Flat roofing in Highcliffe

The coverings we take off. In Highcliffe it is 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 in Highcliffe, 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.

A price per square metre would tell you nothing useful. The membrane is cheap; what sits below it sets the bill.

What it covers. In Highcliffe, a garage in a shared court, a kitchen extension behind a bungalow and a balcony over a neighbour's lounge are three separate jobs before a roll is opened. Garages are usually tower work. Above two storeys it is scaffold, kept up for as long as the deck is exposed and costed as its own line under the rules on working at height.

The boards. Decking that is sound gets covered as it is. Chipboard gone soft after years of damp, or plywood that springs underfoot, gets replaced, and no photograph can tell you which you have. Hence the lifted edge before any price.

Falls and outlets. A dead level roof ponds, and standing water finds every seam. Firrings put a fall back towards the outlet. They add to the cost of the membrane alone, and they are what makes a new covering last.

The wind off the sea. Gales in Highcliffe come from the south west and lift a flat roof at its edges first. On an exposed garage or balcony the edge trims, the bonding at the perimeter and the upstands matter more than the middle of the sheet, and the code of practice for flat roofs sets how they are detailed.

Comparing? Find out which system, EPDM, GRP or felt, and the number of layers; whether soft decking will be replaced; and whether firrings and the skip are priced in.

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.

Flat roofs from the garage courts behind the flats to the extensions on the bungalows, in Highcliffe, Walkford, Friars Cliff and on into Christchurch, all come under BCP Council. Our base at 80a Wolverton Road, Boscombe, is 5.7 miles away. Thomas Hannen owns the firm.

He is the one who comes out, lifts that corner of felt and writes your price. One verified customer on Checkatrade gave us a 10 out of 10. There is no charge for the visit or for the itemised written quote. On paper we are Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. Before you book a visit in Highcliffe, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Highcliffe 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.