles

Building surveys are notoriously unreliable and spectacularly bad at estimating the actual condition of houses. Get an actual roofer from the local area with local experience to come and have a look.

However- here are the warning signs; leaks and slumping roof. If you don't have leaks (or only have minor leaks from missing tiles) and when you stand back and look at your roof and it doesn't look like it has a slump, chances are it's fine.

Then, get a chisel and go into your roof and inspect for signs of rot in the roof joists. If you can't tell what rot feels like, go to a timber yard and buy some fresh 2*4 timber. Then get your (sharp) chisel and shove it into the fresh wood. You will feel it bite and provide resistance. Older wood that has dried out will provide similar resistance. If it's rotten it will go much further in (think half an inch+ instead of a few mm) and will potentially be powdery and easily broken to the touch. Inspect also for any wood that is very swollen and sodden.

The chances are that your roof is in perfectly acceptable condition and that for the cost of replacing a few missing tiles it can be made watertight and servicable for years to come.

The advantages to a new roof are: will be installed with all fresh and unbroken tiles, with fresh and unbroken roofers felt. The joists will all be replaced and the facias and soffits will be replaced with PVC which is substantially longer lasting and needs far less maintenance. But for these advantages you are paying ££££. £14k+VAT is a lot of money.

If you have slumping or serious leaks, then it's a different story, and it may well be that your roof needs replacing. But if it doesn't it's just good money after bad. Also if you decide to do a loft conversion at some point, all you will do is pay twice. A huge portion of the cost of a loft conversion is the replacement roof.

@Hiddenmnetter

Building surveys are notoriously unreliable and spectacularly bad at estimating the actual condition of houses. Get an actual roofer from the local area with local experience to come and have a look.

However- here are the warning signs; leaks and slumping roof. If you don't have leaks (or only have minor leaks from missing tiles) and when you stand back and look at your roof and it doesn't look like it has a slump, chances are it's fine.

Then, get a chisel and go into your roof and inspect for signs of rot in the roof joists. If you can't tell what rot feels like, go to a timber yard and buy some fresh 2*4 timber. Then get your (sharp) chisel and shove it into the fresh wood. You will feel it bite and provide resistance. Older wood that has dried out will provide similar resistance. If it's rotten it will go much further in (think half an inch+ instead of a few mm) and will potentially be powdery and easily broken to the touch. Inspect also for any wood that is very swollen and sodden.

The chances are that your roof is in perfectly acceptable condition and that for the cost of replacing a few missing tiles it can be made watertight and servicable for years to come.

The advantages to a new roof are: will be installed with all fresh and unbroken tiles, with fresh and unbroken roofers felt. The joists will all be replaced and the facias and soffits will be replaced with PVC which is substantially longer lasting and needs far less maintenance. But for these advantages you are paying ££££. £14k+VAT is a lot of money.

If you have slumping or serious leaks, then it's a different story, and it may well be that your roof needs replacing. But if it doesn't it's just good money after bad. Also if you decide to do a loft conversion at some point, all you will do is pay twice. A huge portion of the cost of a loft conversion is the replacement roof.

Thanks so much for all the information! It’s all really helpful. We’ve found a local roofer who specialises in conservation roofing who seems to have a good reputation so we’re going to give them a call tomorrow!

Not exactly the same, but when I bought my house 25sh years ago, the homebuyers' survey said it would need a new roof within 3 years. The roofers finally began the job this last week...

I have had repairs done in the intervening years - flashing replaced and some individual tiles replaced too when leaks began. Maybe £500sworth of work over aĺl that time.

This time, for a wall built in the roof between the two adjoining 2 large bedroom properties (complicated old village divided property that has always had a shared loft neither of us use), total replacement of the pantiles with repairs to the roof timbers and new felting and insulation, repointing of chimney etc. - £11,000 between us.

South Manchester, we paid £6200 last year for a 1930's semi.
Not specialist conservation tiles but we the ones chose were good quality ones compared to some of the cheaper ones we could have picked.
We received one quote over 12K so I would recommend you get more than one quote.

Be wary of high quotes if you live in a conservation area. They are usually naice areas and some tradespeople will quote for the area and not the job.

Just adding that if you PM me I can give you the name of the company we used. We were very pleased with job and had them back a few months later to do the roof on our single story extension to match. That was £2.9k so we paid £9100 in total.

Our building survey said we needed a new roof too but it held out for 11 years before we got it done.

I've found that with roof problems, you really can ask five different roofers and receive five completely different answers. We had a small leak recently and got quotes varying from:

• lifted some tiles and said whole roof needs repairing, using concrete tiles (£11k)
• took one glance at the roof and declared whole roof needs repairing, using slate tiles and said wouldn't touch the job with concrete tiles (£22k)
• did an investigation and said we needed to replace valley and some flashing (£1.5k)
• also said we only needed to replace valley and some other bits and laughed when we said other roofers said we needed to replace the roof (£2k)

The last three opinions all came from roofers who were part of the government's Competent Roofers schemes, National Federation of Roofers etc

In the end, my husband went out on the roof, lifted some tiles, patched a hole and the leak has stopped! We'll still get a roofer in to do a proper fix, but won't be replacing the whole roof.

I think there's a big range with roofing opinions from everything must be done absolutely perfectly according to up-to-the-minute regulations to everything should be water-tight and not cause future problems, but don't do extra work if you don't need it to a quick bodge will do and who cares for the future. I think you want to aim for the middle ground.