Flat roofing in Crossways

The garage roof. Most of the work here, and most of it is felt laid when the estate went up. What fails is a lap that has split, a blister lifted off the deck, a seam gone between two sheets, or a trim whose fixings have pulled. Any of those is cut out, primed and welded back under a fresh cap sheet in a morning. What decides whether that is worth doing is the deck: chipboard swells the moment water reaches it and never flattens again, so a garage roof that dips in the middle is a board problem wearing a covering problem's clothes.

The porch and the bay top. Small roofs, awkward shapes, usually the ones with a kerb, an outlet and something to work round. GRP fibreglass is laid wet onto the deck, so it takes a shape rather than being cut to one, and that is why it suits these. A crack along a joint grinds out and re-laminates. On a plain rectangle we would rather use EPDM rubber, because it goes on as one sheet with no joints across the field and there is nothing in the middle of it to fail.

The roof over the back kitchen. Bigger, usually over a room in daily use, and the one where the build up decides how happy you are in five years. A built up three layer torch on felt system is still a proper roof and single ply belongs on the wider spans. What we will not do is re-cover a room roof cold when it is already running with condensation. PIR insulation above the deck, with the vapour control layer under it, keeps the dew point outside the timber and stops the interstitial damp people mistake for a leak. BS 6229 covers the build up.

Falls, and where the water is meant to go. Roofs of this era were often laid dead level. Firrings over the joists put a slope back, or tapered insulation does the same work inside a warm roof, so water reaches the rainwater outlet rather than pooling. Ponding will not come through a sound covering by itself, but it holds grit and moss on the surface all winter and it is where the first split appears. Standing water underfoot that moves like a bubble is water in the deck.

The junctions, which is where the hours are. The upstand against the house wall, the abutment with a lead cover flashing set into a chase, the drip and apron at the front edge, the kerb round a rooflight, and the outlet itself. A parapet, a coping and a cavity tray get formed, not sealed. A skylight, a lantern, a Velux, a hatch, a soil pipe or a vent pipe each need a collar. And before any of it, we check the gutter, the hopper and the downpipe. A garage is a day, a back extension with a new deck two or three working days.

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 single garage on a driveway, a porch roof you could touch from the path and a full width rear extension are three different jobs before anything is stripped. 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.

We cover Crossways, Woodsford, Warmwell, Moreton and the DT2 villages along the Frome, 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.