Flat Roofing in Merritown

Edges, trims and fixings. On an exposed roof the edge detail is the whole job. An edge trim has to be properly fixed with a drip that throws water clear, not a strip of beading tacked on. Laps get bonded or welded full width rather than spot stuck, and the perimeter is fixed to a schedule instead of by eye. Where the covering has already lifted, we cut back and re-form the edge rather than glue it down again.

Coverings. EPDM rubber lays as one sheet with bonded laps and no flame. GRP fibreglass goes on wet over new plywood and cures as a single skin, which gives nothing for the wind to catch. Three layer built up felt, torch on under a mineral cap sheet, is the toughest walked surface. Single ply is welded and belongs on the larger buildings out this way.

Repairs, and the honest limit. A blister, a bubble, a crack or a failed seam is a patch, cut back to sound material and bonded or welded in. When a covering has gone brittle everywhere and splits under your thumb, one more repair only moves the leak, and we will say so rather than take the work.

Deck, joists and falls. Chipboard decking that has been damp for years comes off and stays off. Plywood that gives underfoot goes too, with OSB going back in most cases. The joists are checked while it is open and the falls are put right with firrings or tapered insulation, so water reaches an outlet instead of pooling where the wind pushes it.

Warm roof or cold roof. A warm roof puts PIR above the deck with the vapour control layer under it and keeps the dew point out of the timber. A cold roof holds insulation between the joists and has to breathe, or condensation and interstitial damp rot the boards from beneath. BS 6229 covers how it is built and Approved Document L the standard, with the bigger jobs going through building control.

Abutments, openings and rainwater. An upstand at a wall wants a cover flashing into a chase, or lead over an apron on an older detail, and a parapet needs its coping bedded with a cavity tray behind. A rooflight or a lantern needs a kerb built up so the skylight stands clear of standing water, and a Velux, a loft hatch, a soil pipe or a vent pipe each get a collar. The rainwater outlet, hopper, gutter and downpipe get checked last.

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 garage on open ground, a rear extension behind a farmhouse and a flat roof over a workshop are three different jobs before a sheet comes off the van. 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 Merritown, Hurn, Parley, Matchams and the lanes towards Sopley across BH23, minutes from our own patch in Bournemouth. 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.