Flat roofing in Downton
Flat roof repairs, re-covering and warm roof build ups across Downton and the SP5 villages. Free site visit, free written itemised quote.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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Downton flat roofs are mostly small, old and tucked behind something. A rear outshot, a bay top, a porch or a garage. Small does not mean simple, because it is the junction with the older building next to it that usually lets the water in.
An old village produces old roofs, and their faults show it. A ceiling has marked in a back room and nobody can say where the water came in. The covering has cracked along a fold where it has been flexing for years. Or a parapet has shed part of its coping and rain is running straight into the wall head. Much of the housing in Downton predates the last century, so rather than one clean rectangle over a modern extension the flat roof is often a narrow one behind a terrace, a lean-to at the back of a cottage, or a flat section squeezed between two pitched roofs. What we do not do is guess from the pavement. We get onto the roof safely, check the falls, the outlets, the lead and every junction, and photograph it all before anything is priced. If water is coming into that back room as it rains, ring 07435 839745 and say where it shows.
The work itself
The coverings, the deck and the detail
We start at the junctions. On a roof tucked behind a terrace or set against a cottage wall, the covering in the middle is rarely the culprit.
It is the upstand that was dressed against brickwork and never cut in, the lead that split because it was nailed so it could not move, the parapet that has lost its coping, or the outlet that silted up two winters back. Any one of those is a morning or a day rather than a new roof.
What a repair covers. Cracks at a fold, blisters that have burst, seams opened at a lap, edge trims off their fixings. All of them patchable while the rest of the covering still has life in it. We find the entry point by following the falls, not by opening the roof up above the stain.
Re-covering an awkward shape. These roofs are short spanned, irregular and full of upstands, and torch on felt in three built up layers under a mineral cap sheet copes with that better than anything else. Where there is a plain rectangle, EPDM rubber bonds down as one sheet with nothing crossing the field. Where people walk, GRP fibreglass sets into a single skin complete with its trims. Where a roof is genuinely large, single ply is welded at the joints. A small roof can be a day, a garage or an extension two to three working days.
Deck, falls and insulation. Boarded decks turn up in Downton as often as plywood, OSB or chipboard, and a slow leak takes the joist ends before it ever marks a ceiling. Firm decking gets covered over, soft decking comes out. Standing water means the roof never had a fall, or its outlet has been built over, and we cut that back in with firrings or with tapered insulation. Over a heated room the sensible rebuild is a warm roof, with PIR above the deck and a vapour control layer under it, holding the timber above the dew point and shutting interstitial condensation out. That is the direction of both BS 6229:2025 on flat roofs and Approved Document L.
And then the rest of the detail. A kerb built for a rooflight, a lantern, a Velux, a hatch, a soil pipe or a vent pipe. A cover flashing chased in above a proper upstand. Lead aprons where lead belongs. A cavity tray where a cavity exists to take one. Copings reset. Drip, edge trim, gutter, hopper and downpipe all checked, because an old wall soaks up whatever a broken gutter gives it.
How it runs
Flat roofs on Downton extensions, from visit to handover
Thomas gets onto the roof, presses the deck with his boots to find the soft areas, lifts a corner of the covering if he can, and follows the water to its outlet. The written price then lists getting up there, taking off the old felt, new decking or firrings where needed, insulation, the new membrane, and each upstand, outlet and trim at the edge, plus the waste. Strip and new roof share one written price.
In Downton most flat roofs sit over rear extensions, dormers and garages on the post-war houses and bungalows, or over an outshot behind an older cottage. A garage usually comes off a tower. A rear extension behind a terrace with no side access means everything goes through the house or down a shared passage, so we agree the route and protect the floors first. The deck is always covered before we go home, we sweep up every evening and the waste goes with us. If joists turn out to be rotten, Thomas shows you a photo and puts a price on it before the job goes any further.
Like for like re-covering is maintenance and needs no planning permission, as Planning Portal guidance explains. Change the roof shape, or deck over a habitable room, and Wiltshire Council building control needs a building notice or full plans application. On a listed building, or where the house sits inside the Downton Conservation Area, which covers the historic core, we check the other permissions you may require before writing a specification.
