Anyone know about roofs?

[Donutofdoooooom]

Background - bought a period property that is habitable but very much a renovation project to get it to the standard we'd like. Costs for builders etc have all spiraled since we bought a couple of years ago, and we're now wondering if it's all been worth it!

The house has an existing 90s extension with kitchen and the previous galley kitchen is now a weird utility alcove sort of space to the side of this.

The roof on the extension is f*cked, leaks all over the shop depending on the direction of rain and 6+ roofers/specialists have all said the roof was built all wrong in the first place...

It's an angled roof but it joins directly from the edge of the existing house roof and is less than 15 degree pitch. We have Mediterranean style tiles on it which are not suitable for the pitch. There was once two velux windows, but at some point it was reduced to one (due to leaks) which is currently packed in with sand (!!!) but is only part of the problem.

The extension pitch internally means that the external wall of the extension isn't tall enough to allow a doorway, so it's an oddly low point and means a low window/no ability to have wall units in the kitchen at this main wall.

No roofer could give us a straight answer for what was required to fix the roof, as it's not a simple re-roof job. We tried to engage a structural engineer but they wouldn't engage without going through an architect. The architect advised that we need to rebuild most of the walls of the extension and make it a flat roof, so we now have plans to do this.

However, total cost for doing just this structural work is £66k, not including actually fitting a kitchen etc! So we're now looking at £90k to do essentially a kitchen and utility, when we had hoped to do all the renovations to the house for 100k, as we didn't think we needed to alter the footprint (given it's already been extended!).

I'm just wondering if anyone has any other suggestions for alternatives? My DH now wants to sell up and cut our losses, but I love this house/area and we're settled!

If it's less than 15°, I believe it's practically a flat roof and shouldn't have (presumably) terracotta tiles on it as they're not designed for such a shallow pitch. I don't think conventional Velux windows are designed for that pitch either.

£66k sounds an absurd amount. What did the survey say when you bought it? Given its oddities, and the problems it has (leaks, too low for a doorway to the garden), I wonder if demolition is the best course of action?

I'd consider getting a decent surveyor in to advise what needs to be done. Hopefully, s/he will be able to provide more neutral solutions. You are unlikely to be able to sell given its current state so you might as well try to resolve the issues.

Did it have building control sign off whe you bought it? This should have picked it. Even if within permitted development they still have to be involved.

With regards to the roof, can they not increase the pitch on the roof? Or has been so badly done that the whole thing needs ripping out?

I would check what insurance you have especially if no building control and builders are saying it has been wrongly constructed. You may have recourse against surveyor form when you bought and or solicitors for not picking it up.

How handy are you is the first question that springs to mind. Impossible to comment on your particular situation without pictures, and even then not going to tell you anything that pro roofers haven’t already. However, building a flat roof isn’t an overly complex job. At a very rough guess you’re looking at stripping the roof off the extension and then given the weather is turning you’d need a tarpaulin or similar to keep it all dry(ish). Need to isolate electrics etc of course. Once done, it’s then a case of running the appropriate joists over it (lots of resources for roof span calculations), insulation (go for a warm roof rather than cold if regs allow), and then OSB sheets over the top before EPDM rubber roof membrane glued ontop. Will need to flash round the sides but loads of YouTube resources for that. That is all a VERY brief description, but I built a 5 x 4 meter new flat roof last year on my own for the cost of materials which was about 4 grand. I’m going to be doing another far smaller one in spring to replace the terrible (and leaking) corrugated plastic we have over our side return. Just a few drops coming in with a big storm so no rush to do now and I’d rather wait until warmer and drier weather comes back.

NB if you are being quoted 66 grand then it’s not to say that it isn’t a 66 grand job, and I’ve not seen it so no idea. What I am saying is that if you are DIY minded then assuming just a ground level extension this shouldn’t need scaffolding etc and shouldn’t be an enormously complex job to undertake. Loads of YouTube videos.

This is where building control come in. Before you brought the house, did you check that all work done was approved by B.C? This is imperative because it will tell you what was inspected at the time. I speak from experience because our extension, though done through permitted development needed B.C and one of their requirements was checking the basic structure of the extension and the roof. Every stage needed approval and only then could the builders move on to the next stage of the build.

We're in Scotland if that makes any difference, nothing flagged in the survey or documents when we bought it.

So the plan is, remove the existing extension roof structure completely. Build up the extension walls (say 1m) which will involve fitting lintels over window and doorways. Put on a new flat roof. Make good inside (electrics, plastering, ceiling).
66k does seem a lot for what is not a complicated set of tasks. Seems like 2 to 3 weeks work. Have you asked for a lantern? Or extra doors or something? Does it need new drainage work?

I'd go back to the surveyor as a first step, in your place.