How old is your roof?!

[Beach1983]

We have just moved into a 1930’s property and we knew from the survey that that the roof needed attention “close to the end of its life” according to survey. However it’s not leaking and have been advised to repair broken and slipped tiles and should be ok for a while yet. I’m so paranoid every time it rains (always lived in new builds!) but there is no money for roof replacement at the moment, how old is your roof and is it still going strong? Hoping we have another few years left so we can save to replace it!

91 years and not looking good...

One year. It replaced a 60 year old one. We were having repointing work doing, including the chimney, and it was noticed that one of the beams was in serious disrepair. It wasn't (relatively) that more expensive to replace rather than repair and the latter likely to be a false economy in the long run.

1930 semi 24 years ago got told it was coming to the end of its life when we bought house
over the years I’ve popped up and replaced loads as they gave broken and split with reclaimed ones that cost 30p each from reclamation yard
it’s ready to replace now as tiles brittle and when u go to replace 1 you break 3 getting to it
in north paying £5000 for new roof just waiting for them to start in new year
that is cheap as me and mass labouring

So many stories here of being told that roofs need replacing (sometimes by a roofer but more often by the lender!).
I was told the roof needed replacing when I bought my house in 1989. To date it's fine - 33 years later! Bit of tile work here and there is all I've needed doing!

Out of interest- how do you know when slate tiles are knackered or when they can be re-used (apart from obviously broken/cracked ones)? I see lots of PPs have been able to reuse most/all of their slates...
How can you tell whether you can keep and re-use or not?

Ours is 300+ yrs old, original tiles for most of it.

It was relaid about 20yrs ago, we take careful care of it, replacing cracked or missing tiles as best we can (access is challenging)

We have no intention of replacing in our lifetime (we'd have to use historically accurate tiles and methods, I can't even imagine the cost)

We replaced the original roof on our 1923 house earlier this year. It was in a bad condition by then, made worse by the storm a year ago last night that deposited most of the tiles from the gable end in our garden! Fortunately we already had the roofer booked in for this year but it was a nerve wracking 2 months every time it rained! Our neighbours in the adjoining semi have no plans to change their roof so it’ll be interesting to see how it lasts.

@20questions Same. I bought a Victorian semi in 1997, and a condition of the lender was the roof needed replacing. We completely ignored them, and having seen my old house, 25 years later, the same roof is there. The house has been completely refurbished to a high standard since, so it's not like anyone was short of cash to do the roof.

The main roof of the house is 120yrs old (slate) and apart from some repairs to slipped tiles it's in fab nick.

The offshoot roof was relaid 5yrs ago, new membrane but they relaid all the tiles that were in decent condition (95%) and new leadwork and gutters

When we extended the garage (room and stores behind it) we extended the roof by reusing the original slates (100yo) on 2 sides and new slates on the other side.

Slates aren't all equal and some will last a lot longer than others. Usually their life span is between 75&200 years.

Sorry got that wrong roof is actually now 140yo
Brain has gone to mush after an afternoon of kids parties 😵‍💫

Mine was 125 years old until I had a new one 4 months ago. I'd had a few patch jobs done over the last 15 years though.

126 years old. I've got to get a roofer up to replace a tile that is cracked. Not bad!

These all (mostly) make me feel much better! Roofer came today (up his ladder!) and said roof is actually ok, replaced some slipped/broken tiles and said no obvious issues atm, I do think it will need replacing in the near future but hopefully will last 5 years at least until we plan on having the loft done fingers crossed 🤞

now to tackle the rest of the house 😩

1920's house, our survey said the same, that was 28 years ago. We had the lead gulleys replaced this year, and a few broken tiles, some repointing on the chimney. All done from ladders, so no cost of scaffolding. The roofer said that structurally it's all looking good.

