Flat roofing in Boldre

Rear additions, outbuildings and the bit that links them. Out along the lanes of Boldre the flat roofs are rarely the main roof. They are a kitchen across the back, a boot room, a garage set off the house with a covered link between the two, or a porch.

Coverings run from torch on felt and three layer built up felt under a mineral surfaced cap sheet to GRP fibreglass put on by the last owner. Once a bay is stripped you can see what matters, which is the deck. Plywood and OSB that has stayed dry will take a new membrane. Chipboard decking that has been damp goes, and new boards are fixed to the joists first. EPDM rubber, fibreglass or a new torch on system all work in Boldre, and single ply earns its place on anything long and simple.

Falls, outlets and standing water. Ponding tells you the roof was laid flat rather than nearly flat. Water sitting there finds every lap and seam, and a frost opens them. The cause is usually firrings cut shy, tapered insulation squashed, or an outlet that has silted up under leaf litter, which is a real problem on a lane with trees over it. We correct the falls, run them to a proper rainwater outlet, and check the gutter, hopper and downpipe below take it away. BS 6229:2025 on flat roofs sets the minimum fall a roof should be built to.

Trims, upstands and the seams. The middle of a flat roof is the easy part. The edge trim, the drip, the apron against a wall and the kerb around an opening are where it opens up. Felt blisters, bubbles and splits. Single ply lifts at a failed seam. Fibreglass cracks at a hard internal angle where the deck has moved. Anything soft is cut out first. The upstand is then formed to a decent height behind the covering, and each lap is welded or bonded, so the roof reads as one skin.

Openings, abutments and how it is built up. A rooflight, a lantern, a Velux, an access hatch or a soil and vent pipe wants a kerb and a collar rather than a bead of mastic. Where the roof runs into brick or stone we chase in a cover flashing in lead, and on a parapet we look at the coping and whether there is a cavity tray behind it. Older roofs around Boldre are cold roofs, with the insulation between the joists and a stale void above, and that void is where condensation and interstitial damp quietly rot the deck. Building it back warm puts the PIR on top of the boards, with the vapour control layer under it, and the deck stops being the coldest thing in the roof.

A flat roof in Boldre has no honest rate per square metre. The size is easy. The deck is what swings the price.

What sort of roof it is. In Boldre the flat roofs are mostly garages beside post-war and eighties houses, kitchen and porch extensions, and the odd annexe or outbuilding at the end of a track. Many were built on chipboard decks under a few layers of felt. A porch roof is an afternoon. A double garage with a dip in the middle is several days.

Wet boards. Chipboard that has drunk water for years goes soft and has to come off. Sound ply can be covered over. We lift a corner before quoting, so the quote says which you have rather than guessing.

Falls and outlets. A roof that ponds was usually laid dead flat or has settled. Firrings put the fall back, and they cost more than the membrane. Upstands against a brick wall, edge trims and each outlet are priced one by one, since those are the places a flat roof usually lets water in.

Membrane choice. A single sheet of EPDM, a GRP fibreglass laminate or layers of torch-on felt will each last if the detailing is right. On a warm roof the insulation sits over the deck with a vapour control layer under it, which lifts the roof edge, so the fascia and any door threshold have to allow for it.

Access. A tower does most single storey roofs. Anything sitting higher, over a two storey wall, wants scaffold, priced under the work at height rules.

Ask any other quote whether the deck is being replaced or overlaid, how the falls are being put right, and whether the skip and the scaffold are included.

Boldre sits inside the New Forest National Park, and the Park is its own planning authority. The village is also in the Forest South East Conservation Area, which is why a change in how a roof looks gets a closer look here.

For a flat roof that matters less than people fear, but it is not nothing. Putting the same sort of covering back on a kitchen roof is maintenance and nobody has to be told. Anything that changes what is seen from a lane or a green is looked at more carefully than it would be in a town: a run of new rooflights, a lantern, a raised parapet, or a bright trim where there was a dark one.

There are listed entries scattered around Boldre as well, and a flat roof on or attached to one of those needs listed building consent even if the work is a like for like repair. If you are not sure which category your house falls into, the National Park Authority's interactive property map will tell you in a minute, and National Park heritage and conservation guidance explains what the Park expects. It is worth checking before materials are ordered, because a lantern that has to come back out is an expensive way to learn.

You can check us before anyone goes up a ladder. The company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. It belongs to Thomas Hannen, and he is the person who stands on your garage roof and works the figures out. Before you book a visit in Boldre, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

From Boscombe it is roughly thirteen miles to Boldre, and we cover Pilley, Portmore, Bull Hill and South Baddesley as well as the village. Where a re-cover needs building control it is notified to New Forest District Council; planning is the National Park’s business. On Checkatrade a verified customer marked the work 10 out of 10. Coming to look costs nothing, and the itemised quote is free too.

Most repairs in Boldre 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.