What questions to ask roofers on replace felt - possibly entire roof & few timber?

the first thing you will need is building regs to check the work & pass the finished roof, the only other things you can reasonable do is check out there previous clients, while cash is still king to most companies its not the be all and end all anyone asking for just cash is a bit suspect but at the end of the day when a customer offers a choice of cheque, bacs or cash , cash will always win it doesn't make them a bad tradesman as long as you receive a receipt for any payments made, once any roof work is passed by building regs final payment would be expected your guarantee for the work carried out should cover against any failure along with the council paper work passing your roof as up to current regs the problem with giving you lots of questions to ask defeats the purpose as this is a public forum read by both cowboys and Indians, trust you own intuition & do your own checks. good luck Alex

Hi Let’s start with the photos; what you see hanging down between the rafters is building paper wich was communally used from the 1930’s until after the war when tar based and plastic felt started to be used however there are a number of ‘let’s say’ people with no moral fibre will/have used building paper as underlay, the paper has become brittle and cannot support its own weight between the rafters and rips. I believe the tiles are ether a Redland Renown or a Marley Ludlow Major, the batten which the tiles are hung on and nailed to dose not show signs of rot and I would assume that the roof s not leaking as you have not mentioned any signs of water penetration on your comments (an inspection would be advantages to clarify the above as I am only working on the pictures). So not to bore you there are thousands of roofs out there with no felt underlay and are doing what they are designed to do “if it ain't broke don’t fix it” to coin a phrase. Word and mouth is the best way to find a decent trades person, asking questions when you have little knowledge of the subject may not help as the person could have retrieved this information from literature not from experience. As for membership of a federation is not a sign of being a reputable roofer half the time they become members just so they can use the logo and have to pay a lot of money for the privilege. If you decide to have the roof replaced or having new felt and batten and reuse the existing tiles you are the client and you are paying for a service, so when you asks for quotes you can stipulate for example; a 90 day payment period, 90% on completion remainder after 90 days I must stress that you must make this clear when the company come to measure up. If you wish to pay in cash you may however you will/may not get a receipt but make sure you get a guarantee! Hope this helps. Joseph First Choice Roofing Specialist Ltd

Just make sure you see there comments and see photos of there work then you won’t go wrong

Its def not been answered, as you know not every company interprets the same required work to be carried out, if for any reason any existing lead flashing are left be it there good for say 10 year you couldn't put a guarantee on that roof if it a roof renewal an you couldnt have a building reg come from council and pass it off. Maintance cant be guaranteed, you can only guarantee your own workmanship. Best bet 3 companies, break down of proposed work being carried out, proof of qualifications, proof of insurance and registered address an least of all go with your own instinct, if you get a bad vib cross them off the list.