Flat roofing in Southbourne

Finding the leak on a Southbourne roof comes first. On a flat roof the stain is rarely under the fault. Water gets in at a split lap, a lifted upstand or a tired flashing and runs along the deck before it finds a joint in the ceiling.

We walk the roof, check each upstand, outlet and edge trim, look for blisters, cracks and ponding, and where we can, look at the underside too. A single split or failed seam on otherwise sound felt is a patch repair and an afternoon's work.

Re-covering. When the old covering has blistered all over, the cap sheet has lost its chippings or the laps are opening along their length, we strip it back to the deck. Most small roofs in Southbourne come off in one to three working days. For the new covering we use EPDM rubber as a single ply sheet with bonded laps, GRP fibreglass laid wet over OSB or ply, or a three layer torch on built up felt system, and we tell you which suits the roof rather than the one we prefer to lay. A flat roof you walk on to reach a window, or one with plenty of detailing around vent pipes and a soil pipe, usually points one way; a plain garage roof another.

The deck. Old chipboard that has been wet for years goes soft and has to come out, and a covering laid over a rotten deck will fail however good it is. We replace it with ply or OSB, check the joists while it is open, and add firrings so the roof has a proper fall towards the outlet or gutter. Standing water is almost always a missing fall.

Insulation and condensation. Most old flat roofs over Southbourne extensions are cold roofs with little or nothing in them. Re-covering is the time to turn one into a warm roof, with a vapour control layer and PIR board above the deck, so the dew point sits where it cannot do harm. Once more than half of the roof is being renewed, Approved Document L expects the insulation to come up to standard, and building control is involved. Done wrong, interstitial condensation rots a new deck from inside.

Edges and openings. Upstands against the house wall finished under a lead cover flashing in a cut chase or a cavity tray, drip trims and edge trims fixed so the water drops clear into the gutter, and rooflights, lanterns and roof hatches set on proper kerbs. On a block, the parapet coping and the outlets through it are usually where the trouble is. The detailing is where flat roofs leak, and we follow BS 6229 on falls and drainage.

One person to ring from the first visit to the last. The quote is itemised, not a figure on the back of a card: access, stripping the old covering, any new deck or firrings, the insulation, the membrane and each upstand, outlet and edge trim, and disposal on separate lines, so you can compare it properly against anyone else's.

Nothing is left open or unusable overnight. The site is swept at the end of each day rather than the end of the job, and what comes out leaves with us. If something turns up once we start that nobody could have seen, you get a photograph and a price before we carry on.

BCP Council is the planning authority. Re-covering an extension or garage like for like needs no planning permission, and the Planning Portal guidance covers where it would. Blocks of flats and flats over shops have no permitted development rights, so anything that changes how the roof looks needs planning, and on the stretch of Southbourne Grove that is a conservation area the council keeps the list.

Ring rather than use the form. A flat roof that has split, blistered or lifted at an upstand puts water straight onto a ceiling, and once the deck is wet the damage carries on after the rain stops.

The first visit is about getting it covered and dry, and we price the permanent job once we can see how much of the deck has gone. In a block, tell your managing agent the same day, because they will need to authorise more than a temporary repair. Scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. For anything urgent, ring rather than use the form, and if we cannot pick up we ring you back as soon as we can.

Call now: 07435 839745

Most homes in Southbourne are flats, in the purpose built blocks along and behind the Overcliff and in large older houses that have been divided up. In almost every case the roof belongs to the freeholder and is paid for out of the service charge, so a leaseholder with a leak in a top floor flat usually cannot sign off the repair.

The quickest route is telling the managing agent or the residents' management company in writing, with photographs, the same day. We will still come and look, and give you a written description of what the roof needs to send them.

If you sit on the board of a residents' company, plan re-covering early. Where the cost to any one leaseholder passes the statutory limit, they must be consulted first under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, which adds weeks to the timetable, not money to the roof. A flat roof on a Southbourne block is a big area and fails a bay at a time, so we quote in a form an agent can put out to tender: the system, the deck, the insulation, each outlet and the access all on separate lines, and a note of what can safely wait a year.

Nearby places we also cover for flat roofing, with straight-line distances from Southbourne, and the other trades we offer in Southbourne itself.

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