Flat roofing in Canford Cliffs

Garage and extension roofs. Most of the detached houses in Canford Cliffs have at least one: a double garage, a kitchen extension, a porch or a dormer cheek.

Plenty in Canford Cliffs are still on built up felt from when they were first put on, and the signs of the end are the same everywhere: blisters, splits at the upstand, and standing water in the middle where the deck has sagged. A small garage re-covered in EPDM or GRP is one of the shorter jobs. If the chipboard or OSB deck has been wet for years, overlaying it is a waste of your money and we will tell you so.

What goes on. EPDM rubber is a single ply sheet, bonded down with the seams kept to a minimum, and it forgives a bit of movement. GRP fibreglass is laid wet over a ply deck and suits a roof you will walk on, a terrace or a roof with awkward shapes. Torch on felt in a three layer built up system with a mineral cap sheet is still a sound choice on a plain garage. We say which we would use and why, rather than quoting whatever we happen to have on the van.

Falls, outlets and the pines. A flat roof lives or dies on its fall. Canford Cliffs is thick with pines, and needles collect at the outlet and the edge trim, so a roof that drained fine for years starts to pond. Where the falls were never right we correct them with tapered firrings on the joists before the new plywood deck goes down, and we fit a rainwater outlet that can be cleared, with the hopper and downpipe below it checked so the water has somewhere to go.

Warm roof or cold roof. Most re-covers are the chance to insulate. A warm roof puts PIR boards above the deck on a vapour control layer, which keeps the timber on the warm side of the dew point and stops interstitial condensation forming inside it. Approved Document L sets what a renovated roof should reach, and BS 6229 is the code of practice we detail it to.

Blocks, balconies and rooflights. Several of the post-war blocks of flats in Canford Cliffs are flat roofed behind a parapet. The membrane is often fine and the failure is at the abutment: a cover flashing come out of its chase, a cracked coping, a missing cavity tray, or lead that has split at the apron. Rooflights and skylights, lanterns, hatches, soil pipes and vent pipes are the other usual entry points. On a terrace over another flat, the build up, the drainage and the upstand at the door threshold all have to work, and we look at them together. Pitched roof trouble on the same building goes to our roofing side.

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. In Canford Cliffs, a garage roof reached across a garden, a two storey extension over a sunroom and the roof of a block of flats behind a parapet are three different access problems, and on the block the materials have to be lifted up the outside. 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.

We cover Canford Cliffs and the rest of BH13, from the Haven Road shops out to the houses above the chines and across into Branksome Park, a little over four miles from our base in Boscombe. BCP Council is the planning and building control authority.

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. Before you book a visit in Canford Cliffs, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Canford Cliffs 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.