Flat roofing in Verwood

The porch. Small, low, and usually the first to go because it is the one nobody looks at. A split at a lap or a blister lifted off the deck is a morning's work: cut out, primed and welded back under a fresh cap sheet on felt, ground out and re-laminated on GRP fibreglass, cleaned and bonded down again on EPDM rubber. Doing it early is the difference between a repair and a new roof.

The garage. The one that dips. That is the deck rather than the covering: chipboard swells the first time water reaches it and never dries flat, so the surface follows it down and the hollow then holds the water that caused it. We lift a corner on the visit and tell you whether you have a board job or a covering job, because from the ground the two look identical. Plywood and OSB usually survive where chipboard does not.

The flat bit at the back. Over a kitchen, a sun room or a bedroom, and the one where the build up matters. A ventilated cold roof suits a store, but over a room in use we put PIR insulation above the deck with the vapour control layer beneath it, so the dew point sits clear of the timbers and you do not swap a leak for condensation and interstitial damp. BS 6229 sets out the detail. On covering, EPDM rubber lays as one sheet with no joints across the field, GRP fibreglass is formed in place round a kerb, an outlet or a rooflight, a built up three layer torch on felt system is still a proper roof, and single ply belongs on the wider spans.

Falls, on all three. A lot of these were laid dead level. Firrings over the joists, or tapered insulation inside a warm roof, put a slope back so water reaches the rainwater outlet. Ponding will not come through a sound covering by itself, but it keeps the surface under grit and moss all winter and it is where the first split opens. Standing water in one corner usually means the outlet has blocked or the fall now runs the wrong way, and a seam that has failed at the edge of a puddle is the classic result.

And the detail. The upstand against the house wall, the abutment where a lead cover flashing is dressed into a chase, the drip and apron at the front edge, the kerb round a rooflight. A parapet, a coping and a cavity tray get formed rather than sealed over, and a skylight, a lantern, a Velux, a hatch, a soil pipe or a vent pipe each need a collar. We clear and run the gutter, hopper and downpipe before we blame the covering. A porch is half a day, a garage a day, an extension with a new deck two or three working days.

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 porch you can nearly touch from the path, a detached garage on a side drive and a full width extension across the back of a bungalow are three different jobs before anything is stripped. 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 Verwood, Three Legged Cross, West Moors, Woodlands and the BH31 estates, and the site visit is free. 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.