Flat Roofing in Blandford Forum

Flat roofs in Blandford Forum mostly leak at a junction. An upstand against the house wall wants a cover flashing dressed into a chase, or lead over an apron on an older detail. A parapet needs the coping bedded properly and a cavity tray behind it, which is the bit that gets left out. Verges need an edge trim and a drip so the water is thrown clear instead of running down the render.

What we put back. EPDM rubber is one sheet with bonded laps and no flame, which suits a garage or a porch. GRP fibreglass goes on wet over new plywood and sets as a single skin, good where there are a lot of angles. Three layer built up felt, torch on with a mineral cap sheet, still takes more foot traffic than anything else. Single ply is welded and comes into its own over the larger communal areas.

Repairs that take a morning. A blister, a bubble under the surface, a hairline crack or a failed seam where two sheets have lifted apart are all patchable. We cut back to sound material, bond or weld in the new piece and dress the edges down. Where the covering has gone brittle right across, we will say so rather than sell you a repair that leaks again by autumn.

Deck, joists and falls. Wet chipboard decking comes off. Plywood that gives underfoot goes with it and OSB usually goes back in its place. The joists get checked while they are open, and the falls are corrected with firrings or tapered insulation so water reaches an outlet instead of pooling in the middle. Ponding is not cosmetic. It is what finds the next weak seam.

Warm roof, cold roof and building control. A warm roof carries PIR over the deck with the vapour control layer beneath, which keeps the dew point clear of the timber. A cold roof leaves the insulation between the joists and has to be ventilated, or condensation and interstitial damp quietly rot the boards. BS 6229 sets out the build and Approved Document L the standard, and a large re-cover goes through building control on a building notice.

Rooflights, pipes and the rainwater. A lantern or a rooflight only stays dry if its kerb is built up high enough and the covering is dressed over it, so the skylight sits proud of any standing water. A Velux in a dormer cheek, a loft hatch and every soil pipe or vent pipe gets a proper collar. Then the rainwater outlet, hopper, gutter and downpipe are checked, because a blocked outlet floods a sound roof.

Quoting a flat roof by the square metre misses the point. Laying the membrane is quick. The deck and the drainage decide the bill.

The boards underneath. Chipboard soaked by a slow leak crumbles and has to be cut out, while sound ply can take a new covering. Thomas checks before he quotes, as this is the biggest variable.

Where water sits. Ponding means the roof was laid dead flat or has sagged. Firrings restore a fall, and every outlet has to lead the water somewhere that works.

Which system. EPDM rubber, GRP fibreglass and torch-on felt carry different prices. A block's communal roof that gets walked on for maintenance wants a heavier build than a lock-up garage.

Insulation. Over a living space, a re-cover is when the roof should come up to Approved Document L, and renovating most of it makes that a requirement under regulation 23.

Access. A garage in a rear court down a narrow lane, or a roof above a shop in the centre of Blandford Forum, takes longer to set up than one off an estate drive, and the work at height rules put access on a line of its own.

Ask rival quotes which system and how many layers, whether the deck is coming out, whether the falls are being corrected, and how the upstands and outlets are finished.

Our base in Boscombe, near Bournemouth town centre, is 16.8 miles from Blandford Forum. We cover the town, Bryanston, Stourpaine, Spetisbury and the Tarrant villages across DT11, and the council for planning and building control is Dorset Council.

The company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. Its owner is Thomas Hannen, the person who gets on the roof, checks the deck and gives you the price. A verified customer left us 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. Visiting and quoting in writing, line by line, cost you nothing. Before you book a visit in Blandford Forum, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Blandford Forum need no application at all. What decides whether a change to the outside of your house does is who the council is, whether a conservation area or a listing applies, and whether the place sits in a protected landscape.