Flat roofing in Matchams

Garages, workshops and stores. Usually the oldest, and usually the largest flat roofs on the plot. Most are a three layer built up felt under a mineral cap sheet that has weathered and split at an edge.

If the deck of a Matchams roof is dry we strip and re-lay: EPDM rubber for a plain rectangle, GRP fibreglass where there are kerbs and detail, a modern torch on system on a big straightforward span, and single ply welded at the laps where the area is genuinely large.

Garden rooms and extensions. A lot of garden buildings out in Matchams were put up quickly, with a deck laid dead level and a covering turned over the edge with no trim. That gives you standing water in the middle and a lifted or failed seam at the corner within a few years. Put right, it means firrings to create a fall, a proper edge trim and drip, and upstands taken high enough where the roof meets a wall.

Debris, and why the outlet is the weak point. Pine litter does not wash through. It packs into a rainwater outlet, a hopper or a downpipe and stays there, and resin sets the mat solid, so the roof fills before anybody notices. Under pines a blocked outlet is a common cause of ponding, so rule it out before blaming the falls. We clear the outlet, run water through the downpipe to prove it, and fit a guard where it is the sort of roof that will do it again.

What is under the covering. Plywood, OSB or chipboard on joists. Chipboard that has been wet swells and stops holding a fixing, and it has to come off. Above the deck a warm roof takes PIR over a vapour control layer, so the timber never sits at the dew point. A cold roof puts the insulation between the joists and has to be ventilated properly, or condensation and interstitial damp ruin the decking without a leak ever happening. BS 6229 sets out both, and tapered insulation is how you fix a fall when you cannot raise the joists.

The details. Blisters and bubbles, a split or crack in a brittle covering, and the apron where a roof runs into a wall are the usual repairs. At an abutment the wall is chased out and lead is dressed down over the upstand rather than sealed with mastic, and a parapet gets its coping and cavity tray looked at. Openings mean a rooflight, a lantern or a Velux on a formed kerb, plus any soil pipe or vent pipe through the deck.

Square metres are the easy part. Here is what really moves the figure. Where the roof is. A garage you can park beside comes off a tower. A workshop at the bottom of a long garden means carrying every roll and board there. A flat roof off an upper floor needs scaffold that stays up while the deck is open, and because the work at height rules apply to that platform, it is on the quote as its own item.

The deck. Boards that have been wet for a few winters go soft and break up at the joints, whether they are chipboard or ply. The only honest way to know is to open a corner before quoting. A deck that has to be renewed is the biggest single difference between two prices.

Outlets under trees. Ponding means the fall is wrong or an outlet is blocked. Where trees overhang, needles and leaves choke outlets, so a guard or a bigger outlet is worth pricing in. Firrings put the fall right.

Edges and exposure. On an open plot, wind gets under a loose edge trim and peels the membrane back from the outside in. Edge trims, upstands and the bond round the perimeter matter more in Matchams than on a sheltered street.

The system. EPDM, GRP and torch-on felt laid in more than one layer each cost and wear differently.

Ask a competing quote: which system, is the deck replaced or covered, are the falls corrected with firrings, and are the scaffold and skip included?

Your flat roof is looked at and priced by Thomas Hannen, whose business it is. Our base in Boscombe is roughly five and a half miles off. Besides Matchams we work in St Ives, St Leonards and Ashley Heath and on the other BH24 addresses out on the heath, and Dorset Council handles anything notifiable.

The firm is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. Checkatrade lists a verified 10 out of 10 from a customer. You pay nothing for us to come out, or for the quote, which arrives itemised and in writing. Before you book a visit in Matchams, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Matchams 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.