Flat roofing in Alderholt
Flat roof repairs, re-covering and new warm roofs across Alderholt and the SP6 villages. Free site visit, free written itemised quote.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Most flat roofs we are called to in Alderholt do not need taking back to the joists. A split at an upstand, a lifted seam or an outlet that has stopped taking water is a repair measured in hours, and we would rather price you that than sell you a roof you do not need.
The calls from here follow the age of the village. Alderholt went up largely in the 1980s, so the flat roofs are mostly original felt over a chipboard deck, laid when nobody worried much about where the water was meant to run. People ring about three things. A brown ring on a garage ceiling after a wet week. A covering over a rear extension gone brittle and split along a fold. Or water still sitting up there days after the rain stopped, with nobody able to say whether that matters. All three want looking at from on top rather than from a bedroom window. We come out, lift a corner where we sensibly can, and photograph what is under it before anybody talks about money.
The work
Garages, extensions and the roofs above them
Repairs come first. A split along a fold, a burst blister, a lifted seam at a lap or a loose edge trim is hours rather than days, and so is a blocked rainwater outlet, which sits behind more ceiling stains than any hole in the covering. We trace where water is getting in rather than patching where the stain shows. On a flat roof those are rarely the same place.
Re-covering a garage or an extension. Most of the work here is single storey: a garage, a rear extension, a porch, a dormer cheek or the small roof over a bay. The old covering comes off and it goes back in whichever system suits. EPDM rubber is one bonded sheet with no seam across the field. GRP fibreglass is laid wet, cures into a single piece with its own trims and takes foot traffic. Torch on felt earns its place on a broken up roof, as a built up three layer system with a mineral cap sheet. Single ply is welded rather than bonded and suits larger roofs. A garage is two to three working days.
Deck, falls and the build up. Under the covering you find plywood, OSB or, on the older extensions here, chipboard gone quietly soft. Sound decking can be covered over, anything that gives underfoot comes off, and the joists get checked while they are open. Ponding and standing water nearly always mean the roof was never laid to a fall, so we correct it with firrings or tapered insulation rather than laying a new covering over the same puddle. An old cold roof has the insulation between the joists and little stopping warm damp air reaching the underside of the deck, which is why so many rot from within. A warm roof puts rigid PIR above the deck with a vapour control layer under it, keeps the timber above the dew point and heads off interstitial condensation, which is what Approved Document L and BS 6229:2025 on flat roofs both point at.
Openings, abutments and rainwater. A rooflight, a lantern or a Velux wants a kerb built to suit it, not a hole cut and sealed, and so does a hatch, a soil pipe or a vent pipe. Where the roof meets the house wall it needs a good upstand with a cover flashing chased into the brickwork, an apron in lead where that is what is there, and a cavity tray if the wall never had one. Parapets and copings are part of the roof, because that is where they leak. Then the drip, the edge trim and the gutter, downpipe and hopper below.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
Same team from first visit to last, one person to ring, and no sub-contracting your work out to somebody you have never met. The quote is itemised, not a figure on the back of a card: access, stripping the old covering, any new deck or firrings, the insulation, the membrane and each upstand, outlet and edge trim, and disposal on separate lines, so you can compare it properly against anyone else's.
Nothing is left open or unusable overnight. The site is swept at the end of each day rather than the end of the job, and what comes out leaves with us. If something turns up once we start that nobody could have seen, you get a photograph and a price before we carry on.
A like for like re-cover counts as maintenance. No planning permission, nothing to notify, and Planning Portal guidance shows where that boundary sits. Change the shape of the roof, or turn the garage into a room, and you are into building control territory, which means building notice or an application with full plans. Alderholt has no conservation area and no listed entries, so the covering is entirely your call.
Cost
What decides the price of a flat roof
No rate per square metre, because the square metres are the easy part and what is under the covering is what decides the job.
