Re-roofing??

[nickydwuk]

I was watching a programme on housing in NZ recently and the owners mentioned that the roof would need replacing within the next few years. How often do the roofs need replacing? Is this just the corrugated iron roofs? How much would it cost? Sorry about all the questions but these things could eat into our budget and we want to be prepared

[Taffy]

It's the same as any house anywhere really, all roofs need replacing, retiling or something or other at some stage. If the house is old, the tin sheets may be rusting, or maybe in the house on the TV the timbers were rotting. A building inspection before you buy will let you know what state of repair the roof is in.

Cost of replacing will vary widely depending on size of house, materials used, roofer used and what part of the country you are in, so I wouldnt really like to guess what it would be.

[MotherBear]

Our house has been re-roofed at some point and now has 2 roofs as the new roof was laid over the old one so I suppose you could say we've got a 'double'glazed' roof.

If you're worried about buying a property that might need re-roofing in the foreseeable future, I guess the best thing to do is to buy a newer house and hope for the best. As well as re-roofing there's an option to refurbish which would probably be a cheaper option if the state of your roof allowed it.

It could be a large expense, but putting a price on it, as Taffy says, would be very difficult with all the different finishes available and the variety of roofs types and sizes. Some places would have straight forward long-run roofs whereas others could have all sorts of twists and turns in them which require more fiddling about with. I have to say, I haven't heard of anyone who's had to re-roof although no doubt they are about. It's encouraging though that it doesn't appear to be a common activity. I think general warranties for new roofs run at 10-15 years so we could all be forced to at least check our roofs periodically or, alternatively, move to a newer house.

Got me worried now.

[selchie]

Not that we're in NZ, but we reroofed 5-10 years ago. Our materials have a guaranteed lifetime of 25 or 35 years. I think the metal roofs last even longer, though I believe the cost would also be more. I think we paid 5,500USD at the time, including stripping the three previous layers and adding a plywood underlayer. We have a couple of gables, but nothing fancy.

When you're looking to buy, I recommend asking how old the roof is, and how long it is rated for. Take a look at it, and see if there are warped or missing shingles or rust blisters (depending on the material). Those would suggest that the roof needs to be replaced soon. It could be a bargaining point. I'm not sure what the custom in NZ is for home inspections and disclosures.

[nick_and_jacky]

New roofing materias have a much longer life span than the older galvanised tin sheet. New UV reistant polymer coatings last much much longer. We had our sleep our re-roofed (8mx8m with a single ridge) for $3000. Granted the builder was doing a "cashie", so i guess $5000 would have covered it if it had been a "man off the street" scenario. So at $80 a m2 on plan - we got the old roof stripped, new underlay and stringing and coloursteel roofing sheets with a new ridge cap fitted.

If your roof isnt in such good condition - you can stabilise the rust and then paint it with acrylic roof paint - which will be good for about 5 years. It may be that the fixings are shot - the older syle use lead capped nails which can spring up over time and allow water under them or the flashings may need re-sealed or beaten back into place.

The cheapest roofs to re-roof are those with a single peak and straight runs down each side. Do-able in a day, no problem. Once you start getting hips, valleys etc then there is an awful lor more fiddling about to be done.

I would advise to get a builder to have a quick look - he would be able to give you a ball park estimate off the cuff I would guess.

Cheers

Nick