Pixie5740

I have no idea. The property is currently being rented out so I'll need to wait until I can get back inside to estimate. My main two concerns about DIY-ing this are a) I dread to think what I will find underneath the current roofing so it might turn into a much larger job, b) I will need to get scaffolding because it is a second story flat. Also, I have no idea who is responsible for the flat roof. There are 3 flats in the block and our deeds say that each flat is responsible for a third of the roofing costs. Does that still hold when a historical owner of my flat added these dormer extensions? Do I just suck it up because my flat is on the top floor and if I can get the roof re-roofed and better insulated I can enjoy the heat rising from my downstairs neighbours even better? I'm leaning towards the latter because I'm reasonably sure the ground floor will politely tell me to bog off.

That’s maybe a tad far away

I suppose that brings me on to my next question which is, can anyone recommend a roofer that offers GRP in the Aberdeen area?

Thanks for tip @SteamyTea

Going by the rest of my property I have zero confidence that what was installed was half as good as your 80 year old flat roof.

Simpler is better

This is very true. One of the reasons for wanting to self-build is that I think you can achieve better insulation than the new build properties being produced en masse which will in turn mean energy consumption goes down. I saw an interesting article on Eigg where the island has gone almost 100% renewable with hydro, solar and wind but that each household was limited to using 5kW at a time which meant really thinking about energy usage.

Also, all the buildings in the street look like they were built around the same time and not all have flat roof dormer extensions which is why I suspect they were a later addition.

It's plasterboard although I wonder if that could be because the lathe and plaster came off when a previous owner removed woodchip wallpaper. At some point in its history the entire flat appears to have been covered in woodchis. I left the remaining woodchip on a couple of ceilings as it seemed more hassle than it was worth to remove and just painted it white.

Thanks @ProDave

I realise this is potentially a how-long-is-a-piece-of-string question. I'm a couple of years off starting my self-build so I need to maintain the property I currently have. It's a top floor Aberdeen flat built circa 1885. At some point a previous owner put in dormer extensions for which I cannot find any planning permission for on the council's website...maybe it predates online submissions but I'm not holding my breath. I'm not sure when the dormer extensions were built but at a guess I'd say 30+ years ago. Is there a way of getting a better estimate? I would not be in the least bit surprised if the flat felt roof is still the original.

Hello @Ric88. I'm just starting my self-build journey too. An energy efficient home is also important to me and I suspect it will become more and more important to others as energy costs continue to rise.

Hello self-builders. The more and more I think about what I would like in a home the more and more building it myself seems to make sense. I used to want one of the old Victorian or Edwardian properties but then I realised that the maintenance and cost of heating those properties would be ridiculous. Now I would like something very modern and most importantly eco. The more electricity and heating I can produce myself the better. I have ruled out the cookie-cutter new builds as whilst they do have a lower EPC than my granite tenement flat I think we can do better. I'm very much at the start of this journey so I'm looking forward to scouring this forum for ideas. I have seen a few plots of land in the right areas that come with planning permission although I don't know if I want to build exactly what there is planning permission for. I also need to decide if I want to remain in North East Scotland or return to the Central Belt but first I need to research and save those pennies.