Garage Roof – The Final Reveal!

Our garage roof replacement project is finally complete!

Needless to say, we were starting to think that we’d never get there. There were a few setbacks along the way and things took way longer than expected, but we got there in the end. Most importantly – we’re ecstatic with how it turned out!

Although we’ve gathered our fair share of DIY experience over the last four years of living in our home, we’re still amazed at how far we’ve come and that we! managed to replace our garage roof ourselves. And, you know what the most shocking thing of all is? It wasn’t actually that hard to do.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m really not recommending that everyone should have a go at this and it was definitely one of the most challenging projects that we’ve tackled, but once we got it to the swing of things it wasn’t that hard.

One thing we seriously underestimated, was how long it would take to complete. Even halfway through the project, while we were sat on the roof laying tiles, we still underestimated how long it would take to finish.

However the more slates we laid, the quicker we became and working on the second side of the roof, in particular, was fairly quick, as we’d kind of worked out what we were doing and had already solved most problems when we came across them on the first side.

Even nailing the battens into place was quicker, as we could use the same piece of wood (it’s the piece with the manly pink stripe) that we were using as a guide for the distance between the rows.

Then it was just a matter of doing exactly the same as we did on the first side. By far the hardest part for us was to set out the very first row of slates. It seemed to take forever until we had them in a straight line!

We knew that we couldn’t rush this step though, as all other slates build up from that first course, so any unevenness would be carried through the rest of the slates and probably be seen on the roof.

Luckily we got there in the end and last weekend we were able to complete the whole project and attached all new gutters and downpipes.

Here’s the nitty-gritty:
• 1000 nails hammered into place
• 1 slightly broken and very swollen and sore thumb
• 264 slates attached
• 70 hours worked
• 134 m battens laid
• 3 arguments about how it all works
• 2 very happy homeowners!

Cost Breakdown:
Slates & Rivets: £542.40
Battens: £92.68
Breather Membrane: £32.97
Undercloak: £10.58
Nails & Screws: £38.46
Sarking boards (to replace damaged ones): £59.20
Fascia: £47.88
Bargeboard (to replaced damaged): £9.16
Gutter & Downpipe: £89.57
Exterior Black gloss paint & exterior primer: £31.98
Protection: £23.57
Misc (sharp sand, cement, staples, rubble sacks, blades): £ 16.66
Total: £995.11

Before starting out on this DIY adventure, we had of course considered paying someone to replace the roof for us, so got two quotes. The first one came in at £2676 and the second (where we’d agreed that we would remove the old roof covering, gutters, etc.) at £2220.

So, even if we’d opted for the cheapest roofer, that still means we’ve saved ourselves a whopping £1248.46 (we would have still had to buy our protective overalls & masks)!

The slates we opted for are actually fibre cement slates and not real slates. We would have liked to cover the roof in real slate, but because of our roof structure, we were concerned about adding too much weight to the roof and the fibre cement slates are considerably lighter than the “real” option. It was a tough decision, as we were concerned about how it would look, but actually we’re really pleased with the result.

Now it’s just a matter of sorting the ugly garage door. We thought that we could save it and therefore stripped it right back in order to apply a fresh coat of paint, but now we’re not sure it’s salvageable. Our new plan is, therefore, to replace it with a more traditional side-hung door like the garage would have originally had.

If you’d like to catch up on our previous posts about replacing the garage roof, you can check them out here:

Garage Roof – Part 1 – Planning

Garage Roof – Part 2 – Stripping & Woodwork

Garage Roof – Part 3 – Woodwork

Garage Roof – Part 4 – We Have Slates!

Have you ever done any roofing? What do you think of our fake slate? Do you think all of our hard work was worth it to save some money? Do you have any tips on how to hang a door? Oh, and does anyone have any tips on how to remove paint from brickwork?

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