Flat roofing in Lyndhurst

The dormer cheek. Small, high up, and ignored because nobody can see it. What fails is the junction: the upstand where the cheek meets the main slope, the lead soaker or cover flashing dressed into a chase, and the drip and apron along the front. Water finds those long before it finds the middle of a covering. EPDM rubber and a torch on felt patch will both take a cheek, and the work is in the detailing rather than the area.

The back addition. The bread and butter here. The deck is often plain boarding across the joists rather than plywood, OSB or chipboard, and it was rarely laid to a fall. Firrings over the joists, or tapered insulation inside a warm roof build up, get water back to the rainwater outlet. Ponding holds grit and moss on the surface and keeps the roof from drying, and a bubble underfoot means the boards below have gone. Where the covering is otherwise sound we repair: a split at a lap, a blister that has lifted, a seam that has failed. Felt is cut out, primed and welded under a fresh cap sheet, fibreglass is ground back and re-laminated, rubber is cleaned and bonded again.

The link and the yard roof. Awkward shapes with a kerb, an outlet and often a rooflight in them. GRP fibreglass is laid wet onto the deck and formed in place, which is why it suits these. A plain rectangle is better in EPDM rubber, one sheet with no joints across the field. A built up three layer torch on felt system is still right on plenty of them, and single ply belongs on the larger flats behind the commercial frontages.

What every one of them needs. Lead at the abutment, a chase cut in a mortar joint rather than across a soft brick, a parapet, a coping and a cavity tray formed rather than sealed, and a collar round every skylight, lantern, Velux, hatch, soil pipe and vent pipe. The gutter, hopper and downpipe get checked too, since a blocked one backs water up under the trim and reads as a roof failure from inside.

And the build up underneath. On a solid wall building this matters more, not less. A warm roof puts PIR insulation above the deck with the vapour control layer under it, keeping the dew point clear of the joists so you do not trade a leak for condensation and interstitial damp. A ventilated cold roof is still fine over a store. BS 6229 is the code of practice. A dormer cheek is a day, a back addition with a new deck two or three working days.

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 back addition reached through a narrow side passage, a dormer cheek two storeys up and a flat roof over a shop yard are three different jobs before a sheet comes off. 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 Lyndhurst, Emery Down, Bank, Minstead and the SO43 side of the Forest, and the site visit costs you nothing. 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.