Roof Defect Survey of a Victorian & Edwardian Retail Parade

Project Overview

A landlord wanted a clear, independent view of the roofs over a pair of former retail units with residential flats above, fronting a busy main road in Sparkhill, Birmingham, both the condition of the coverings and a realistic idea of what putting them right would cost. AXIOS Building Consultants was appointed to inspect the roofs, report on their condition and produce a costed schedule of the repairs needed to reinstate the coverings and prevent further deterioration.

Roofs over commercial parades with flats above are easy to neglect: they are out of sight, awkward to reach from a busy pavement, and shared between tenancies. Left unattended, slipped tiles and blocked valleys turn into water ingress that reaches the flats and the retail unit below. A focused roof survey with a costed schedule gives the owner exactly what is needed to prioritise the work, budget for it and instruct a contractor with confidence.

The AXIOS Role

AXIOS carried out a visual roof survey from the front and rear and reported with a costed schedule of repairs:

• Inspected the front double-pitched clay-tiled roof with its twin gables and valley gutters
• Inspected the rear slate roof, over-clad with bitumen sheet and liquid coating, together with its dormers and chimney
• Recorded the defects to the coverings, ridges, eaves, valleys, hoppers and rainwater goods
• Assessed the visible roof structure (rafters, battens and ridge lines) for deviation and signs of rot
• Set out clear recommendations for reinstating the front and rear roofs, including access and scaffolding
• Produced a fully costed schedule of works so the repairs could be planned and priced as a single project

The Property

The property is a traditional brick-masonry parade of former retail units at ground floor with residential upper parts over the first and second floors, built in two phases around 1900 and 1929. The front is a double-pitched roof with twin gable projections forming valley gutters, finished in the original clay tiles; the rear roof was originally slate and has since been over-clad with a bitumen sheet and a liquid bitumen coating. The upper floors have uPVC double-glazed windows and dormers to the rear; the ground-floor units were long ago combined into a single open-plan sales area with a rear single-storey extension and a basement. The rainwater goods are uPVC throughout, with hoppers at the valley ends to the front.

Scope & Access

The survey was a targeted roof inspection rather than a full building survey. Access was limited to the front and rear external elevations: the busy main road ruled out a cherry-picker to the front, and the ladders available reached only the eaves of the rear roof, so the higher areas were inspected from ground and roof level and, where necessary, with the aid of binoculars. No intrusive investigations were carried out and no finishes were opened up; the top-floor flat was tenanted and not accessible on the day. The report was deliberately confined to the roof issues clearly visible during the inspection.

Recommendations & Costed Schedule

AXIOS recommended stripping and re-covering both roofs, retaining flashings and valleys, and renewing battens, underfelt and tile coverings with matching detailing: dry-fix ridges, eaves and verge tiles to the front, and new fibre-cement slates to the rear, including the dormer cheeks. The valley hoppers and downpipe were to be cleared and repaired, a section of rear uPVC gutter renewed, and the leaning rear chimney breast carefully taken down and capped off with the soil vent adjusted to suit. To keep the work safe and efficient, protective scaffolding to the front and a working platform to the rear were allowed for. All of this was set out as a fully costed, line-by-line schedule split between the front and rear roofs, so the landlord could plan the repairs as a single project using suitably qualified local trades, with the scaffold on private land and no highway licence required.

Site Photographs

Photographs from the AXIOS roof survey: the front parade and its twin-gabled clay roofs, the delaminated and slipped tiles, the rear slate pitch with its slipped and missing slates, and the decked walkway over the rear flat roof. Identifying details (shopfront signage, unit numbers and vehicle registrations) have been removed from the photographs, and the location is given only to area level.

What AXIOS Delivered

• A focused roof defect survey of the front clay-tiled and rear over-clad slate roofs
• A clear record of the covering, ridge, eaves, valley, hopper and rainwater-goods defects
• An assessment of the visible roof structure and the leaning rear chimney
• Practical recommendations for reinstating both roofs, with access and scaffolding allowed for
• A fully costed, line-by-line schedule of works split between front and rear roofs
• Guidance on delivering the repairs as a single project using suitably qualified local trades

Outcome

AXIOS gave the landlord a straightforward, prioritised picture of both roofs and a costed plan to put them right, distinguishing the urgent items, such as the failed rear over-covering and the blocked valleys, from the wider re-covering works. With the condition, the recommendations and the costs set out together, the owner could budget for the repairs, protect the flats and retail unit below from water ingress, and instruct a contractor to carry out the work as a single, well-planned project.