Roof Structure Alteration Questions Checklist

Note whether the roof appears to be built from individual timbers or from repeated factory-made frames tied together with diagonal bracing, and photograph both directions.

The two arrangements are altered in completely different ways, and describing which one you appear to have shapes the first conversation.

Do not draw conclusions from what you see; whether a roof can be altered at all is for a qualified structural engineer to establish.

Photograph the roof space from the hatch in every direction, including the point at each side where the roof comes down to meet the wall.

The eaves are where several questions concentrate and are also where boxes and suitcases have been pushed for as long as anyone can remember.

Note whether the roof space runs uninterrupted across the whole building or is divided by walls, boarding or partitions rising up into it.

Walls rising into a roof usually mean the space was built or extended in stages, which is worth knowing before any layout is discussed.

Record what you can see on the underside of the covering, such as boarding, a membrane, felt, bare tiles or daylight, and note anywhere it is wet or stained.

What is visible from below says something about how the roof was built, and a stain seen now is far easier to discuss than one found later.

Note where water tanks, pipes, cables, aerials and any equipment sit in the roof space, and what each of them appears to be standing on.

A tank standing on a platform frequently occupies exactly the area an owner wants to open up for a stair or a dormer.

Record which parts of the roof you cannot see at all, such as areas above later ceilings, behind partitions or over a bathroom, and say so at the start.

Saying up front what is hidden saves a professional discovering it slowly and lets them tell you what that leaves unanswered.

Note where any diagonal prop or strut comes down out of the roof and what it appears to land on, photographing the foot of each one you can reach.

Props landing on a wall below are frequently the reason a loft cannot simply be opened up, and their positions rarely appear on any drawing.

Trace any horizontal timber running across the roof space to each of its ends, and note where it disappears into a wall, a chimney or a partition.

Where a horizontal member ends matters as much as where it runs, and both ends are often at the least accessible corners of the space.

Note anything that appears to be standing on ceiling timbers rather than on a wall, and record it as an observation rather than as a fault.

What is acceptable in a roof is entirely for a qualified engineer to judge; owners should record what they see and offer no interpretation of it.

Sketch the rooms below and mark where you believe each prop or bearing lands, then note whether a wall continues beneath it on the storey below.

This sketch is what turns a roof question into a whole-building question, which is precisely how an engineer will approach it.

Record any chimney stack passing through the roof space, whether anything is fixed to it or resting against it, and photograph it from all reachable sides.

Stacks are often used as convenient supports over the years, and what has been attached to one is only visible from inside the roof.

Note any sign that the roof has been altered before, such as timbers that stop short, newer timber alongside older, or a patched area of covering.

Earlier alterations are usually undocumented, and they are exactly the parts an engineer will want to look at before anything else is planned.

Mark on your sketch roughly where a dormer, rooflight or raised area would sit, using the ridge, the eaves, the gable and the chimney as reference points.

A position described against fixed features survives being passed between people, whereas a description in words alone drifts every time it is repeated.

Photograph the timbers running through the area you have in mind, from several angles, so their spacing and direction can be seen without a visit.

The first question about any opening is what runs through it, and a set of photographs answers that before anyone climbs a ladder.

Note what sits directly underneath in the room below, including light fittings, a bathroom, a stair or a wall, and photograph the ceiling from beneath.

The room below constrains an opening as firmly as the roof does, and the two are usually considered separately until it is too late.

Note where a stair or ladder would have to arrive if the space were used, and what is currently in that part of the floor below.

Arrival point is the detail that quietly decides whether a loft scheme works, and it is often settled last when it should be settled first.

Record what already occupies that area, such as a tank, a flue, a soil vent pipe, a cable run or the aerial mast, and photograph each of them.

Services placed in a loft years ago sit exactly where the light is wanted, and moving them is a separate conversation with a separate trade.

Note what the opening would look out onto and whether it faces a road, a garden or neighbouring windows, then confirm locally what applies to changes of this kind.

What is permitted for an opening in a roof varies by location and property; confirm locally with the relevant authority rather than assuming anything.

Note what the roof appears to be covered with and whether anyone has suggested changing it for something else, recording who suggested it and in what words.

A change of covering alters what the roof carries, and the suggestion is usually made on grounds of appearance without that being mentioned.

Record anything proposed on or through the roof, such as panels, an aerial, a flue or external equipment, and note where each would be fixed.

Whether a roof can carry added equipment is a structural question for a qualified engineer, whatever the supplier of the equipment says about it.

