The Roof Autopsy
I'll admit that we actually did do our due diligence on the main farmhouse when we came to view the property back on probably the warmest, sunniest days of 2023, because we came armed with a drone. We filmed the entire roof and checked even the chimney pots closely, and from those videos, I've grabbed this screenshot:
You can already see here the wear, damage and general condition of the different roof sections, specifically the edge of the flat roof around the centre of the picture. You can also see how wonky everything is, such is the case with very old properties, and that's something you'll see continue here for the duration of the project!
Because we already knew this building needed a new roof ASAP, we'd had roofers visit the site whilst contracts were being drawn up, to both get quotes and also pencil in the work. Roofer Dave was neither the most expensive nor the least, but he did get back to us quickly, was thorough and detailed, and we trusted him to get the job done.
He came out at the very end of the first week to inspect the emergency situation that had developed. It's incredible to see how fast a building can deteriorate because there is no more than 7 months between these two images.
When Dave arrived, he went straight up to the problem area where the roof had ripped off in a recent storm.
This video covers Dave's visit, and a rough plan of action for what happened next:
I will remind viewers here today of the ground rules for the farm updates, but I'll also add context. This is not a listed building, and so although it is old, we have no specific requirements to maintain everything exactly as it is here. This is already a 6-figure roof replacement, so to replace this entire roof with Scottish slate (which it isn't right now), and install new coping and ridge stones would have cost around 4 times the amount. That would be more than the site is worth at the moment - absolutely not an option. The main priority is to save this building, we'll do whatever we can to make that happen.