It’s funny, because when the majority of people go and view a house, they tend to look at the front, mainly because we’re constantly being told that it’s all about ‘curb appeal’. Next, we tend to check out the inside room by room, which is followed up by a quick look around outside, just so we imagine ourselves sitting there in the sunshine (when it arrives).
This is a fairly standard, tried and tested routine that formulates an opinion of whether we buy and live in that property or whether we continue the journey of looking for something else. However, here at Roofspec SW, we believe that people don’t look up enough when viewing a house, not to the sky above, but to the roof of the property that they’re about to potentially buy.
Even to an untrained eye, you can tell a lot by the state of a roof. For starters you can tell what the current owner’s attitude is towards property maintenance. If they’re happy leaving missing slates and slipped guttering, then the chances are there’s other things on the house that they can’t be bothered to get fixed. It’s about a state of mind and that in turn can impact the property.
Next up, a roof will tell everything you need to know about the age of the property, especially when it comes to the use of traditional slates or more modern tiles. Lastly, a roof will tell whether or not you should expect a major bill for your property just after you purchase it. The signs are often there both inside and out.
Inside, look for brownish, patchy marks on ceilings and on the top sections of walls, both of which suggest signs of water ingress, possibly from a damaged and leaking roof. Don’t forget, it’s always worth taking a look inside a loft space, maybe not on the first viewing, but definitely at some point before you buy. As well as being handy storage areas, loft spaces are the perfect place to check out the underside of the roof, giving you a better idea of the condition of felt, battens, trusses and slates.
Outside, look for signs of a sagging roof, missing slates and chimney damage, all of which are strong indicators of issues.
But here’s the point, although a house survey required by a lender, will tell you about the roof, looking yourself will highlight issues earlier in the buying process, it can help you negotiate a lower price and it will remove the element of surprise when a bill for a new roof arrives just after you buy it.
Bear in mind that at Roofspec SW we cover Plymouth and the wider South-West region including Devon and Cornwall and our team has years of experience in dealing with roofing issues. In fact, there’s very little on a roof that will surprise us here at Roofspec SW.
If you would like to talk to us about any roofing work in Plymouth and the wider South-West region, then please get in contact with us via this website or give us a call on 01752 914217 and remember, as we say at Roofspec SW… ‘the proof is in the roof’.
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