Worth investigating or run a mile?

[UnidentifiedFlyingOrange]

Just been to view a property that has split roof joints meeting together in the middle supported by some bricks. We really like the house so if we want to investigate further we will start with a structural engineers report. But what's the opinion, is it even worth it and I should run a mile?
No signs of subsidence, roof looks in decent condition, no cracks anywhere that I can see. I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving it in that condition obviously.

Just to add it's a two bed bungalow, nothing particularly big.

You need a structural engineer opinion. If it's an easy cheap fix you can ask for money off the price to cover it. If it's more complex you can then run a mile. What do the sellers say about it? Who did the cowboy looking fix? Did they get a structural engineer to look at it or just a builder?

What a bodge job. Could be worth investigating and getting a structural engineer out if you are really interested in the house. However if that is the standard of workmanship you have to worry what else in the house may have been bodged.

Also I’d be offering on condition the work was done to rectify it before completion takes place.

It's actually not unusual to have breeze blocks supporting a beam. It doesn't look great but get a structural report before writing it off.

It doesn’t look great, but could have been like this for 30 years. Who did it and when?

I think this is one for professionals… I think you’re right to be cautious but if you love the house, it’s worth investigating.

My old house had something similar. The full survey when I bought and the full survey when I sold didn't raise any issues.

When you get a survey, try to be there and stipulate you want them to go into the loft. In my experience they are beggars from say they loft wasn't accessible if you don't insist.

As long as you wear a helmet when asleep...

Don't know about the roof but the mesh in the pic may be rodent mesh so I'd be asking if have had rats

In which case, it's obviously not a problem

When you say it has split roof joist meeting in the middle is it exactly that or are you saying the ridge beam has a split in the middle of it. I just want to clarify as there is a big difference in the two. If it’s a split, it means the breeze blocks were placed there as some point during the life of the roof to help support the load. However, is the ridge beam is made of two pieces (unusual to say the least) then this mean the blocks have been there since the roof was built. I’m not saying this is good practice but my point is if the roof was made like this originally and has stood for, I assume a number of years, then, is there a need to panic? Personally, I think if you like the property further investigation is certainly worth it.

It's a ridge beam made of two pieces. Strange it's not like it's a really long roof. It definitely looks like it's been like that since install, and it's not a new roof and I haven't seen any signs of issues caused by it elsewhere in the house.

Thanks everyone. It's interesting to hear it's not necessarily something to avoid, as much as it doesn't look good
I've done a little more research and found that those bricks may not actually be breeze blocks, but padstones. Padstones are hardened concrete designed to take the load of beams etc, although I'm not sure if they should be stacked like that.
I've contacted a surveyor.

They are definitely not padstones. They are breeze blocks.

I agree

Its not a ridge beam , its a purlin. they take the weight of the rafters above to help spread the weight and stop any sag. There can be various amounts of them depending on the length of the roof ?
they look original to me
and difficult to tell 100% from the photos but they look like engineering bricks ( blue) holding it up. They just need cementing in properly and it looks quite tight in there so probably why its not been done.

you need to find a small apprentice to shove in there.🙂

Definitely engineering bricks……..you can see where one of them is chipped.

Very helpful thank you! We will get it checked out but hopefully this is the case.
And engineering bricks are new to me. Constant learning with houses!

Breeze blocks can't chip?

Breeze blocks as you say can chip. The bricks in the picture are brick size. Not traditional block size. Bricks made out of breeze/ concrete have a rougher/ course texture to them and the ones. In the pictures look smooth ( and blue ) to me.

you can get concrete commons (brick size) which would be fine under them and are half the price of engineering bricks.

there re 2 classes of engineering brick 1 and 2. 1 type has holes in and one is solid depending on the application they are needed for . Holding up a purlin is not one of them……….any type of brick built under them would be fine.

More likely to be historic issues with squirrels. We had same when we moved into my house. And, the squirrels weren't deterred and found a workaround...