Flat roofing in Parkstone

Back additions on the older terraces. The Victorian and Edwardian houses between Ashley Cross and Ashley Road often have a single storey kitchen or bathroom out the back under a flat roof, usually felt, often built up in three layers with a mineral cap sheet and patched more than once.

Where the plywood or boarded deck on a Parkstone back addition is still sound we strip the felt and re-cover. Where it is chipboard that has been wet for years and sags between the joists, it comes off and new OSB or plywood goes down first. That is the biggest swing in the price, and the reason we look before quoting.

Choosing the covering. A plain Parkstone garage or extension roof suits a single sheet of EPDM rubber with bonded laps and no seams in the middle. A roof broken up by a rooflight, a soil pipe and several upstands can be better in GRP fibreglass, laid wet and finished with a topcoat. Torch on felt in a modern built up system is still a good choice on some roofs. We say which, and why.

Ponding. Standing water works at every lap and seam. Often the fall was never right, or the firrings have sagged, or the outlet has been blocked. We set a proper fall with new firrings or tapered insulation so water reaches the outlet, and BS 6229 sets the minimum. We check the hopper and downpipe too, because a new roof draining into a blocked gutter still soaks the wall.

Edges and openings. Flat roofs in Parkstone fail at the edge trim, the drip, the upstand, the kerb around a skylight or Velux, and where the roof meets the house wall. We form upstands to a proper height and chase a lead cover flashing into the wall rather than rely on mastic. On a parapet we check the coping and whether a cavity tray is behind it, because otherwise the wall leaks and the roof gets blamed.

Warm roof or cold roof. Most older extensions in Parkstone are cold roofs, with insulation between the joists and a void that rarely vents. Condensation collects there and rots the deck from underneath. When we rebuild one we make it a warm roof: a vapour control layer on the deck, PIR insulation above it, then the covering, keeping the timber on the warm side of the dew point.

If the problem is really the pitched slope above, or the slate at the abutment, that is on our roofing in Parkstone page. When would we talk you out of a full re-cover? When a split is local and the rest of the covering is sound.

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 back addition behind a terrace off Ashley Road, a dormer on a Lower Parkstone villa and the roof over a parade shop with a flat above are three different ways up. 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 the whole of Parkstone, from Ashley Road and Heatherlands on the higher ground down to Ashley Cross and Penn Hill, across BH12 and BH14, under BCP Council.

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 Parkstone, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Parkstone 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.