Flat roofing in Fordingbridge

The flat bit between two pitched roofs. Fordingbridge has a lot of older housing with something added on the back, and that produces the awkward roof: a flat section running between two pitches, a rear addition, a dormer with a flat top, or a porch. These are the roofs that leak first, because water from both slopes ends up on a small area with one outlet. Coverings are usually torch on felt, three layer built up felt with a mineral surfaced cap sheet, or GRP fibreglass laid over a deck that was already tired. We strip a bay, look at the plywood, OSB or chipboard underneath, and price from what is actually there. Sound boards get a new covering. Wet chipboard decking comes off and new boards are fixed to the joists first.

Choosing the covering. EPDM rubber goes on in a single sheet, which suits a plain rectangle and does not care about a cold day. GRP fibreglass gives a hard surface that copes with foot traffic and trims neatly around a complicated shape, but it wants a dry deck and a mild spell to cure. Torch on felt is still the right answer on plenty of roofs, especially where it has to lap into existing detail. Single ply earns its place on a long clear run. We say which one suits your roof and why it is on the quote.

Falls, outlets and the details. Ponding is a warning, not a quirk. Standing water works into every lap and seam and freezes them apart. The cause is usually no fall at all, firrings cut shallow, or an outlet blocked with silt. We rebuild the falls with firrings or tapered insulation so it runs to a rainwater outlet, following BS 6229:2025 on flat roofs, and check the gutter, hopper and downpipe below. The leaks themselves are almost always at the edge trim, the drip, the apron, the kerb round an opening or a lap: felt blisters, bubbles and splits, single ply lifts at a failed seam, fibreglass cracks at an internal angle. Whatever has failed is taken out, the upstand is formed properly, and the seams are welded or bonded.

Openings, abutments and warm roofs. A rooflight, a lantern, a Velux, a hatch or a soil and vent pipe each wants a kerb and a collar. Against a wall the cover flashing is chased in and dressed in lead, and a parapet has its coping and the tray behind it looked at. Most older roofs in the town are cold roofs, with insulation between the joists and a dead void above where condensation collects and interstitial damp rots the deck unseen. Rebuilt warm, the insulation sits above the boards with a vapour control layer under it, so there is no cold void left for damp air to collect in.

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 garage on an open drive, a rear addition on an older town house, and a flat section trapped between two pitched roofs are three different jobs before a sheet is lifted. 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.

Fordingbridge sits in the River Avon catchment, and that brings in nutrient neutrality. It sounds alarming and for most flat roofing it is irrelevant, so it is worth being clear about when it bites. Re-covering an existing roof, repairing a dormer top or replacing a garage roof adds no new accommodation and the rule does not touch it at all. Nobody has to calculate anything and nothing is delayed.

Where it does apply is when the flat roof is part of a scheme that creates somewhere new to sleep: a loft conversion with a flat topped dormer, an annexe, or an extension that adds a bedroom. Then the planning application has to deal with nutrients before New Forest District Council can grant it, and that adds time rather than roofing work. The practical advice is simple. If your flat roof is maintenance, get on with it. If it is part of adding a bedroom, get the planning side moving early, because the roof will be ready long before the permission is.

We cover Fordingbridge, Sandleheath, Godshill, Hyde and the villages along the Avon, along with the rest of SP6, 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.