Flat roofing in Barton on Sea

The low roofs behind a bungalow. Bungalow country means a lot of flat roof per house: an attached garage, a sun lounge, a utility across the back, a porch, and the link between the house and an outbuilding. Nearly all of it is torch on felt or an older built up three layer job with a mineral cap sheet, and a fair share has been over-coated once already. We strip a bay and look. Plywood and OSB that has stayed dry can be re-covered. Chipboard decking that has been wet is finished, and it goes in the skip with the old membrane before new boards are screwed to the joists. From there the sensible options are EPDM rubber, GRP fibreglass or a new torch on system, and on a long run single ply is worth pricing too.

Edges, not middles. This close to the water the wind does the damage, and it works at the perimeter. A loose edge trim, a drip that has pulled away from the fascia, an apron that was never dressed down properly, or a kerb around a rooflight is where a roof lets go. Felt shows a blister or a split, single ply shows a lifted or failed seam, fibreglass shows a crack at an internal angle. We fix the perimeter down properly, form the upstand behind the covering rather than in front of it, and weld or bond every lap and seam so the surface is continuous.

Falls and where the water goes. Ponding is the other half of the diary. Standing water on a low roof is usually a fall that was never laid, firrings that have been cut too shallow, or a rainwater outlet blocked with grit and moss. We reset the falls with firrings or tapered insulation so the water leaves at an outlet, which is what BS 6229:2025 on flat roofs asks for, and we run water through the gutter, hopper and downpipe afterwards to prove it.

Openings, abutments and the build up underneath. A rooflight, a lantern, a Velux, a loft hatch or a soil and vent pipe each needs a kerb and a collar, not a smear of sealant. Where it butts brickwork a cover flashing is chased in and dressed down in lead, and on a parapet the coping and the cavity tray behind it get looked at while the roof is open. Most of the older roofs here are cold roofs, insulation between the joists and a dead void above, which is where condensation and interstitial damp start rotting the deck out of sight. A rebuild goes back as a warm roof. PIR is laid over the boards, the vapour control layer sits beneath the PIR, and the dew point ends up inside the insulation instead of in your timber.

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 detached garage on its own slab, a sun lounge tight against the house, and a first floor balcony over a room you sleep in are three different jobs before anybody lifts a sheet. 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.

You are a short walk from the water, and salt changes one thing on a flat roof: the metal. The membrane itself does not mind salt at all. The aluminium edge trim, the fixings holding it, the screws in a rooflight kerb and the clips on a downpipe are what corrode, and they corrode from the cut edge inwards where nobody looks. Salt also keeps a surface damp between showers, so the roof spends more of the year wet than an inland one does.

What that means in practice is worth saying out loud before you compare quotes. Ask what the trim is made of and how it is fixed, because a cheap mill finish trim on the seaward side of the house will be chalky and loose long before the covering is tired. Ask how the perimeter is held down, since an exposed low roof takes far more wind uplift at its edge than in the middle. On the sheltered side of a bungalow none of this matters much. On the side facing the sea it decides how long the job lasts.

We cover Barton on Sea, Barton Common, Becton and the streets down to the cliff, along with the rest of BH25, and the site visit costs you nothing. 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.