Note what insulation is present now, where it sits, and whether more is planned at ceiling level or between the timbers themselves.

Moving insulation from the ceiling up to the slope changes how the roof space behaves, and that belongs in the conversation early.

Record what is stored in the roof space at present, whether it is spread out or piled in one place, and who laid any boarding it stands on.

Loft boarding laid by an owner is common and tells an engineer something useful about what has been happening up there.

Note anything that would be removed, such as a tank, a platform, an old flue or a redundant chimney, and photograph how each is currently supported.

What holds a redundant item in place sometimes turns out to be doing more than holding that item, which is why the photograph matters.

Ask the professional what information about any proposed addition they need from you, and pass on the supplier information rather than describing it yourself.

Owner descriptions of weight are unreliable, and the useful thing you can do is hand over the original information unedited.

Ask what temporary weather protection would be used while the roof is open, who puts it up, who checks it and who is responsible if it fails.

Temporary protection is arranged and maintained by the contractor carrying out the work; owners should not adjust, add to or rely on their own arrangements.

Ask what would happen to the rooms below if water did get in, who would deal with the consequences and how that would be reported to you.

Agreeing this while everybody is calm is far easier than agreeing it while a ceiling is dripping and everyone is busy.

Note where scaffolding could stand, what it would cross or overhang, and whose land or access it would affect on every side of the building.

Scaffold position drives a surprising amount of a roof project, including which neighbours need to be spoken to and when.

Plan where everything currently stored in the roof will go, and note anything you would rather was not handled by anyone else at all.

Emptying a loft always takes longer than expected and is the task that delays the start of a great many roof projects.

Note how dust would travel down into the house through the hatch, ceilings and openings, and agree who protects rooms, floors and belongings below.

Roof work brings decades of dust down with it, and saying which rooms matter beforehand is easier than complaining afterwards.

Note who in the household or nearby would be most affected by noise directly overhead, such as anyone working from home, on shifts or unwell.

Roof work is loud in a way that is hard to escape indoors, and it is far easier to plan around when it is raised in advance.

Note whether the roof space continues over the wall into the neighbouring property or stops at it, and photograph what you can see at that junction.

A roof space that runs on next door raises questions that owners on neither side usually know exist until somebody looks.

Record any valley, gutter, parapet or flashing shared with the property next door, and photograph it from ground level at both ends.

Shared rainwater arrangements are the source of most roof disputes between neighbours, and they are far easier to discuss before work than during it.

Ask a qualified professional what obligations towards adjoining owners might apply to roof work of this kind, and confirm locally what applies to your property.

Obligations towards adjoining owners vary by location and circumstance; confirm what applies before any work touching a shared wall is planned.

Photograph what you can see of the neighbouring roof and its junction with yours, from your own property only, dated, before anything is proposed.

Never go onto a neighbouring roof or into an adjoining roof space; access to another property depends entirely on the agreement of its owner.

Note whether the property next door has already had a similar alteration, what is visible of it from outside, and what the owners say about how it went.

A neighbouring alteration is the closest thing to a comparable arrangement, and the owners are usually happy to say what surprised them.

Decide who will speak to the neighbours, at what stage and what they will be told, and write down what was said after each conversation.

Roof work is visible from every window nearby, so neighbours find out anyway, and hearing it from you first changes the whole tone.

Ask what would have to be established about the existing roof before anything could be designed, and how much of that needs opening up rather than looking.

What can be settled by looking and what needs opening up is for the attending professional to decide; never strip a ceiling or lift a covering yourself.

Ask what happens if the roof turns out to be different from what the drawing assumed once it is opened, and who is entitled to decide what follows.

Decisions taken on a scaffold with the roof open are hard to revisit, so the procedure for making them matters more here than elsewhere.

Ask who designs any new support, who supplies it, who puts it in and who from the design side would be present while the roof is open.

Roof alterations involve several parties in quick succession, and knowing who holds which role stops questions bouncing between them.

Ask what would hold the roof up while any timber is being altered, who designs that arrangement and who is responsible for it while it stands.

Temporary support is designed and installed by qualified people; an owner should never assess, adjust or lean anything against it.

Ask the local building control body and a qualified professional what records or approvals are expected for roof work of this kind where the property is.

Requirements for roof alterations vary by location and property type; confirm locally rather than assuming that any particular step applies here.

Decide where the roof space photographs, sketches, drawings and any findings will be kept, and note that the next owner will very likely ask for them.

Nobody photographs a roof space twice, and the set taken before the work is the only record of what was there originally.