engineer before buying house

greatdane · 02-03-2009 10:33am #1

I have a house with the Wrong pitch on roof for extension , constantly leaking , will need to be taken down and redone, now this is obvious when looking at extension. not to me though.

just wondering should the engineer i hired before i bought the house have said this to me ??? or do they not check these things ??

archtech · 02-03-2009 10:59am

Depends on what you engaged the engineer to do, was it a report on the structure of the property or just a valuation for the bank/mortgage.

greatdane · 02-03-2009 12:03pm

the auctioneer done a valuation and the engineer was there to make sure the house was sound....
He gave me a report saying all was fine....

RKQ · 03-03-2009 1:00am

How old is the house?
When did the roof start to leak?
When was the Engineers Report written / how old is the report?
Can you define "Wrong pitch"?
Is the roof slated or is it a felt flat roof?

greatdane · 03-03-2009 9:34am

report is 3.5 years old.
house is from 1960 but extension is about 10 years old.

the extension is one level and on to the side of the house at a 9 degree angle. It has Tiles on the roof. The problem seem to be the water going back up the tiles.

Roof started leaking straight away, and had it fixed. but i never really used that part of the extension, then i knocked through the walls to make an open plan space and started using it so really noticed it then,when it rained.
Probs are now i am being told that felt is my only option which i dont want because of looks and i cant afford to redo the whole roof at a new pitch..

thanks

Poor Uncle Tom · 03-03-2009 9:43am

It really depends on the scope of your engineer's report and what his/her brief was at the time. You need to talk to your solicitor without delay.

archtech · 03-03-2009 9:57am

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

It really depends on the scope of your engineer's report and what his/her brief was at the time. You need to talk to your solicitor without delay.

that would be the advise I would be giving you too

clint_eastman · 03-03-2009 10:13am

greatdane wrote: »

the extension is one level and on to the side of the house at a 9 degree angle. It has Tiles on the roof. The problem seem to be the water going back up the tiles.

This sounds like a "lean to" roof, is that correct? As far as I know, tiles are not meant to be used at less than 20 degrees for the reason that you state is the cause of your problem i.e. water travelling back up the tiles. I'd agree that you need to talk to your solicitor immediately but also clarify exactly what you employed your engineer to do, as it sounds like something that should have been picked up.

greatdane · 03-03-2009 10:25am

i suppose you could call it that(lean too), i would not be too technical on that side of things...i do know from builders that the pitch is too low for tiles and slate.
Im not too sure i gave the engineer any particular spec, just really its the done thing to get an engineer to make sure i was not buying a lemon.
im pretty sure his report has a disclaimer on it though.

Quazzie · 03-03-2009 10:36am

greatdane wrote: »

i suppose you could call it that(lean too), i would not be too technical on that side of things...i do know from builders that the pitch is too low for tiles and slate.
Im not too sure i gave the engineer any particular spec, just really its the done thing to get an engineer to make sure i was not buying a lemon.
im pretty sure his report has a disclaimer on it though.

OP Legal discussion usually lead to a thread being locked so looking for us to say that the engineer is at fault isn't going to happen.

As for your problem with the lean to. There is cladding available that has the appearance of tiles and looks pretty decent while being very effective. These work effectively for angles less that 15 degrees. There is a thread on here about it already if you do a search.

greatdane · 03-03-2009 10:56am

no probs...i looked at those threads after builders told me i was F***ed.

RKQ · 03-03-2009 12:09pm

Lots of good advice above. Cladding might work, worth looking into.

pseudo-tech · 03-03-2009 2:06pm

Can the roof pitch be increased? If not refer back to previous advice.

Carlow52 · 03-03-2009 5:56pm

My 2 cents is that going the legal route will take forever and the money spent may not be well spent. The engineer may have no PI etc

Assuming there is no rot in the rafters, u could consider stripping off the roof, remove the slating lathes and felt. replace felt wit a breathable membrane such as tyvek or similar, using double the recommended overlaps, with a good lap up the wall tape the overlaps and then put pressure treated battens ALONG the rafters and then put back new pressure treated slating lathes as normal.

The idea is that what ever rain gets under slates will run down the tyvek under the slating lathes
hope this helps

engineer before buying house

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