Flat roofing in Swanage

Where the roof meets the stone. This is the detail that decides a flat roof in Swanage. The upstand is turned up, and the cover flashing is lead, worked into the coursing instead of running as a straight chase across the face of a stone.

Where the beds of a Swanage wall are too irregular for that, the flashing steps with the joints, or a secret gutter is formed behind the abutment. Sealant along the top of an upstand is not a detail, it is a delay, and on a solid absorbent wall it puts the water inside rather than outside.

The covering, repaired. Where only one thing has gone we cut it out and leave the rest of the roof alone: a split at a lap, a blister lifted off the deck, a seam failed between two sheets, a trim whose fixings have pulled. Felt is primed and welded back under a fresh cap sheet, GRP fibreglass is ground out at the crack and re-laminated, EPDM rubber is cleaned and bonded down. On a small Swanage back roof that is a morning.

The covering, renewed. When the whole surface has hardened, EPDM rubber gives one sheet with no joints across the field, GRP fibreglass is formed in place where there is a kerb, an outlet or a rooflight, a built up three layer torch on felt system still suits many of these back additions, and single ply belongs over a shop's ground floor. An old lead roof behind a parapet that is still sound gets left alone, and we will tell you so.

The deck, the fall and the parapet. A Victorian addition in Swanage often has plain boarding across the joists rather than plywood, OSB or chipboard, laid almost level. Firrings over the joists, or tapered insulation in a warm roof, get water to the rainwater outlet again. Ponding keeps the covering cold and wet under grit and moss, and standing water in one corner says the fall and the outlet no longer agree. Behind a parapet the outlet, hopper and downpipe run inside the building line, so a blockage puts water into the structure rather than down the wall. A coping and a cavity tray are formed, not sealed, and a skylight, a lantern, a Velux, a hatch, a soil pipe or a vent pipe each get a collar.

And the build up. A solid stone wall has to be able to dry, so this matters more in Swanage than on a modern house. PIR insulation above the deck with the vapour control layer under it keeps the dew point away from the joists and stops the condensation and interstitial damp that appear in a roof which has never leaked. A ventilated cold roof still suits a store. BS 6229 is the code of practice. A yard roof is a day, a back addition with a new deck two or three working days.

A flat roof is priced on what sits under the covering and how you reach it, not on its area.

Reaching it. A back addition down a stone passage, a balcony over a bay on the seafront, and a roof over a shop yard off the High Street each need their own platform, and it has to stand while the deck is open. The work at height rules make that a line of its own.

The deck. Chipboard that has been wet for years, or ply that flexes underfoot, comes off and is replaced; a sound deck is simply overlaid. Salt air keeps roofs by the bay damp between showers, so a deck that looks dry in summer may not be, and we check before quoting.

Falls and outlets. Water that sits on a flat roof finds every weak lap. Firrings to put a proper fall back in, a new outlet where the old one was built over, and each upstand dressed up the wall are counted one by one, as the flat roof code of practice expects.

The system. Felt, single ply and liquid applied membranes cost differently and suit different decks, so a balcony you walk on is specified differently from a roof nobody visits.

Ask any other quote whether the deck is being replaced or covered over, how the fall is corrected, and whether the insulation meets Part L.

We work across Swanage and Herston, Durlston, Ulwell and Langton Matravers, which from our base in Boscombe is about 10 miles. Planning and building control both sit with Dorset Council. The company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales under company number 15471719. Before you book a visit in Swanage, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

It belongs to Thomas Hannen, who climbs up to look at the deck and writes the price himself. On Checkatrade, one verified customer scored the work 10 out of 10. There is no charge for coming out, or for the itemised quote in writing.

Most repairs in Swanage 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.