Flat roofing in Langton Matravers

The roof over the back comes first. Plenty of the stone houses in Langton Matravers have a single storey addition at the back, and it usually has a flat top.

Where the deck is sound we strip to the boards and lay EPDM rubber, which goes down as one sheet with bonded seams and very little to fail, or GRP fibreglass where there are kerbs, steps and awkward corners to work round. A torch on torch on felt, three layers under a mineral cap sheet, still has its place on a larger, plainer roof.

Garages, stores and workshops. Detached buildings weather from every side and have nothing warming them, so the covering hardens sooner. Single ply, welded at the laps, suits the bigger spans. Whatever goes on, the deck comes first: plywood, OSB or chipboard, and chipboard that has been damp for a season has to come off.

Junctions with rubble stone. This is the part that makes flat roofing in Langton Matravers different. A rubble stone wall does not give you a clean line to cut a chase into, so an abutment is formed by taking a lead cover flashing into a raked bed joint and wedging it, rather than grinding a slot across the face of the stone. Where there is a parapet the coping and any cavity tray matter as much as the membrane. Get this wrong and the roof is blamed for a wall that is letting water in.

Falls, insulation and the damp that is not a leak. Firrings give a flat roof its falls, and without them you get ponding and standing water at every low spot, which works on every lap and seam it sits over. Tapered insulation corrects a fall from above where headroom is tight. A warm roof puts PIR over the deck on top of a vapour control layer, keeping the timber warm enough never to reach the dew point. A cold roof leaves the insulation between the joists and has to be ventilated, or condensation and interstitial damp rot the decking with no rain involved. BS 6229 is the code both come from.

Edges, openings and rainwater. The usual faults are blisters and bubbles, a split or crack in a tired covering, and a lifted or failed seam. At the perimeter it is the edge trim, the drip and the apron. Openings mean a rooflight, a lantern or a Velux on a formed kerb, and any soil pipe or vent pipe. Then the rainwater outlet, whatever hopper it drops into, and the downpipe below, with fixings and trims chosen to survive the salt that reaches this far.

A flat roof price per square metre would tell you little. The covering is the quick part, and the unknowns sit underneath and at the edges.

The deck. Chipboard that has taken water swells and crumbles, and ply that has been wet goes soft. Either has to be cut out and replaced before anything new goes on, and it is the largest single swing in the price. Thomas lifts a corner to see before writing a figure.

The fall. Rain should run to an outlet within minutes. A roof that holds puddles was laid flat or has a blocked or moved outlet, and firrings under a new deck put that right.

Wind and salt. Close to the sea, with weather arriving from the south west, edge trims and upstands need secure fixing, and salt corrodes cheap metal trims. The system and detailing are chosen to suit, which can change the cost.

Access. A garage beside a lane comes off a tower. A roof above a taller wall wants scaffold with edge protection, and under the work at height rules it is shown as a line of its own.

Ask other firms which system they are laying and in how many layers, whether the deck is new or reused, whether the falls are corrected, and whether scaffold and skip are included.

Our base in Boscombe is 11.2 miles from the village. We re-cover flat roofs in Langton Matravers, Acton, Kingston and the BH19 addresses along the ridge towards Swanage, with Dorset Council as the planning authority.

You deal with Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, which is registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, and Thomas Hannen, who owns it, climbs up to your flat roof himself and writes the price. On Checkatrade there is a verified customer's 10 out of 10. There is nothing to pay for the visit, and the itemised written quote is free as well. Before you book a visit in Langton Matravers, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Langton Matravers 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.