Flat roofing in Highcliffe

The coverings we take off. Felt, usually. A three layer built up system with a mineral cap sheet, or a single torch on layer laid over whatever went before. It splits at the creases, blisters where damp was sealed in, and lifts at a seam where it turns up an upstand. A failed seam is worse than a hole, because water gets under the whole covering instead of through one point.

The systems we put on. EPDM rubber on a plain rectangle, bonded in a single sheet so there is no lap in the open field. GRP fibreglass where there are kerbs, corners and upstands to laminate round, and where a surface will be walked on. Single ply, hot air welded, on the bigger communal areas.

Deck, joists and falls. Plywood, OSB or chipboard decking sits on joists, with firrings on top forming the fall. Chipboard that has been wet gives underfoot and comes off. Where a roof was laid dead flat you get ponding, and standing water held in one corner all winter finishes a covering off years early. If the joists cannot be re-firred we form the fall in tapered insulation instead. BS 6229 sets out the falls and the drainage.

Insulation belongs above the deck. On any roof over a heated room, Part L brings the insulation up when the covering is renewed, and where it goes decides whether the roof survives. Above the boards, on a vapour control layer, with PIR and then the membrane, is a warm roof, and there is nothing left cold enough to condense on. Between the joists is a cold roof, and the deck ends up under the dew point with warm air arriving from the flat below. Interstitial condensation follows and the boards rot from the top surface down. Building control are notified and inspect it before it is covered.

Junctions, openings and drainage. A flat roof leaks at its edges, so that is where the work is. The abutment gets a chase, a lead cover flashing cut into it and a cavity tray above. Parapets, which are everywhere on the blocks here, want a sound coping and an apron under it. Every opening is built up on a kerb before the covering goes near it: a rooflight, a lantern, a Velux style flat roof window, a hatch, a soil and vent pipe. The open edges finish over a drip trim, and each rainwater outlet feeds a hopper, a downpipe or the gutter. A garage roof is a day, a balcony or an extension two or three working days, and we say how long before we start.

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 in a shared block, a balcony deck over somebody's lounge and a rear extension behind a semi are three different jobs before a sheet is unrolled. 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.

Getting on for four in ten homes in Highcliffe are flats or maisonettes, and on a leasehold flat the roof is not yours. The structure outside your front door belongs to the freeholder and is paid for out of the service charge, which means a stain on a top floor ceiling is a job for the managing agent rather than for you. The same goes for a balcony deck that is leaking into the flat below, even though you are the only person who walks on it.

The quickest route is to report the fault in writing to whoever manages the block, then let us look and put what the roof needs in writing so you have something concrete to send them. If you sit on the residents' company, one thing is worth knowing early. Where the cost passed on to any single leaseholder goes over a set threshold, the landlord has to consult formally under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 before committing. That moves the timetable, not the roof, and it is far easier arranged in spring than in November.

We cover Highcliffe, Walkford, Mudeford, Christchurch and the rest of BH23. 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.