Getting to it. Think of a garage beside the drive, a rear extension down a narrow side passage, and a dormer roof over a conservatory. Same square metres, three different jobs. A garage or a single storey extension will often come off a tower, anything above a two storey wall wants a scaffold, and the platform has to stand while the deck is open rather than for an afternoon. The work at height rules are why it is a priced line rather than something folded into a rate.
The deck under the covering. A sound deck can be re-covered. Chipboard that has been wet for years, or ply that gives underfoot, has to come off and be replaced, and you cannot tell which you have from the ground or from a photograph. We lift a corner before quoting, because the deck is the single biggest swing in the price.
The falls, and where the water is meant to go. Most flat roofs that fail were never laid to a fall, or the fall runs at an outlet that has since been blocked or built over. Correcting it with firrings is more work than laying a membrane and it is the difference between a roof that lasts and one that ponds. Upstands, edge trims and each outlet are priced one at a time, because that is where the hours and the leaks both are.
Comparing quotes? Ask which system is being quoted and how many layers, whether the deck is being renewed or covered over, whether the falls are being corrected with firrings, how the upstands, outlets and edge trims are detailed, and whether the scaffold and the skip are in the price. Two quotes for the same job are usually two different jobs.
If it is coming through
Water through a flat roof
Ring rather than use the form. A flat roof that has split, blistered or lifted at an upstand puts water straight onto a ceiling, and once the deck is wet the damage carries on after the rain stops. The first visit is about getting it covered and dry, and we price the permanent job once we can see how much of the deck has gone. Alderholt is a straight run up for us, so water coming through here does not sit waiting in the diary. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
If the garage is becoming a room, start the paperwork early
A straight re-cover is a re-cover and none of this touches it. But a good few of the flat roofs we look at around Alderholt sit over a garage somebody wants to turn into a bedroom or an annexe. The village drains into the River Avon catchment, a nutrient neutrality area, so a scheme adding overnight accommodation has to show it will not add nutrients to the river before permission is granted. It does not stop the work, but the planning side runs longer than the building side, so start it early.
What it changes on the roof is the specification. A garage roof only has to keep weather out. A roof over a room you sleep in has to meet Approved Document L, which means a warm roof: insulation above the deck, a vapour control layer under it, and the falls reset so nothing ponds over a plasterboard ceiling. That is a thicker build up than what is up there now, so the upstand height at the house wall and the clearance under a door threshold both want checking on the first site visit.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Alderholt, Cranborne, Verwood, Three Legged Cross and the SP6 villages either side of the Hampshire border. You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building, the trading name of Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, which you can look up in a minute. Thomas Hannen's business, and he is the one who comes out to price the job, not a salesman. A verified customer's 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The visit and the written quote are both free.
Questions
Alderholt questions we get asked
Can my flat roof be repaired, or does it all have to come off?
Often it can be repaired. A split, a burst blister, a failed seam or a loose edge trim is a patch. The deck decides it: if the boards are sound and the falls work, a re-cover over the existing deck will do. If the deck is wet through, patching buys you one winter and we will say so.
How long does a flat roof take?
A garage or a small extension is normally two to three working days, and a repair is often the same day. What stretches it is a deck coming off, falls needing firrings, or a rooflight going in. Weather counts for more than on a tiled roof, because a bonded system wants a dry deck.
Do I need scaffold, and is it in the price?
It depends what the roof sits on. A garage or single storey extension usually comes off a tower, and anything above a two storey wall wants a scaffold. Either way it is an itemised line rather than folded into a rate, because the work at height rules decide how long the platform stands.
Water is coming through now. What should I do?
Ring rather than use the form. Get a bucket under it. If a ceiling is bulging with trapped water, pierce it in one spot over the bucket rather than waiting for it to come down. Emergency cover outside normal hours is by arrangement, and the first visit is about getting it dry.
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Get a price for your Alderholt flat roof
Tell us the address and what you have noticed. We will come out, look under the covering where we can, and put an itemised price in writing. No charge, and no obligation.