Flat Roofing in Lover
Flat roof repairs, re-covering in EPDM, GRP fibreglass and felt, new decks, falls and lead detailing on older property around Lover and Redlynch.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Last updated
If your flat roof in Lover is single storey, a lean-to, a bathroom over the back or a garage put up later, that keeps the access cheap, which is worth knowing, because it means a proper quote spends its money on the deck and the junctions rather than on getting up there.
If rain is coming through the ceiling of one of those rooms now, ring 07435 839745.
The first look
What happens before anybody writes a price
A damp patch has come up on a bedroom ceiling in Lover. A garage covering has split and blistered after a hot summer. Water lies up there for days on end, which is ponding, and normally means the roof was never laid to a fall in the first place.
None of that reads properly from the garden. We get up, walk it, lift a small area where it is safe to, and photograph the boards, so what you are handed is evidence rather than an opinion.
The visit costs nothing and neither does the written quote. Where the answer is a repair we say so, even on a roof old enough that a re-cover would have been the bigger job.
Stage by stage
What a day on your roof actually looks like
First, the roof is stripped. The old covering on a Lover roof comes off rather than a new one going over the top of it, because you cannot see a wet deck through a fresh membrane. Torch on felt, built up felt, a cracked GRP shell or a lifted single ply sheet all come back to the boards, and what comes off leaves with us.
Look. Plywood, OSB, chipboard, or plain boarding across the joists on the older additions. Chipboard that has been damp is finished and sags between the timbers. Ply that gives underfoot is going the same way. On a later addition the joists themselves are often light as well as wet, so they get checked before anything goes back down.
Set the fall. Firrings cut and fixed over the joists, or tapered insulation shaped into a warm roof build up, so the surface runs at a rainwater outlet. This is the stage that decides how long the roof lasts and it is the one most often skipped. Standing water finds every lap and seam it can, given time.
Insulate. On a warm roof, PIR over the deck with the vapour control layer beneath it, which holds the dew point out of the timber. On a cold roof the insulation stays between the joists and the void above it has to be ventilated, or condensation and interstitial damp finish the boards off from underneath. BS 6229 covers the build and Approved Document L the level it has to reach.
Cover. EPDM rubber unrolled as one sheet with its laps bonded cold. GRP fibreglass laid wet over new ply and cured into a single skin. Three layers of built up felt under a torch on mineral cap sheet. Single ply hot air welded where the span is long. Shape and foot traffic pick between them.
Detail, then follow the water. This is the slow part. An upstand against soft old brickwork will not always take a cut chase, so it becomes lead over an apron, or a cover flashing pinned and pointed instead. A parapet gets its coping bedded and a cavity tray behind. Edge trims with a drip go round the open sides. Every rooflight, lantern, Velux, hatch, soil pipe and vent pipe gets a kerb or a collar. Then the outlet, hopper, gutter and downpipe are cleared and run through, because under trees they silt up faster than anybody expects.
How it runs
What happens on a flat roof job, start to finish
Thomas climbs up and walks the roof before he puts a figure on it. Flat roofs in Lover can be anything from a lean-to on the back of a cottage to a garage set apart from the house or a flat valley between two pitched roofs, and each gives out in its own way. He treads the deck for give, looks where puddles have dried, and lifts the covering at an edge if he can.
On paper it is set out as the platform, taking up the old covering, new decking or firrings where they are needed, insulation, the membrane itself, every upstand, outlet and trim, and the skip. The stripping and the laying are on that one price. With Lover 18.1 miles out, everything is ordered from the survey and comes on one delivery, so a deck is never sitting open while we wait for a second order. The roof is covered every night, the site is tidied every evening and the old felt goes off with us. A rotten joist under the deck is photographed and priced, and left until you decide.
Re-covering what is there is maintenance, and Planning Portal guidance sets out where that stops. If an application were ever needed it would be made to the Park Authority, while Wiltshire Council checks building regulations. It is worth a look at the National Park Authority's interactive property map before anything is ordered.
Cost
The deck, the fall and the trees: flat roof pricing
A price per square metre would tell you nothing useful. What sits under the covering decides the job. The deck. Boards that are firm underfoot can take a new covering straight over. Chipboard that has been wet for years, or ply that flexes when you stand on it, has to be replaced, and a corner is lifted at the survey to find out which you have. Nothing swings a flat roof price more.
