Flat roofing in Ridge

Rear extensions and garden rooms. The most common job here. Where the deck is sound we take it back to boards and lay EPDM rubber, one sheet with bonded seams and very little to fail, or GRP fibreglass where there are kerbs, steps or a tricky corner, because it is laid wet and forms the upstand and edge trim in one piece. Single ply, welded at the laps, is for the bigger areas.

Garages, workshops and stores. Usually felt in three built up layers under a mineral cap sheet, often the original covering, and usually failing at a corner or where it turns down over the fascia. A modern torch on system on a dry deck is a sound answer on a big plain span. What decides it is the boards: plywood, OSB or chipboard on joists, and chipboard that has taken water does not recover.

Upstands, and why they are the local weak point. Wind driven rain does not fall on a roof, it is pushed at it. So it gets behind a covering that was only turned up a couple of courses, over a door threshold that was set too low, and under an edge trim that has worked loose. When we quote here, the height of every upstand, the fixing of the trim and the way the apron is dressed into the wall are itemised, because that is where these roofs actually leak.

Falls, and where the water leaves. Firrings create the falls across the joists, and where none were fitted you get ponding and standing water at every low spot. Tapered insulation corrects a fall from above. The drip over the fascia, the rainwater outlet, the hopper, the gutter and the downpipe then take all of it, and one blocked outlet is enough to hold water over every lap and seam on a small roof.

Warm roof, cold roof and the junctions. A warm roof takes PIR over the deck over a vapour control layer, so the timber sits clear of the dew point. A cold roof keeps the insulation between the joists and has to be ventilated, or condensation and interstitial damp spoil the decking without a leak. BS 6229 covers both. At an abutment a lead cover flashing goes into a chase cut in the joint, not a bead of mastic, and a parapet has its coping and cavity tray checked. Blisters, bubbles, splits, a crack at a kerb and a lifted or failed seam are the everyday repairs, along with rooflight, lantern and Velux kerbs and any soil pipe or vent pipe through the deck.

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 bungalow extension on an open plot, a garage beside a lane and a workshop behind a yard are three different jobs, and the getting there decides two of them. 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 Ridge, Stoborough, Arne and the BH20 addresses on the harbour side of Wareham, with Dorset Council as the planning authority. 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.