Currently looking at buying a house and upon viewing noticed that there were many cracks on the walls and ceiling in the attic room. The estate agent said that this was probably due to the new roof that had been installed in the past year. Just wanting to know if this is likely to be the case. Obviously I understand that a surveyor would look at this if I were to buy the house but not wanting to get that far down the line and for it to be a big problem. The house is a terrenced house built around the 1900. Thanks for any advice.
Highly likely, probably a weight issue, like removing the previous slates & replaced with heavier concrete tiles, can cause lot of issues likes, can even push the walls out in the worst cases & collaspe the roof.
One area to ask about or check. What was te original roof material? And what is it now? If it ws slate and now tiles - has the roof been strengthened appropriately and what other measures were taken?
Another thought,is attic a recent conversion or orginal part of the house, if recent & Astramax has already touched on it, if so, there should be a paper trail for the work,or if done without consent, then it opens a large can of worms, as to whether any steelwork was put in to carry the loads,etc,etc. House could end up a large money pit to correct the issues,seriously consider walking away from it, fast.
Doubt it's a recent conversion to the attic due to the majority of houses in the area having an attic room and other houses on the road having an attic room.
To be fair that isn't the problem, the estate agent indicated the new roof was probably the cause of the cracking which could indicate movement.
It's quite likely that the ceiling cracks at least are simply a result of roofers clumping about on the roof knocking in nails rather than any additional loading