Flat roofing in Kinson

An old felt roof gets re-covered. Most of the flat roofs added to the post-war houses in Kinson went on in built up felt, three layers with a chipping or mineral cap sheet on top. Felt of that age splits along the laps, blisters in the sun and lifts at the upstands.

We strip it to the deck, then lay the new system: GRP laid wet over a new OSB or plywood deck, a single ply EPDM rubber membrane bonded down in one sheet, or a modern torch on felt where that suits the roof better. A single storey extension is usually two or three working days.

The deck and the falls. A lot of the older decks in Kinson are chipboard. Once that has been wet it swells and goes soft, and it has to come out. While it is off we fix the falls. A flat roof that holds standing water after rain has too little fall, and tapered firrings on top of the joists put that right so the water runs to the gutter or the outlet instead of sitting in a pool.

Warm roof or cold roof. Many of these Kinson roofs have little or no insulation. When a roof is replaced, building control expects it brought up to standard, and the usual answer is a warm roof: PIR boards laid on a vapour control layer above the deck, with the membrane on top. That keeps the timber on the warm side and deals with the condensation a cold roof can suffer from.

Bungalow dormers. Bungalows are a large part of the housing here, and plenty have had the loft converted with a flat-roofed dormer. Those roofs are small, high and awkward to reach, and the leaks are usually at the edges, where the dormer cheek meets the main slope and the lead or felt apron has cracked. We re-dress the abutment flashings and fit new edge trims and drips at the same time as the covering.

Rooflights and pipes. A rooflight or a lantern over a kitchen, or a soil pipe through the roof, gets a proper upstand and a sealed collar instead of a smear of mastic.

When we would talk you out of it. A young roof with one split seam or one lifted trim needs a repair, not a new covering, and we will say so.

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 at the end of a drive, a kitchen extension behind a semi with a side passage, and a dormer on top of a bungalow are three very different jobs to reach and protect. 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.

We cover Kinson and the rest of BH10 and BH11, including West Howe, Bear Cross, Ensbury Park and Northbourne. BCP Council handles planning and building control, and our Boscombe base is under four miles away.

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. Before you book a visit in Kinson, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Kinson 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.