Dropping roof over bay window

[housemouse24]

Hi all,

We bought our house a couple of months ago, knowing about an issue with the section of roof over the bay window at the front. Our level 2 survey reported that this would need to be repaired/replaced and we’ve been planning to get this sorted when the weather improves. A friend with some experience of property development projects had a look in our roof this week and believes the problem is the crack in the timber as shown in the photo, which is causing this roof to drop down (mainly on the left side as you look at the house, the photo shows the comparison with next door’s roof). His advice is to get a structural engineer to look and also to attach another timber along the length of the snapped one for support.

He suggested that it may be possible for the roof to be then jacked back up, rather than the whole section needing to be replaced, because the timbers aren’t damp or in bad shape apart from the split shown. He didn’t have experience of this and so interested to know if this might be possible. Any thoughts on this and whether it’s likely to be an option, rather than needing a whole section of roof stripping back and fully replacing? Is getting a structural engineer in to look the best course of action or should we be getting a roofer up in there?

The roof isn’t letting in water or anything but we are keen to get it sorted and to avoid anything getting any worse.

 

[noseall]

He suggested that it may be possible for the roof to be then jacked back up, rather than the whole section needing to be replaced, because the timbers aren’t damp or in bad shape apart from the split shown.

What happens when you remove the jack?

 

[datarebal]

what happens if you poorly replace a bay window

 

[housemouse24]

What happens when you remove the jack?

I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking.

 

[cdbe]

I'm guessing it's a cantilevered beam that's snapped? I'd have my tower scaff up and jack out in a jiffy - i reckon one pump a day till it's level, then 10mm more to pre-load it, then just a matter of a suitable repair for the beam and resetting the hip tiles.

what happens if you poorly replace a bay window

I recon (if the original timber framed window was providing structural support to the roof which has not been replicated by the uPVC replacement) the cantilevered beam is excessively loaded and snaps. In which case the repair may well fail. Although the point of failure looks like a big knot so I don't know - prey do tell?

 

[housemouse24]

I'm guessing it's a cantilevered beam that's snapped? I'd have my tower scaff up and jack out in a jiffy - i reckon one pump a day till it's level, then 10mm more to pre-load it, then just a matter of a suitable repair for the beam and resetting the hip tiles.



I recon (if the original timber framed window was providing structural support to the roof which has not been replicated by the uPVC replacement) the cantilevered beam is excessively loaded and snaps. In which case the repair may well fail. Although the point of failure looks like a big knot so I don't know - prey do tell?

The knot is what the person who took the photo thought was a big part of the problem. What you’re saying sounds promising. Do you think structural engineer to look at it and/or a local roofer please? Thank you for your reply

 

[cdbe]

Either - that has experience of remedial repairs, they'll want a scaffold up and will likely want to strip part of the roof to check the hip rafter etc and determine whether jacking up is possible. I'd (because I've used them before) probably repair the beam with a steel plate.
If the other side is ok, and similar local houses with plastic windows are ok you could reasonably assume it's just an isolated material fault.