Flat roofing in Canford Heath

Garage roofs. Many houses on Canford Heath have an attached or integral garage with a flat roof, often on a chipboard or plywood deck laid over timber joists. The felt on these was never meant to last fifty years. When it blisters and splits we strip it, check the deck for soft spots and rot, and replace any boards that have gone. A single garage is usually a day or two.

Kitchen and living room extensions. These matter more, because a failure drips on to a ceiling, not a car. We look hard at the fall. A flat roof needs a slope of at least 1 in 80 to shed water, and many built on Canford Heath in the eighties and nineties were laid dead level and hold puddles. That ponding is what makes felt blister and bubble. Firring pieces under a new deck put the fall back, as BS 6229, the code of practice for flat roofs, expects.

Warm roof or cold roof. Most garage and extension roofs in Canford Heath were built as a cold roof, with any insulation between the joists and a void above it. Without airflow that void collects condensation and the deck rots from underneath. When we re-deck a heated extension we turn it into a warm roof: a vapour control layer on the deck, PIR insulation boards on top, and the covering over those. Replacing a whole roof over a heated room brings in Part L, so building control is told, and we tell you that at the quote stage.

EPDM rubber. A single sheet of synthetic rubber bonded to the deck, with no seams on a small roof. It is cold applied, it copes with the sun, and it suits garages and extensions with simple shapes.

GRP fibreglass. Laid wet over the deck with a resin and matting, then topped with a coloured topcoat. It gives a hard surface you can stand on and shaped edge trims for a crisp finish. Best on a dry day.

Built up felt. Modern torch-on felt in two or three layers with a mineral cap sheet is still a good system and a sensible choice where a neighbour's roof joins yours.

The edges and outlets. Most leaks are at the edges: the abutment where the upstand meets the house wall, the drip edge into the gutter, and the outlet. We cut a chase into the brick joint and dress a new lead cover flashing over the upstand, fit a proper drip trim, and make sure the outlet is big enough. On an extension built with a cavity tray above the roof line, we check it is still weeping out rather than into the room.

Rooflights and pipes. A skylight, a lantern over a kitchen, or a soil pipe or vent pipe coming through the deck all need their own kerb and collar. Lifted felt round a rooflight is a classic leak, and it is easy to seal properly when the roof is re-covered.

When we would not re-cover. A small split in an otherwise sound felt roof can be patched. If the deck is dry and firm and the covering has a few years left, we say so.

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. On Canford Heath, a detached house with an integral garage, a semi with a rear kitchen extension, and a bungalow with a flat roof porch over the front door each need different access and different edge detail. 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 Heath and the streets around it, from Gravel Hill across to Tower Park, and out to Creekmoor, Oakdale and Broadstone. BCP Council is the planning and building control authority, and our base in Boscombe is about six miles away.

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 Heath, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Canford Heath 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.