Flat roofing in Milborne St Andrew

Outbuildings, stores and the room added on the back. In a village like this the flat roofs are on the things that were added later: a garage, a workshop, a log store, a boot room, a lean to across the back of the house, and now and then a flat topped dormer. The coverings are torch on felt, older built up three layer felt finished with a mineral cap sheet, GRP fibreglass from a decade or so ago, and occasionally a small lead flat over a bay. We strip a section before we price, because the deck is what the job turns on. Plywood or OSB that has stayed dry can be re-covered. Chipboard decking that has taken water sags between the joists and has to come off, with new boards fixed down before any membrane goes near it. From there it is EPDM rubber, fibreglass, a new torch on system, or single ply on a long open roof.

Water that will not leave. Ponding is what people describe when they ring, even if they do not use the word. Water sitting on a roof pushes into every lap and seam and the first frost opens them. It comes down to a fall that was never laid, firrings cut too shallow, tapered insulation crushed underfoot, or a rainwater outlet blocked with leaf litter from the trees around the lane. We reset the falls to drain at an outlet, to the minimum in BS 6229:2025 on flat roofs, and check the gutter, hopper and downpipe below actually take it.

The details, which is where it leaks. Not the middle of the covering. The edge trim, the drip, the apron against a wall, the kerb round an opening and the laps. Felt gives you a blister, a bubble or a split. Single ply lifts at a failed seam. Fibreglass cracks at a sharp internal angle where the deck has been moving. We take out what has failed, form the upstand behind the covering instead of in front of it, and weld or bond the laps, so the finish is one skin instead of a patchwork.

Openings, abutments and how it is put together. A rooflight, a lantern, a Velux, a hatch or a soil and vent pipe wants a kerb and a collar. Where the roof meets brick, flint or cob rendered wall we chase in a cover flashing in lead so it can move without splitting. On a parapet we check the coping and whether a cavity tray sits behind it. Older roofs here are cold roofs, insulation between the joists with a stale void above, and that is where condensation collects and interstitial damp rots the deck unseen. A warm roof puts that right. Insulation is fixed over the deck with the vapour control layer below it, so warm air never meets a cold surface and the timbers keep their strength.

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 workshop roof behind a farmyard wall, a lean to tight against an old cottage, and a flat topped dormer above a bedroom are three different jobs before anything is stripped. 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.

There are a surprising number of listed entries in and around this village, mostly farmhouses, cottages, walls and outbuildings rather than anything grand. That matters for flat roofing because listing covers the whole building, including a modest lean to or a store attached to it, and it does not stop at the front elevation. A felt roof on a listed outbuilding is still part of a listed building.

So the first question on an older property here is not which membrane you prefer. It is whether the building is listed, and if it is, whether listed building consent is needed before anything comes off. Consent is separate from planning permission and it can apply even to work that looks like plain repair, particularly where an old lead flat would be replaced with a modern covering. We will tell you honestly if we think a job needs it, and put the roof in writing either way so you have something to send with an application. On the newer houses in the village none of this applies at all.

We cover Milborne St Andrew, Dewlish, Puddletown and the villages along the Winterborne valley, along with the rest of DT11, and the site visit is free. 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.