Buy A House With Old Roof?

The dilemma you could find yourself in is a situation where you find the perfect house in Columbus GA you have been looking for but unfortunately the house has an old roof. You have to weigh your options because the cost of a new roof, depending on the size of the home, could be $10,000 or much more. Before you buy that home hire a professional roof inspector in Columbus GA so you know what are your options.

After the roof is inspected and you find out it needs to be replaced, get an estimate for replacement because you will need this estimate amount to negotiate with the home seller. You could ask the seller to subtract the cost of a new roof from the asking price of the home. If the roof has about 50 percent wear, you would ask to deduct about half the cost of a new roof. You would think most home sellers would replace the old roof before putting the house on the market for sell but maybe they simply don’t have the money. If the home has gutters, I would suggest having them inspected as well as this could cause more damage to your roof in the future. See our blog article on gutters.

In addition to inspecting the roof I would inspect the base structure and the condition of roof beams because this could be a very expensive project to take on. Poor ventilation in the attic can cause roofing shingles to age prematurely because heat and moisture builds up in the attic during the summer.

Check if there is a ridge vent running along the peak of the roof, soffit vents in the eaves, or gable vents at the top of the gables. Air flows in through the soffit and gable vents and out through the ride vents on top of the roof. Also if the home has a chimney, I would definitely hire a chimney inspector as well. I do not have any faith in these inspectors because the chimney inspector I hired in Columbus GA before I sold my home did a really bad job which I did not find out until after I sold my home.

Conclusion

The roof is one of the most important parts of a home because it protects the rest of your home from the elements of weather. If you are a home buyer, do not depend on inspectors signing off on your roof and chimney as being in good condition. The home I sold in Harris County GA had the roof and chimney inspected and passed with flying colors. Within about 3 months the buyer called me and said there are water stains developing on the interior ceiling and walls. I had another roof inspector come out and found no problems with the roof. The area inside that had water stains was almost directly below the chimney so I had a chimney inspector come out and he found the siding around the chimney was loose. Very frustrating because the chimney was inspected before I sold the house and it passed as well. I guess there are good and bad home inspectors like in all other types of businesses.