Some questions about roofing/lofts/chimneys

danishbacon

Hoping to get some opinions/ideas from the bright minds of TFB please.

Our house is a 115 year old solid brick terraced, with three levels (front of house has entrance on 1st level, rear of house is at ground level. Any significant work done at height is going to require scaffolding.

After a series of storms and what feels like 6 months of relentless rain, the chimney stack seems to have saturated/let water capitate through to the two top floor rooms. It's a wide stack, 6 flues, and pretty exposed to the weather as the house sits on a crest without much to limit wind on either side.

We had it repointed 2 or three years ago and it seemed to improve the issue, but at this stage I'm ready to just remove it altogether. All flues are capped except for one which has a liner going down to a wood stove.

Because of the expense of getting scaffolding up + skip I'm thinking it's worthwhile doing a few other things at the same time, painting, new roof liner/replace one or two hips which have already been repaired.

If tearing the roof apart, might as well stick a couple of windows in for light/ventilation.

We had thought of a full loft conversion, but that may be way too expensive right now, especially as Mrs Bacon would like a dormer on the rear facing of the house which has access and scaffolding complications.

A couple of questions that came to mind before I start engaging with professionals for quotes:

1. Will roofers generally install roof windows? I don't expect to do the interior of the loft for a while. It's boarded, we don't intend to use it as a room, just an office/storage space eventually - including replacing the existing folding drop-down stair with a spiral next to it. I don't know enough about this kind of installation to understand whether plaster boarding can be done after the installation of a window, a velux type thing.

2. Thinking along the lines of finding a roofer that also has their own scaffolding, but that might be wishful thinking especially for the amount of scaffolding that might be necessary. 

3. If going down the route of a 'new roof' - do existing tiles generally get reused, is there any practical/financial advantage to/not to?

Any advice/ideas not considered would be greatly appreciated

bertie

as someone who lives in a very old place, where the chimney stacks were removed inside the loft......................  dont be too hasty to remove it.   It provides essential ventilation and helps the warm damp air escape  - if you're worried about water actually coming "in" the flues,  get a cowl cap

many choices for the roof  -  we had ours "overhauled"  two years ago - which basically means, stripped,  old felt removed joists/trusses repaired/made good, and valley work done (if required).  new breathable felt and existing tiles put back on,  replaced with reclaimed where they werent reusable.  Reusing existing is obviously a lot cheaper,  if they're in good enough nick and what they are  - terracotta tiles,  slate,  fake slate, concrete tile.......................

roofers wont put "normal" windows in,  but might do velux/skylight types,  - need to ask the roofing company

not many roofers use their own scaffolding,  usually they have one or two that they always use and will get "rates" for.

Scaffolding is a large part of the total cost.   The roofing company sort that out and give you a total cost.   You might be able to ask for an extension for the scaffolding to remain up,   to do other jobs -  discuss it with the roofing company

Having suffered  billy bodger next door do a new roof,   a house maintenance bloke who does a bit of roofing,  hired his own scaffolding........................... took about 2 months to do  -    make sure you get a proper roofer, and proper scaffolding company.

Ours was put up, roof done,  taken down in 10 days (that was 4 days delay for the scaffolders to come back)

spark240

I suspect you need a builder as oppose to a roof for the windows, he will also sort any internal works to accommodate the roof lights and ladder etc.

Ay builder or roofer will use a sub contract scaffold outfit, scaffolders tend to use your house as a storage facility until they need it for the next job, so expect it to be there while. 

Using existing tiles is all down to condition and how easy to remove, we did use a lot of existing on the front to maintain the look, but used reclaimed on the back, 
 

danishbacon

Thanks, tiles are concrete -should have mentioned

Dominic

Scaffolding will always be sub-contracted ( mainly because it's actually v hard for roofers and general builders to get it covered on their insurance unless they have a person in authority who holds a regularly updated and certified scaffold construction and scaffold inspection safety certificate )
 Any decent roofer will fit Velux or similar ( 75% of the work is on the outside and is a roofer's job ) All velux come with a bespoke flashing kit with option for slate or tile height .....actually dead simple to install ....the skill is to get neat tile/slate cuts around them but if velux is over 40cm wide you will need to ensure roofer doubles-up and coachbolts the rafters either side.
 If your tiles /slates are in good condition then salvage and re-use is fine .
Be aware that if you completely re-roof then under part L of Building Regs you are obliged to insulate to current standards .

strtdv

Having replaced the roof on our house last year, my thoughts are:

-If the cement tile roof is older than about 25 years it won't be worth saving. A tool called a slate ripper does exist, but it's a laborious task (so the expense for the roofers time might come close to the cost of new slate) with a high breakage rate. Cement tiles are meant to last about 50-60 years. If it's 115 years old it'll have had slate on it originally. If you replaced with slate it should last 100 years.


-Even though you've had the chimney repointed, don't be surprised if the mortar isn't holding at all and you actually end up needing to rebuild the chimney. Our chimney stacks both looked pretty good initially, but you could actually just lift the bricks off by hand right down to ridge level.

If you need to rebuild them it's an ideal time to replace the leadwork etc.


-If you're planning to eventually do a loft conversion the main thing to consider is the fact that the ceiling rafters on the top floor aren't up to building regs to act as a floor for anything other than "occasional use"
This means you'll lose about 4 inches of head height when you upgrade the rafters to floor joists unless you drop the upstairs ceilings (not impossible but a big enough job). 
You'll also lose head hight insulating the roof (DON'T LET THEM PUT IN SPRAY FOAM, can't stress this enough) as raising the roof height isn't an option in a terrace

For a room to be "habitable" ie something that will actually add value to your house and can function as a proper bedroom or office space it needs 2m finished ceiling height (and this will feel very low)

steveledzep

I had my roof replaced (membrane and tiles) early last year.  It's quite a large (20mx10m) bungalow with a hip roof built in 1990.  The original bituminous felt had perished and gone brittle.  Originally it was thought that maybe a replacement of the felt to 1 metre around the perimeter might suffice, but the four hip ridges were a problem too.  I had quotes for membrane and use the old tiles and also for new tiles.  The former was difficult to envisage as all the ridge tiles (a lot) were wet fixed with cement so wouldn't clean up for re-use.  Also, there was bound to be breakages of the old tiles which would mean an unsatisfactory visual, even if reclaimed tiles were used.
The difference in price between re-using the original tiles to having all new tiles fitted was surprisingly small.  I think it was the time factor, chucking old tiles into a skip is many times quicker than cleaning and carefully stacking the old tiles.  My new roof was completed using Marley branded membrane and tiles.  All completed within a week January last year and I was watertight throughout.
I live very close to you @danishbacon and the contractor I selected is based in Fforestfach.  The proprietor of the organisation is young and impressed me with his enthusiasm and energy.  I'm a sucker for buying from people!  It usually works out for me, as it did in this case too.
PM if you'd like a bit more info.