Hey, the roof of my Victorian terrace requires some repairs. The main roof is nothing fancy, standard gabble with an original double extension on the back with a single pitched roof on it. I've had a few roofers around to identify the issues and they are:
- Both parapet walls need refurbishment on both roofs as there are cracks in the concrete render.
- The concrete coping stones need replacing on one side and the clay ones on the other side need re-laying on a new DPM.
- The ridge tiles need re-bedding.
- The single pitched roof needs 6 cloak tiles added to the end column of tiles.
- Chimney stack needs re-pointing and potentially rendering.
I'm really struggling to find a roofer locally with the time to do it within the next few weeks and it's really holding up my house refurbishment as I don't want to plaster until I'm certain it's water tight. Now I appreciate there must be a lot of skill involved to do this work and I have absolutely no experience, but how viable is this as a DIY job?
To me, the complexities are in the correct mortar mix for the relevant sections. Concrete has been used previously but everything I've read relating to solid brick, Victorian terraces encourages the use of lime mortar. One quote said they can start in 3 weeks but said it will cost around £3k which is a lot more than what I was expecting, considering the costs to my eyes are:
- 20 coping stones (guess at £20/stone so £400)
- 6 cloak tiles (guess at £5/tile so £30)
- DPM sheeting (£50/roll?)
- Mixes of mortar (Guess at £100)
- Scaffold front and rear circa. £500
- Labour @ £200 per person, per day.
I'm no expert but have stripped two rooms back to brick with a SDS with a chisel attachment and this took about a day per room average (some section were quicker where lime plaster was used, concrete significantly harder). I'd say looking at the size of the parapet walls that it should take 2-3 people no more than a day to complete the whole job. I'd say a fair quote would be starting at £1500 and moving to £2000 if there were unforeseen complications. Can anyone comment on this? I appreciate the price could shoot up if I've got my educated guesses wrong on costs.
- Both parapet walls need refurbishment on both roofs as there are cracks in the concrete render.
- The concrete coping stones need replacing on one side and the clay ones on the other side need re-laying on a new DPM.
- The ridge tiles need re-bedding.
- The single pitched roof needs 6 cloak tiles added to the end column of tiles.
- Chimney stack needs re-pointing and potentially rendering.
I'm really struggling to find a roofer locally with the time to do it within the next few weeks and it's really holding up my house refurbishment as I don't want to plaster until I'm certain it's water tight. Now I appreciate there must be a lot of skill involved to do this work and I have absolutely no experience, but how viable is this as a DIY job?
To me, the complexities are in the correct mortar mix for the relevant sections. Concrete has been used previously but everything I've read relating to solid brick, Victorian terraces encourages the use of lime mortar. One quote said they can start in 3 weeks but said it will cost around £3k which is a lot more than what I was expecting, considering the costs to my eyes are:
- 20 coping stones (guess at £20/stone so £400)
- 6 cloak tiles (guess at £5/tile so £30)
- DPM sheeting (£50/roll?)
- Mixes of mortar (Guess at £100)
- Scaffold front and rear circa. £500
- Labour @ £200 per person, per day.
I'm no expert but have stripped two rooms back to brick with a SDS with a chisel attachment and this took about a day per room average (some section were quicker where lime plaster was used, concrete significantly harder). I'd say looking at the size of the parapet walls that it should take 2-3 people no more than a day to complete the whole job. I'd say a fair quote would be starting at £1500 and moving to £2000 if there were unforeseen complications. Can anyone comment on this? I appreciate the price could shoot up if I've got my educated guesses wrong on costs.
