Sagging roof - can it be repaired?

[dmills27]

Hi,
Tried this post in the building forum but it seems to have died; was hoping you guys may be able to give me some advice?

Thanks a lot!!


Hi all,
I am looking at buying a new house and after settling on one I noticed that the roof has a bow in it the is quite noticeable. It looks like it has concrete tiles, and has had a loft conversion, I am no expert but would suspect that the rafters were not strengthened adequately when the conversion was done. Firstly does anybody know what sort of issues this could cause? secondly what kind of fix may be required, and is it a very big job? The house is ideal in other ways, and I would be prepared to pay up to 5k to fix the issue but if it is going to be a complete nightmare then I may have to walk away.

Thanks in advance.

Hi,
Me again. Just an update on this, and some further advice if possible. I have done a lot of research into the (possible) issue of the sagging roof. I have since found that full building regulations were adhered to, and signed off for the loft conversion in 2004 - although done correctly, the roof still bothers me. I was thinking that what could have happened is that the new owners converted this house from a four to five bedroom house in doing this they would have needed to add the two velux windows to the now small fifth bedroom as seen in the photo- if this has caused the problem with the roof can it be corrected? I would look to convert it back to four bedrooms anyway so could one solution could be to remove the larger window, and strengthen the supports and re-tile that portion?. Hopefully the problem may not be a big as I first feared but hopefully somebody may be able to confirm this.

Thanks!

 

[datarebal]

A picture would be usefull..

 

[dmills27]

Hi,
I have attached a picture - it's not that visible on this one, but it's the best I have at the moment.

Untitled

• dmills27
• 15 Apr 2008
• 2

 

[Deluks]

That pic doesn't show anything out of the ordinary. I suspect the rafter's weren't doubled up when the rooflights were added, in any case it's not a lot worth worrying about. Probably won't move any more than it already has, leave it unless it causes problems/leaks.

The only way to find out for sure would be to remove all the plasterboard and see exactly what the roof structure is doing, this in itself will cost a fair bit to put right again, and if it shows that not a lot is wrong, will just be nothing more than a costly exploration.

 

[datarebal]

As said the picture isnt a lot of use.. But if it shows a "bow" diagonally down the line from where the house was extended then it's likely to be a cock up by the chippe where the new roof meets the old.

 

[dmills27]

Thanks for your replies - hopefully it isn't too big a problem then. I have instructed the survey for this week so they will be able to give me more of an idea.

Cheers!