Rotten timber joists / roof replacement

[jrpryr25]

Hi all,

Myself and other property owners in the building we live are having difficulty determining the level to which our roof needs replacing.

We live in an Edwardian four floor property and recently became aware that the soffit and fascia were in need of repair down one side. We had a roofing company come to fix the issue, but whilst on the job they flagged to us what they deem to be rotten timber joists in our roof and have suggested that we should commit to the roof being taken apart and depending on how far the rot goes, stiching new joists to that point.

Attached are some images we have from the brief period they had scaffolding up and we were able to inspect. We can appreciate the fascia above the gutter is clearly rotten as you can see into the roof where the joists are, but struggling to determine how rotten the joists themselves are and how necessary committing to an open-ended job is, given the cost will be determined by how far up they go. They also didn't complete the repairs to the soffit and fascia because they claimed that gutter wasn't reattaching properly due to the rot and was sagging again already.

We have tried obtaining new quotes for the job but obviously anyone that has come round has said they cant formally quote until scaffolding is up.

I was just wondering if anyone had any experience in similar looking damage, and what the best option is regarding what we request to be quoted, and what we should look to repair.

Thanks in advance

 

[Wayners]

Just for your information.
Sorry I can't answer but I thought you may find this interesting.

 

[^woody^]

As property owners, with shared apportioned costs, what you should be doing is having the work independently inspected and specified by someone who won't benefit from any work they might recommend, and then get quotes on what work you specify - not various dissimilar quotes on what work various firms want to do.

Roofers are not builders or carpenters, so won't normally know about any structural work that might be needed to the roof timbers, nor any rot treatment.

You will likely need to erect a temporary tower to open up the roof and investigate the work.

What you should avoid is having one firm erect the tower and then open the roof up in anticipation that they will then get the work. That's being held to ransom and excess costs

You may want to include other forthcoming works within the specification to save money in the near term - the condition of the rest of the fascia and gutters, the chimney brickwork and even the roof slates. Do you have a cyclical maintenance plan?