Flat roofing in Hangersley

Detached and integral garages. The biggest single group of flat roofs here. Most are three layer felt, two underlays and a mineral cap sheet, on a chipboard, plywood or OSB deck, and they fail in a predictable order: the cap sheet weathers, a lap opens, the deck gets wet at that corner, and then it spreads. Caught early it is a strip and re-lay in EPDM rubber or a modern torch on system. Caught late it is new decking first.

Dormer tops and cheeks. A flat topped dormer is a small roof with a lot of edge, and the cheeks either side are usually the real problem. Water tracks down a cheek, behind an apron that was never dressed in, and shows up below as a roof leak. We re-form the upstands and take the covering high enough that driven rain cannot get behind it.

Wide flat sections and links. Houses of this era often have a long flat run over a rear extension or between two pitched roofs. Those suit single ply, welded at the laps and mechanically fixed, or GRP fibreglass where there are kerbs and steps in the level. On a large area the falls matter more than the material, and firrings are what create them. Where headroom is tight, tapered insulation does the same job above the deck.

Cold roof to warm roof. Almost everything of this age was built as a cold roof: insulation between the joists, a void above it that was supposed to breathe and usually does not. That is why so many of these roofs are damp underneath without ever having leaked. Rebuilt as a warm roof, the PIR goes over the deck with a vapour control layer beneath it, the timber stays on the warm face and never reaches the dew point, and condensation and interstitial damp stop being an annual problem. BS 6229 covers both build ups and is the reference we work to.

The details that decide it. Blisters and bubbles, a split or crack in an old covering, a lifted or failed seam, ponding and standing water at a low spot. At the perimeter the edge trim, the drip and the apron. Where a roof meets brickwork, a chase cut and a lead cover flashing rather than mastic, and on a parapet the coping and cavity tray. Openings mean a rooflight, a lantern or a Velux on a kerb, plus any soil pipe or vent pipe. Then the downpipe, the hopper above it, the gutter and the rainwater outlet.

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 detached garage on a gravel drive, a dormer top on a chalet and a wide flat section over a rear extension are not the same job, however similar they look on paper. 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 Hangersley, Poulner, Crow and the BH24 addresses on the Ringwood side of the forest, with the New Forest National Park Authority as the planning 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.