ROOFING WORK - Geometra and other advice!

I've just spoken to our 'Ufficio Tecnico' in the commune regarding completely re-doing our roof on an uninhabitable farmhouse to avoid further water damage to the fabric of the building without starting the rest of the renovations. I obviously want it done to current anti-sismic standards so that when we complete the rest of the house in a few years without being required to 're-do' the work to make it compliant with current standards. He says this is Ok but it has to be presented as a 'project' using a geometra who will say what the current anti-sismic requirement are unless it is just minor repairs. Can anyone tell me how much I should expect to pay a geometra for this type of work please and any thoughts on this? Our roof is 'mono-pitched' and you can't see the tiles from around apart from at the very front where they overlap the walls, We will need to leave an area ready for solar panels. Will these simply go over the existing tiles or should we prepare in some way for these to be fitted in the future? Many thanks!

Rachel68,

I suppose people will need some sort of idea of size of roof, area, pitch, height etc ?

I would always assume that a geometra will charge at least €2k and then you may need a new certificate di agibilita (another €2k),

Expect the worst is where I start !

V

Thank you Vicino...the roof covers a foorprint of 150M2 - so with its slant I guess could be getting on for 175M2. It simply slants from back to front with no angles to deal with etc. As we will be starting the main renovation work in several years I was hoping a geometras fees simply to specify standards for a roof might not be at the level of a total 'projetto'!

You will need 'cordolo'. This means they will need to take down the top of the walls and install a reinforced concrete ring around the top of the building. Then they usually rebuild the stone walls so you can't see it. There are new rules concerning reinforced concrete (since the l'Aquila earthquake) which say a sample of the reinforced concrete has to be sent to the lab to prove it is of sufficient quality.

If you are worried about water ingress I would sling some tarpaulins over the roof (or corrugated plastic or metal) and wait until the proper renovations start. Otherwise you will be paying twice for drawings and potentially engineers reports as you will need them again for the project. We did this for a couple of years.

For the geometra expect to pay anywhere from €2,000 to 10% of the cost of the work. It is more usual to pay a %age.

The problem is, as you comune pointed out, a new roof is a proper progetto.

This advice is worth just what you've paid for it..... but,

Whilst I am an architect in the UK, I've no practical experience in Italy.

I just wanted to flag up the possible risk of you doing the roof, there's another earthquake, the powers that be revise the seismic requirements, and you have to do further structural modifications to the finished roof.

I agree with Admin's temporary solution.

(not trying to p**s on your parade!)

8o)

I'd like to piggy back on this question please.  Our house is only used for holidays and although the roof is generally ok (and was designated as being in good condition when we bought the house 10 or 12 years ago) it continually requires piecemeal repair when there are big storms.  We've been told that repairing piecemeal is not cost effective and that we should really put in a whole new roof (at a cost of €35k) which is a cost we are not keen on incurring.

We have put in some insulation to protect the house from leaks and while it's helped a lot it's not absolutely fool proof. It occurred to me that there might be some added benefit if we installed some of that corrugated plastic sheeting under the tiles. Very low tech, but would it work or do we simply have to replace the roof to stop this problem for good?

I like the idea of the corrugated plastic..........but.............

You would HAVE to take all the tiles off anyway to put this on wouldn't you ? I'm not sure how much it would cost to take all the tiles off, put the corrugated plastic in place and then put all the tiles back on ?

Also won't the corrugated plastic undermine the integrity of the tiles themselves, will they sit firmly upon it ?

I'd be more inclined to shop around for better prices and do the job 'properly'.

horse for courses!

K

Why don't you take all the tiles off and put a waterproof membrane on?

We've put a waterproof membrane on the floor just below the tiles which also acts as a bit of insulation for the house, but there is still some possibility of a tile coming off and leaking water onto the membrane.  My thought would maybe add an intervening step.  I'm just not sure if it would work.