For those who got a new roof, did you get building control sign off and did you have to insulate the roof again? was this included in roofing quote? thanks

Our house was built c 1910 and still has the original roof, as far as we can tell. Over the 20 years we've lived here we've had new flashing, some of the chimneys taken down and some re-built. Its definitely showing its age but it doesn't seem any worse than some of the other houses in the road which have had new roofs over the years - you can tell because the tiles are different.
At some point in the next few years I should imagine a problem will arise and we'll bite the bullet and get a whole new roof.
For those who have recently had new roofs (and this may seem like a silly question) did you have to clear the attic of any stuff you had stored up there? Ours is choc full of stuff and it would be a major job in itself sorting through it and either disposing of it or putting it into storage.

We didn't empty the attic when we had the roof done, but you need to be aware that whatever is up there will inevitably end up liberally sprinkled with dust and debris. In our case the only stuff up there was cheap Christmas decorations in cardboard boxes, and we were willing to take the risk of leaving them up there covered with plastic sheeting during the limited time the roof was off, as the forecast was set fair.

Re. insulating, in our case we didn't have to do anything as the house has a traditional "cold roof" (i.e., the floor of the attic space/ceiling of the first floor rooms is insulated not the sloping plane of the roof). If you have rooms in the roof space (e.g. a loft conversion, or the house was originally build that way) then it's a good idea to consider whether you can take the opportunity to upgrade the insulation even if this isn't absolutely required.

At least 120 years old slate and no problems except for the occasional slipped tile.

We've got a Victorian house. Previous owner re-roofed 30 years ago. Still in good nick.

House was built in 1962, roof was absolutely on it's last legs, ongoing leak in our bedroom, minor leak in our lounge, from the ridge, along dormers - had constant repairs over the years and finally had a new roof 12 months ago. Three repairs to bedroom as no one seem able to sort, but timbers, plaster work were ok and easy to paint over.

If you've got access to your loft you can check for damp timbers. If you're roof starts to leak, as long as you get it repaired, replaced soon, there shouldn't be too much long term damage.

Forgot to say, if you've got similar properties closeby, look at how many have a few roof. Someone always has to be first, but if others have gone down that route, you won't be far off.

We live on an estate of approx 100 properties, eight have had a new roof, many have had repairs. After we had our new roof, two followed approximately two months later in our road.

We had similar with a leak, and had a roofer who was adamant it was just a few cracked/loose tiles. Him and his lad spent a day up there, charged us a thousand or so, and claimed he'd fixed it. You could clearly see quite a few new looking tiles, the ridge work had been re cemented etc. Next time it rained, it still leaked, so we had him back again, another thousand, and he replaced a lot more tiles and re-pointed the chimney and replaced the lead around the chimney where it joined the roof. Next time it rained, it still leaked!

We got someone else who went up to have a look and said there were still loads of cracked tiles, and he said it was probably where the previous roofers had been climbing as they were a lot lower than the original replacement tiles. Apparently, clambering around on an old (near end of life) roof is likely to crack tiles as they get thinner with years (concrete tiles), and the wooden batons start to rot cause the tiles to pivot when stood on!

So, it's not always a good idea to try to get a few extra years of life out of an old roof if it means a couple of burly roofing guys clambering around on old fragile tiles!

We ended up replacing it all anyway shortly after. Just wasted a couple of grand on trying to patch it up!

Roofs and electric wiring seem like two good things that are difficult for homeowners to establish the condition of and are often recommended for replacement based on age rather than on condition.

If I had an old roof I would check its condition carefully for leaks on a periodic basis. I have a relatively new roof and it has a small leak. It doesn't really worry me as I have a big plastic stacker container underneath it to catch any water and prevent it damaging the ceiling. It never fills up more than a little bit in the bottom and spends most of the year largely empty.

The big problems I guess for me would be slipped tiles (may fall off and hurt someone), leaks (the leaks often don't go straight through but saturate the plasterboard above which falls off in a big lump) and the potential for the wood to rot if it spends a lot of time saturated.

Every single house I’ve bought over a 28 year period I’ve been told we need a new roof imminently
We have never replaced the roof and we’ve sold it on without any issues
Often they need repairing

1930s house- survey said it was ‘coming to the end of its life’ but a patch repair would work for a few more years. A month or so after we moved in it leaked horrendously. Cost us a few hundred to repair. still leaked. Nice roofer came and patched it up for free. Full reroof shortly after :(