Flat Roofing in Ashmore

The perimeter, because that is what lets go. An edge trim is not decoration. It holds the covering down at the one place wind can get a grip on it, and its drip is what throws water clear of the fascia. Where fixings have pulled we renew the trim and fix into sound timber rather than screwing back into the same holes. Upstands are carried high enough that driven rain cannot climb over them, and every open edge is priced on its own.

The abutments and the parapet. An upstand against a wall takes a lead cover flashing dressed into a chase. On the older stone and flint work the chase becomes a lead apron worked over the face instead, because cutting deep into a wall like that costs more than it cures. A parapet gets its coping bedded and a cavity tray put in behind. On nearly every roof we look at up here, this is where the water is getting in.

What goes back over the top. EPDM rubber on a garage or a porch, a single sheet with its laps bonded cold and no heat anywhere. GRP fibreglass laid wet over new ply and curing into one skin, which suits a roof carrying a lot of edges. Built up felt in three layers under a torch on mineral cap sheet, still the toughest surface to walk on. Single ply hot air welded where the area is large enough to be worth it.

The boards, and the fall across them. Chipboard decking that has been wet for years has to come off. Ply that gives underfoot goes with it, and OSB is what most of it goes back in. The joists get checked while everything is open and the falls are put right with firrings or tapered insulation, so water leaves at an outlet instead of pooling. A roof laid with no fall at all is the commonest reason we are standing on one.

Insulation, and anything coming up through it. A warm roof puts PIR above the deck with the vapour control layer under it, holding the dew point out of the timber. A cold roof keeps insulation between the joists and has to breathe, or condensation and interstitial damp rot the deck from below. BS 6229 covers how it is built and Approved Document L what it has to reach, and a re-cover engaging either goes through building control. A rooflight, a lantern, a Velux, a loft hatch, a soil pipe or a vent pipe gets its kerb built up and a collar formed, never a bead of mastic. Then the rainwater outlet, the hopper, the gutter and the downpipe are checked before we price the covering.

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. A garage roof, a rear extension and a dormer cheek on a cottage are three different jobs before anybody unrolls anything. 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.

We cover Ashmore, Fontmell Magna, Compton Abbas, Tollard Royal and the villages either side of the SP5 and SP7 boundary, out from Bournemouth across the whole of north Dorset. 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.