Hi!

I've recently had a survey done on a house im interested in
buying. From the look of it the house (150 years old) has had a
replacement tile room.

The survey report mentions -

"Strengthening is/may be required to the roof structure and you
should arrange for installation of additional support"

Is this ususal?!

Cheers

Russ.

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On Wed, 4 Aug 2004 20:22:10 UTC,
(Russ) wrote:

The survey report mentions -

"Strengthening is/may be required to the roof structure and you
should arrange for installation of additional support"

Is this ususal?!

Happened to us. The house is quite large, double fronted and
rectangular. 100 years old. The ridge runs along the long axis so the
purlins are very long. The roof had been tiled with cement tiles, and
the surveyor said (I spoke to him) that it would be OK until a few heavy
snowfalls, and the purlins weren't really up to the job of holding the
additional weight.

This was 10 years ago; it cost 150 quid to have some diagonal braces put
in, and the surveyor was happy. Cheaper than opening up the roof and
strengthening the purlins.

--
Bob Eager
begin a new life...dump Windows!

"Bob Eager" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 4 Aug 2004 20:22:10 UTC,
(Russ) wrote:

The survey report mentions -

"Strengthening is/may be required to the roof structure and you
should arrange for installation of additional support"

Is this ususal?!

Happened to us. The house is quite large, double fronted and
rectangular. 100 years old. The ridge runs along the long axis so the
purlins are very long. The roof had been tiled with cement tiles, and
the surveyor said (I spoke to him) that it would be OK until a few heavy
snowfalls, and the purlins weren't really up to the job of holding the
additional weight.

This was 10 years ago; it cost 150 quid to have some diagonal braces put
in, and the surveyor was happy. Cheaper than opening up the roof and
strengthening the purlins.

Where did these braces go ? Perhaps it's obvious but I can't work out an
arrangement where the loading wouldn't just damage the roof elsewhere.

On Wed, 04 Aug 2004 20:22:10 GMT, a particular chimpanzee named
(Russ) randomly hit the keyboard
and produced:

"Strengthening is/may be required to the roof structure and you
should arrange for installation of additional support"

Is this ususal?!

The clue is in "may", which means it's a possibility but no more than
that. The surveyor has to cover himself against being sued for
virtually every eventuality.

The same thing (almost word for word) was in a survey of a house I was
selling. I was able to prove by calculation that the existing purlins
were adequate for the additional load without any strengthening.
--
Hugo Nebula
'What you have to ask yourself is, "if no-one on the internet wants
a piece of this, just how far from the pack have you strayed?"'

On Wed, 4 Aug 2004 22:28:55 UTC, "G&M" wrote:

Happened to us. The house is quite large, double fronted and
rectangular. 100 years old. The ridge runs along the long axis so the
purlins are very long. The roof had been tiled with cement tiles, and
the surveyor said (I spoke to him) that it would be OK until a few heavy
snowfalls, and the purlins weren't really up to the job of holding the
additional weight.

This was 10 years ago; it cost 150 quid to have some diagonal braces put
in, and the surveyor was happy. Cheaper than opening up the roof and
strengthening the purlins.

Where did these braces go ? Perhaps it's obvious but I can't work out an
arrangement where the loading wouldn't just damage the roof elsewhere.

There's a central supporting wall that runs the length of the house,
vertically below the ridge. The braces are from this wall, at about 45
degrees, to midway up the main timbers which run from the eaves to the
ridge. (which they meet at 90 degrees). One going to one side of the
roof, one to the other. There are about 7 or 8 pairs.

Difficult to draw...

--
Bob Eager
begin a new life...dump Windows!

"Bob Eager" wrote in message
...
Happened to us. The house is quite large, double fronted and
rectangular. 100 years old. The ridge runs along the long axis so the
purlins are very long. The roof had been tiled with cement tiles, and
the surveyor said (I spoke to him) that it would be OK until a few
heavy
snowfalls, and the purlins weren't really up to the job of holding the
additional weight.

This was 10 years ago; it cost 150 quid to have some diagonal braces
put
in, and the surveyor was happy. Cheaper than opening up the roof and
strengthening the purlins.

Where did these braces go ? Perhaps it's obvious but I can't work out
an
arrangement where the loading wouldn't just damage the roof elsewhere.

There's a central supporting wall that runs the length of the house,
vertically below the ridge. The braces are from this wall, at about 45
degrees, to midway up the main timbers which run from the eaves to the
ridge. (which they meet at 90 degrees). One going to one side of the
roof, one to the other. There are about 7 or 8 pairs.

Difficult to draw...

It's ok. The central wall explains everything. Only place all the loadings
balance out nicely. Luckly you had it or what :-)