Flat roofing in Lymington

Balconies, garages and the roofs over the back rooms. Lymington throws up more balcony and terrace roofs than most places, along with the usual garages, rear extensions, porches and flat topped dormers. A balcony is a flat roof you also walk on, which changes the specification rather than the principle.

Coverings in Lymington are torch on felt, three layer built up felt beneath a mineral cap sheet, GRP fibreglass, and single ply on the larger newer roofs. Every job starts the same way, by stripping a section to see the deck. Dry plywood or OSB takes a new covering. Chipboard decking that has been damp has to be lifted and new boards screwed to the joists first.

Falls, outlets and standing water. Ponding on a Lymington roof this close to open water is more punishing than it looks, because the surface barely gets a chance to dry. Standing water works into every lap and seam and one frost opens them. The reasons are always the same three: no fall built in, firrings or tapered insulation cut too shallow, or a rainwater outlet blocked. We reset the falls so it drains at an outlet rather than in the middle, to the minimum in BS 6229:2025 on flat roofs, and prove the gutter, hopper and downpipe carry it away.

Where it fails, and how we put it right. Flat roofs go at the perimeter and the penetrations, not the middle. The edge trim, the drip, the apron against a wall, the kerb round a rooflight and the laps are the weak points. Felt shows a blister, a bubble or a split. Single ply lifts at a failed seam where the weld was hurried. Fibreglass cracks at a sharp internal angle. Failed material is removed, the upstand is built up behind the covering to a height that suits an exposed elevation, and every seam is welded or bonded.

Openings, abutments and the build up underneath. A rooflight, a lantern, a Velux, a hatch or a soil and vent pipe needs its own kerb and collar. Against brickwork a lead cover flashing is chased in and dressed down. A parapet gets particular attention, coping and tray both, because a parapet is exactly where wind driven rain is pushed. Older roofs in Lymington are cold roofs, insulation between the joists with a dead void above, and condensation and interstitial damp quietly rot the deck in there. Built back as a warm roof, the insulation goes above the boards on a vapour control layer, so the deck sits inside the insulated envelope rather than on the cold side of it.

No rate per square metre from us, because the deck and the falls decide a flat roof and neither shows from the drive.

What the deck is made of. Plenty of the garages and extensions on Lymington's post-war and eighties estates were decked in chipboard, which swells and softens once water gets in. Dry ply can take a new covering. Wet chipboard has to come off, and we find out which you have by lifting a corner before we quote.

How the water leaves. Many older flat roofs were laid dead level, or drain to an outlet that a later extension has boxed in. Setting new firrings to give a proper fall, and forming each upstand against a wall, each outlet and each edge trim, is slow work, and it is where most leaks start.

The system. Built up felt in layers, a single ply membrane and a liquid coating on a balcony are different materials at different prices. On an exposed balcony facing south west, the edge detail matters more than the sheet.

Reaching it. A bungalow garage off a tower is quick to set up. A balcony above a bedroom in a block of flats, or a roof you can only reach through the house, is not, and the work at height rules are why access is priced on its own line.

When you compare, find out what membrane each firm is fitting and in how many plies, whether they are laying over the old deck or renewing it, and whether scaffold and skip hire are in the figure.

The exposed side of a house in Lymington faces south west, which is the direction the weather arrives from off the Solent. On a pitched roof that mostly means driven rain. On a flat roof it means wind trying to get under the perimeter and rain being pushed sideways at every upstand instead of falling onto it. That is why so many roofs here fail at the edge while the middle of the covering still looks almost new.

It changes what you should ask for. The perimeter wants mechanically fixing rather than relying on adhesive alone, and the edge trim wants fixing at proper centres into a sound deck. Upstands need to be taller on the exposed side than the minimum you would get away with inland, and the flashing that covers them needs dressing tight rather than left proud. A balcony door threshold on that elevation deserves particular attention, since it is the one detail where wind driven rain and standing water meet. None of it costs much when the roof is open. All of it is expensive to add later.

You are dealing with a firm based in Boscombe, 12.5 miles away, that covers Lymington, Pennington, Woodside, Buckland and the roads down to the quay. Planning and building control here both sit with New Forest District Council.

The limited company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. Thomas Hannen owns it, and he is the one who gets onto your flat roof and writes the price. On Checkatrade, one verified customer scored us 10 out of 10. We charge nothing for the visit or for the itemised written quote. Before you book a visit in Lymington, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Lymington 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.