Flat roofing in Upton

Garages, side returns and the room built across the back. Upton is full of the kind of housing that came with an attached or detached garage and later gained a utility, a dining room or a conservatory roof across the back. Add porch canopies and flat topped dormers and that is most of our diary here. The coverings are three layer built up felt topped with a mineral cap sheet, torch on felt laid over it later, and GRP fibreglass on the more recent work. Pricing starts by stripping a bay and looking at the deck. Plywood or OSB that has stayed dry can be re-covered as it stands. Chipboard decking that has been wet for a few winters sags between the joists and has to be lifted, with new boards fixed down before a membrane goes anywhere near it.

Making the water leave. Ponding is behind most of the leaks we get shown. Standing water pushes into every lap and seam and a hard frost opens them. The reason is usually no fall at all, firrings cut too shallow, tapered insulation crushed by somebody walking on it, or a rainwater outlet blocked with grit. We rebuild the falls so the roof drains at an outlet rather than in the middle, to the minimum set out in BS 6229:2025 on flat roofs, then run water over it and watch the gutter, hopper and downpipe take it away.

Trims, upstands and seams. Flat roofs give up at the perimeter and the penetrations. The edge trim, the drip, the apron flashing where the roof meets the house, the kerb round an opening and the laps are the places to look. Felt shows a blister, a bubble or a split. Single ply lifts at a failed seam where the weld was rushed. Fibreglass cracks at a sharp internal angle. The failed area is cut out, the upstand is rebuilt behind the covering at a proper height, and every lap is welded or bonded so the roof finishes as one skin.

Openings, abutments and the build up. A rooflight, a lantern, a Velux, an access hatch and any soil and vent pipe each get a kerb and a collar, not a ring of mastic. Against brickwork a cover flashing is chased in and formed in lead, and a parapet has its coping and cavity tray checked. Roofs of this age are cold roofs, with insulation between the joists and a still void above where condensation gathers and interstitial damp rots the deck from below. A warm roof deals with it properly. Insulation above the deck, vapour control layer under the insulation, no void at all, and timbers that stay dry through the winter.

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 detached garage at the top of a drive, a rear extension on a nineteen seventies house, and a flat topped dormer over a bedroom are three different jobs before anything comes off. 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.

Upton drains into Poole Harbour, and the harbour catchment brings in nutrient neutrality. It is a phrase that worries people unnecessarily, so it is worth being plain about where it applies. Re-covering an existing flat roof, repairing a garage roof or rebuilding a tired extension roof creates no new accommodation, so the rule does not touch the work at all. There is nothing to calculate and nothing to wait for.

It only engages when a scheme adds somewhere new to sleep. A loft conversion with a flat topped dormer, a garage turned into a bedroom, or an extension that adds one are the cases where the planning application has to deal with nutrients before Dorset Council can grant it. That is a planning delay rather than a roofing one, and it can run to months. So if the flat roof is maintenance, book it and get it done. If it is part of adding a bedroom, start the planning side first and let the roof follow, because the roof will be ready long before the permission is.

We cover Upton, Lytchett Minster, Hamworthy, Creekmoor and the villages towards Wareham, along with the rest of BH16, and the site visit costs nothing. 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.