Cost
Why two flat roof quotes can be far apart
Nobody should price a flat roof per square metre, because the covering is the smallest unknown. The deck. Plenty of garages and extensions from the post-war decades were decked in chipboard, and chipboard that has been wet swells and crumbles. Ply that gives underfoot is also coming off. Thomas lifts a corner before quoting, because a new deck is the biggest swing in the price.
Falls and outlets. A roof that ponds was usually laid dead flat. Correcting it means firrings under a new deck, and every outlet, the upstands and each edge trim are priced on their own, because that is where water gets in.
The system. Torch-on felt in layers, a single sheet of EPDM rubber and GRP fibreglass each suit different roofs, and a new membrane laid over insulation lifts the roof level at the door threshold. A small dormer cheek on an old Downton cottage is fiddly whichever you choose.
Reaching it. A tower for a garage, a scaffold above a two storey wall, and a skip that may have to sit on the road outside a terraced cottage in Downton. The work at height rules make the access platform a line of its own.
Ask any other firm how many layers are going on, whether the deck is being renewed, and whether the scaffold and skip are included.
If it is coming through
When rain comes through the flat roof
Water through a ceiling under a flat roof usually means a split, a blister that has burst or felt that has pulled away at an upstand. Call rather than using the form. Clear the room under it, and if the plaster is bulging keep everyone out.
Please do not climb onto a wet deck yourself. Our first job is to stop more water getting in, with a temporary patch or a tarpaulin held down with weights, and the proper re-cover is priced once we know how much of the decking is wet. Booked work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. Anything urgent is a phone call, and if the call goes unanswered we will get back to you promptly.
Worth knowing
In the conservation area, it is what shows that counts
The conservation area covers a good part of Downton, and it controls how the place looks rather than how it is built. On a flat roof that usually turns out to be good news, because most of them sit behind a parapet, behind a terrace or at the back of a cottage where nobody can see them from the street. A like for like re-cover there is maintenance and there is nothing to apply for.
A visible roof or a listed building changes that. If the roof can be seen from a public place, then swapping a dark mineral cap sheet for a bright finish, or putting a run of rooflights into a visible slope, is a change of appearance and worth asking about before you order anything. And if the building itself is listed, and plenty around Downton are, then consent comes before a change of material even on a roof nobody looks at. We are happy to write the specification so it says exactly what is going on, in what colour and to what profile, which is what the council will want to see anyway.
Who you are dealing with
Who comes out to look at your flat roof
You are dealing with a small firm based in Boscombe, 18.4 miles from Downton, working across the village and the SP5 area around it, including Redlynch, Morgan's Vale and Charlton All Saints. Wiltshire Council deals with planning and building control for these addresses.
Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd is registered in England and Wales under company number 15471719. The business belongs to Thomas Hannen, who visits and prices each flat roof in person. On Checkatrade, a verified customer scored us 10 out of 10. There is no charge for the site visit or for the itemised written quote. Before you book a visit in Downton, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Downton?
Most repairs in Downton 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.
| Question | In Downton |
|---|---|
| Who decides | Wiltshire Council is the planning authority for Downton. |
| Conservation area | Yes: Downton Conservation Area. It covers part of Downton, so check whether your street is inside it. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Downton. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Downton. |
Questions
Questions about flat roofs in Downton
My flat roof runs into next door's. Who deals with what?
You deal with your own, but if the work touches a shared wall or you need to cut into it for a flashing or a cavity tray, that can bring in the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 and a notice to the neighbour. It is rarely a problem and it is much easier raised early than discovered on the day.
Is a flat roof over an old cottage a different job?
Usually yes. The spans are shorter, the decks are older, and the junctions with soft brick or a rendered wall need more care than a modern cavity wall does. It also means we would rather chase a flashing in neatly than seal over the top of it, because sealant on old fabric is a repair with a short life.
Can it be repaired instead of replaced?
Often, yes: a split, a burst blister, a failed seam or a loose trim is a patch, and a blocked outlet is a morning. If the deck under the covering is wet through, a patch buys you one winter, and we will say so on the quote rather than take the money twice.
How long does the work take?
A small roof can be a single day. A garage or extension is normally two to three working days. Renewing the deck, correcting falls with firrings or forming a new kerb for a rooflight all add time, and a bonded system needs a dry deck, so the forecast has a say.
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Flat roofing near Downton
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Get a price for your Downton flat roof
Tell us the address and what you have noticed. We will come out, look at every junction, and put an itemised price in writing. No charge, and no obligation.