The drawings have been revised because I have not received a satisfactory report from John Wenman, who was contracted to undertake the survey of the property on 6th Oct 2017.

The photographs show details of the rear property roof in the area of the proposed enlargement of the store room (to form a bathroom or 5th bedroom).

Tiles removed from main roof for inspection

Window and roof above Store Room

Roof of store room and view of rear Bed 1 window

The following points are noted.  The roof forming the store room (and the existing sun room) is an approximate 1968 addition to the property originally built in 1926 or thereabouts.  The roof slopes

at exactly 45 to the horizontal and is sealed against the main house wall at the east end and with cement mortar at the west end. The tiles are clay kiln baked and are supported on roofing felt on

1/4" shiplap on rafters at 400c/c.  The clay tiles are of the interlocking type and are laid at an average overlap of 3.2, this meaning that there are three clay tiles to be intersected by a normal to the

roof surface before the shiplap is touched. 

Potential Site for Bats

It is unlikely that this roof over the store room could form a suitable roosting site for bats.

In respect of general bat roosting in the roof, I have two observations.

1. The house and its immediate surroundings are the habitat of a group of up to seven magpies.  Heron, jays and red kite are also often present in the area.  These predator birds will kill and eat bats and their presence here will act as a deterent to roosting.
2. Our neighbour at No. 37 has lived next door since 1975 and has no recollection of their being resident bats in this area.

Roof Repairs

The roof has bonnet type ridge tiles and these have slipped on the rear west ridges in the last year, due to corrosion of the tie steel.  The bonnets have to be removed and re-laid and this work was planned

to be undertaken by the builders undertaking the (suspended) West Wing development. 

A scaffold tower is being erected in the rear garden as I write and this will enable the area of the damaged bonnet tiles to be inspected by interested parties and then repaired.  The review period is until 8 Nov 2017,

but this may be foreshortened in the event of bad weather.

Regards

Emmet Donegan