Flat Roofing in Holt

We would repair almost any single fault. A blister, a bubble, a lifted lap, a split across a surface that is otherwise sound, a trim that has come away: every one of those is a morning. The failed area comes back to material with life left in it, a fresh piece is bonded or welded across, and the edge is dressed flat so wind cannot get a start on it.

We would talk you out of a fourth patch. Once a covering cracks wherever you press it, each repair only moves the leak along to the next weak spot, and you end up paying a small bill every year for a roof that needs doing anyway. Better to hear that on the first visit than after three more call-outs.

We would spend money on the deck before we spent it on the covering. Chipboard boarding that has been damp for years holds no screw and carries no weight, and plywood delaminates and flexes underfoot. Both come off and OSB goes back, with the joists checked while everything is open. The best membrane made is wasted over soft boards.

We would put the fall right at the same time. A roof that holds water after rain was built flat rather than worn flat, and firrings or tapered insulation are what put that back. We would open up the outlet, the hopper, the gutter and the downpipe too, because on an outbuilding those are usually the parts nobody has touched since it went up.

We would talk you out of the wrong covering for the building. EPDM, one sheet of rubber bonded down cold with no flame anywhere, is the right answer over a timber workshop. GRP, brushed on wet over new plywood and cured as a single fibreglass skin, wants a rigid deck under it and does not care for movement. Three layer built up felt under a torched mineral cap sheet is what we would use on anything that gets walked on. Welded single ply belongs over a long open span such as a stable block. Anyone offering the same system for every roof on the plot is selling what is on the van.

And we would build it warm if the covering is coming off anyway. PIR over the boarding with the vapour control layer below it keeps the dew point out of the timber, where a cold roof depends on a ventilation gap staying clear for the rest of the building's life. BS 6229 is the code for the build. Either way the detailing is the same and it is where the leaks are: a cover flashing chased into the wall or lead over an apron, coping bedded on a parapet with a cavity tray behind, a drip trim along every open edge, a kerb built up under any rooflight or lantern so the skylight clears standing water, and a collar on each soil pipe, vent pipe and hatch.

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 double garage down a farm track, a lean-to across the back of a cottage and a flat section between two pitched roofs are three different jobs before anything 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.

We cover Holt, Furzehill, Wimborne Minster, Hinton Martell and the lanes across BH21, out from Bournemouth. 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.