Leaves and needles. A Lover flat roof near trees collects debris that chokes outlets and holds water against the membrane. Then the outlet and edge detail may need changing as well as the covering, and firrings to give a real fall towards it are extra timber and time.
Where it meets the house. Where a flat roof runs into an old wall or a pitched roof, the upstand and flashing detail is where leaks start. Each one, each edge trim and each outlet gets its own figure.
The system. EPDM, GRP and torch-on felt price and last differently. Inside the National Park the colour and finish on a roof people can see may matter.
Reaching it. In Lover, a lean-to off a tower is quick to get at. A roof above a two storey wall wants a scaffold standing the whole time the deck is open, and the HSE rules on roofwork are why it is costed separately.
Ask the other quotes: is the deck being replaced? Are firrings going in? Is the scaffold and skip included?
If it is coming through
Water dripping through from a flat roof
Ring rather than use the form. Once a flat roof tears or pulls away at an upstand, rain lands straight on the ceiling, and a sodden deck goes on rotting after the weather clears. Set a bucket under the drip.
If the ceiling is bellying, make one hole at its lowest point above the bucket so it empties rather than collapses. If you can see the roof safely from an upstairs window, look for water lying against the wall or a blocked outlet, and tell us when you call. The first visit gets it covered and dry, and the permanent job is priced once we know how much deck has gone. Scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. A missed call gets a call back as soon as we can.
Worth knowing
Against a solid wall, the flashing is the whole argument
If your flat roof in Lover is fixed to a solid wall, built before anyone used a cavity, that does not change which covering you choose, but it changes everything about the edges.
Solid walls move, settle and hold moisture in a way a modern cavity does not. A chase cut hard into soft brick or a lime jointed wall can do more damage than the leak it was cut for, and a flashing pinned into crumbling mortar will be off again inside two winters.
So on a solid wall we work with the wall instead of into it. Lead dressed over an apron. A cover flashing wedged and repointed rather than raked out deep. Upstands taken high enough that driven rain off the south west cannot get behind them. It is slower, and on the quote it shows up as more hours at the junctions and fewer square metres of covering. On a wall like that it is the right way round, and it is a fair question to put to any other quote you are holding.
Who you are dealing with
The firm behind your flat roof quote
Lover, Redlynch, Downton, Morgan's Vale and the rest of SP5 are covered from the same Boscombe base that serves Bournemouth, 18.1 miles away. Building regulations here go through Wiltshire Council, while planning sits with the National Park Authority.
Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd is the legal name, a company registered in England and Wales under 15471719. Its owner, Thomas Hannen, gets up on your flat roof in person before any figure is written. Checkatrade shows a verified 10 out of 10 from one of our customers. The trip out and the written breakdown of costs are both free of charge. Before you book a visit in Lover, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Lover?
Most repairs in Lover 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.
| Question | In Lover |
|---|---|
| Who decides | New Forest National Park Authority is the planning authority for Lover. New Forest National Park Authority's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | None covers Lover, so a like-for-like repair is ordinary maintenance. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Lover. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | Inside the New Forest National Park, where design is looked at more closely and permitted development rights are narrower. |
Questions
Questions about flat roofs in Lover
Do I ask the National Park or Wiltshire Council?
Lover is inside the New Forest National Park, so the Park Authority handles planning rather than Wiltshire Council. If you are near the Park edge, its property map confirms it in a moment. For a like for like re-cover it makes no odds either way, because that is maintenance.
There are trees over the roof. Does that change anything?
It changes the upkeep more than the build. Leaf litter blocks an outlet and holds damp on the covering, so we size the outlet properly, fit a guard where it suits, and tell you when to look at it. No covering minds a tree. A blocked outlet minds it a great deal.
Can you buy me a season while I decide?
Sometimes, and we will say plainly when that is all it is. A temporary patch on a covering that still bends is fair value. On one that cracks wherever you press it we would rather sheet it and price the proper job than take money for the same roof twice.
Is a tower enough on a lean-to?
On most single storey work here, yes, and it is a lighter line on the quote than a scaffold. Above a two storey wall, or where boards and insulation have to be handled up a face, we want a proper platform that stands while the deck is open.
Nearby, and next door
Flat roofing near Lover
Nearby places we also cover for flat roofing, with straight-line distances from Lover, and the other trades we offer in Lover itself.
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Free quote
Get a written price for your Lover flat roof
A free site visit, the deck and the junctions checked, and an itemised quote you can compare.