Flat roofing in Merley
Porch canopies, garage roofs, utility roofs and extension roofs across Merley and BH21. We check the deck under the covering and price the job in writing.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Most flat roofs in Merley went on when the houses did, and they are all reaching the same point at the same time. If yours is still on its original deck, that deck is the first thing worth looking at, not the covering over it.
The flat roofs round here are porch canopies, attached garages, utility and cloakroom roofs and the odd wide extension. They are shallow, they sit low, and they were laid to a fall that was modest even when new.
People ring when a canopy starts dripping at the front door, when a garage ceiling goes soft in one corner, or when the covering has gone chalky and split along a crease. We come out, get on the roof, follow the water back to where it is really entering and open a corner where there is a sensible place to do it. Then you get photographs of what is up there and a written price with each part of the work on its own line.
The work
Porch canopies, garages and the utility roof
Coming off. Almost always felt. Either a three layer built up system finished with a mineral cap sheet, or a single torch on layer somebody laid over the original to buy time. The failures are predictable: splits along the creases, blisters where damp was trapped underneath, and a lifted seam where the covering turns up an upstand against the wall. A failed seam is the worst of the three, because water runs under the whole covering and shows up on a ceiling nowhere near the fault.
Going on. EPDM rubber for a plain rectangle, bonded down in one sheet with no lap and no seam in the open field of the roof. GRP fibreglass where there are kerbs, corners and upstands to laminate round, and on anything that will be walked on. Single ply, hot air welded rather than torched, for a long run.
The deck is the real question. Lift the covering on a house of this age and you usually meet chipboard decking rather than plywood or OSB. Chipboard swells the moment it gets properly wet, and it does not recover. The joists underneath are normally fine, and the firrings on them are what create the fall to the outlet. A roof laid too flat holds standing water, and ponding in the same corner every winter finishes a covering years early. BS 6229 sets out the falls, and where re-firring will not work we form them in tapered insulation.
Anything heated gets the insulation moved. A utility, a cloakroom or an extension counts, and renewing the covering brings the insulation into scope under Part L. Done properly it is a warm roof: vapour control layer down first, PIR over it, membrane on top, and both deck and joists stay warm. Done the old way, with the insulation between the joists, it is a cold roof and the boards sit below the dew point. Moist air reaches them, interstitial condensation forms inside the build up, and they rot from above with nothing at all showing outside. Building control are notified and inspect it open.
Edges, junctions and openings. A canopy or a garage roof is mostly edges, which is why the detailing takes longer than the covering. The abutment wants a chase cut in and a lead cover flashing dressed home, with a cavity tray above it. A parapet wants a coping and an apron. Openings go on kerbs, every one of them: a rooflight, a lantern, a Velux style flat roof window, a hatch, a soil and vent pipe. The open sides run out over a drip trim, and the rainwater outlet feeds a hopper, a downpipe or the gutter. A canopy is a day, a bigger extension two or three working days, and we say how long first.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
Same team from first visit to last, one person to ring, and no sub-contracting your work out to somebody you have never met. The quote is itemised, not a figure on the back of a card: access, stripping the old covering, any new deck or firrings, the insulation, the membrane and each upstand, outlet and edge trim, and disposal on separate lines, so you can compare it properly against anyone else's.
Nothing is left open or unusable overnight. The site is swept at the end of each day rather than the end of the job, and what comes out leaves with us. If something turns up once we start that nobody could have seen, you get a photograph and a price before we carry on.
Renewing a flat roof covering on an existing roof is repair, so there is no planning permission to apply for and it stays inside permitted development. Building control applies once the roof sits over a heated room. No conservation area covers the housing at Merley, and the listed entries near here are concentrated on the Canford School estate rather than in the housing, so the council keeps the list if you want to satisfy yourself about your own address.
Cost
What decides the price of a flat roof
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 porch canopy over a front door, an attached garage roof and a wide extension across the back of a detached house are three different jobs before anything 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.
If it is coming through
Water through a flat roof
Ring rather than use the form. A flat roof that has split, blistered or lifted at an upstand puts water straight onto a ceiling, and once the deck is wet the damage carries on after the rain stops. The first visit is about getting it covered and dry, and we price the permanent job once we can see how much of the deck has gone. Merley is under six miles from us, so an emergency here is usually same day. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
When one goes on the street, the rest are not far behind
Merley was built in a rush, and the great majority of the housing went up in one long stretch with the peak in the 1970s. That is unusual, and it has a practical consequence for flat roofs. Every garage, canopy and utility roof on a street went on within a couple of seasons of each other, on the same decking, laid to the same fall by the same trades. So they do not fail one at a time. They fail together, over about five years.
If a neighbour has just had theirs done and the roofer found soft chipboard, take it as a warning about yours rather than a coincidence. The difference in price between a re-cover on a sound deck and a re-cover with the deck replaced is the single biggest swing in a flat roof job, and the deck is only sound while the covering above it is still keeping water out. Getting up there this year rather than in two winters is usually the cheapest decision you will make about the roof. We are happy to look and tell you it can wait.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Merley, Canford Magna, Broadstone, Wimborne and the rest of BH21. 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.
Questions
Merley questions we get asked
My porch canopy drips at the front door. Is that the roof?
Nine times out of ten it is the junction where the canopy meets the wall, not the covering. The upstand is short, the flashing was sealed rather than cut into a chase, and water gets behind it. It is a small job done properly and an endless one done badly.
Should I replace the deck even if it feels solid?
Not automatically. Plywood and OSB that have stayed dry can be re-covered and will be fine. Chipboard that has been wet is different, because it never comes back. We open a corner before quoting so the answer is on the quote rather than on the invoice.
How much disruption is there?
Less than a re-tile. Nothing is left open overnight, the ground gets sheeted, and the old covering leaves with us rather than sitting in your drive. A garage roof is done and cleared in a day.
Can you do several houses on the same street together?
Yes, and it makes sense. If neighbours are having the same roof done, the access and the delivery are shared and each quote is still separate and itemised so nobody is guessing what they are paying for.
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Get a price for your Merley flat roof
Tell us the address and what you have noticed. We will come out, open a corner where we can, and put an itemised price in writing. No charge, and no obligation.