Flat roofing in Oakdale

Felt that has had its day. A lot of the flat roofs in Oakdale are old built up felt, laid in three layers with a mineral cap sheet or chippings on top. Felt goes brittle in the sun, blisters, and splits along the laps.

A single split or a lifted edge can be cut out and patched with a torch on repair. When the blisters are everywhere and the deck is soft underfoot, a patch is money wasted, and we will say so.

Re-covering. A new roof starts with the deck. The old chipboard on many Oakdale garages and extensions from the sixties and seventies swells once it gets wet, so we strip back to the joists, fit firring pieces to give the roof a proper fall, and board it in exterior grade OSB or plywood. Then the covering you choose: EPDM rubber laid as one sheet with no seams in the field, GRP fibreglass laid wet and finished with a topcoat, or a modern torch on felt system. A single garage roof is often a day or two. A larger extension takes longer, and we tell you at the quote.

The edges and the wall. Most leaks start at the edges, not in the middle. Where an extension roof meets the house wall there should be an upstand under a lead cover flashing set into a chase in the brickwork, not a strip of mastic. At the front edge, a drip or GRP edge trim throws water into the gutter. We check the abutment, the upstands and the outlet, because a roof with standing water over a blocked outlet will fail long before its time.

Bay and porch canopies. The small flat or lead roofs over the bays and porches on the 1930s semis in Oakdale are easy to forget until the plaster inside the bay stains. They are small, quick jobs, and worth doing while the front is scaffolded for anything else.

Rooflights and pipes. An old domed rooflight or a skylight on a kitchen extension is often where the water gets in, at the kerb instead of the glazing. We can replace it with a new unit or a lantern on a proper kerb when the roof is re-covered. A soil pipe or vent pipe coming up through the roof gets a proper collar rather than a ring of mastic.

Where the water goes. Ponding, standing water that sits for days after rain, tells you the fall is wrong or the outlet is blocked. We check that the outlet, the hopper and the downpipe below it are clear, and set the new falls so the roof drains to them.

When we would talk you out of it. An Oakdale garage roof that leaks at one corner often needs a new outlet or a lap resealed, not a new roof. We would rather do the small job and tell you how long the rest has left.

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. In Oakdale, a detached garage down the side of a semi, a kitchen extension under a first floor window, and a dormer on a chalet bungalow that is reached over the tiled slope each need different access. 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.

We cover Oakdale and the rest of BH15, from Fleetsbridge down Wimborne Road towards Poole town centre, and out to Creekmoor, Canford Heath and Parkstone. BCP Council handles planning and building control, and our base in Boscombe is about six miles away.

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. Before you book a visit in Oakdale, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Oakdale 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.