Flat roofing in Verwood
Porch, garage and extension roofs across Verwood and Three Legged Cross, looked at from the roof and priced in writing.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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Verwood is bungalow country, and on a bungalow the flat roof is the porch, the garage or the back extension. Most of them went on at the same time, which is why so many of them are asking for attention in the same few years.
Nearly half the homes in Verwood are bungalows and most of the town was built from the eighties onward, so the flat roofs are of an age. The signs are a porch ceiling that has stained, a garage roof that has started to dip, or felt gone grey and split at a lap, and a neighbour having theirs done is a good prompt to look at your own.
We come out, get on it, lift a corner where it is safe, and photograph the deck and the outlet so nothing on the quote is a guess. If the porch or garage ceiling is dripping now, ring 07435 839745.
Day to day
Porch roofs, garages and the flat bit at the back
The porch needs watching. 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. In Verwood it is 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 in Verwood 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.
How it runs
New coverings on Verwood garages, porches and extensions
Thomas comes out, gets onto the flat roof and lifts the covering at a corner to see the deck before he prices anything. In Verwood that roof is often a porch, an attached garage beside a bungalow or a single storey extension at the back. The written quote gives separate lines for access, stripping the old covering, any new deck or firrings, the insulation, the membrane, each upstand, outlet and edge trim, and disposal.
The first strip and the last trim are on the same written quote. We never leave a deck open overnight, the old felt goes in our skip, and the drive is swept each evening. If the deck or a joist turns out rotten, you get a photograph and a price and decide before we carry on.
Verwood has no conservation area and very little that is listed, so on an ordinary house the covering is your choice. A like for like re-cover is maintenance with no planning permission needed, and the Planning Portal covers where that stops if you change the height or shape. A full re-cover renovates a thermal element under Approved Document L, so the insulation is improved at the same time, and Dorset Council's building control gets a building notice or full plans, which we handle.
Cost
What changes the cost of a flat roof here
The size of a flat roof is easy to measure. It is what lies under the covering that decides the price.
The state of the deck. A lot of flat roofs in the town went on with the houses, over chipboard. If that board has been wet it sags and crumbles, and it has to come out and be replaced with ply or OSB. A sound deck can be overlaid. Lifting a corner before quoting is the only fair way to know.
Falls and outlets. A garage roof laid flat holds puddles, and the membrane gives up where water sits. Firrings put a fall back in towards the outlet or the gutter, and each outlet and edge trim is its own item.
Where it joins the house. The upstand against a bungalow wall or under a window sill is where most leaks start. Getting the flashing and the upstand height right is slow, careful work.
Access. A Verwood porch or garage roof is close to the ground and usually comes off a tower. A roof against a two storey wall needs a scaffold that stays up while the deck is open, and the work at height rules make that a line of its own.
Ask any other roofer which system and how many layers, whether the deck is being renewed, whether firrings are going in, and whether the scaffold and the skip are included.
If it is coming through
Water coming through a garage or extension roof
Ring rather than use the form. A split, a blister or an upstand pulled away puts water straight onto the ceiling below, and once the deck is soaked it keeps rotting after the rain stops. Put a container under the drip and keep stored things in a garage off the floor.
Because most flat roofs in Verwood are single storey, a temporary cover can usually go on during the first visit without waiting for a scaffold. The permanent repair is priced when we can see how much deck has gone. Booked flat roofing runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. Should the phone go unanswered, we call back as soon as we can.
Worth knowing
A town built in one go wears out in one go
Nearly half the homes in Verwood are bungalows, and the town grew fastest from the eighties onward. That means the porches, garages and back extensions here are not just similar in shape, they are similar in age. Felt laid in the same few years reaches the end of its life in the same few years, which is why one road can have three roofs going at once, and a neighbour's new roof hints that yours is close.
It is worth turning that to your advantage. If yours has not failed yet, a look now is the difference between planning a re-cover and reacting to a ceiling. And because so many Verwood flat roofs sit on bungalows, the access is usually a tower rather than a scaffold, the platform stands for days rather than weeks, and two flat roofs on the same property can usually be done in one visit. If you have a porch and a garage both looking tired, get them priced together rather than a year apart.
Who you are dealing with
Who comes out to your flat roof
About ten miles separate our Boscombe base from Verwood, and we cover Three Legged Cross, West Moors, Woodlands and the rest of BH31 from there. Your council is Dorset Council. The company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. Before you book a visit in Verwood, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Thomas Hannen is the owner, and he gets up onto the flat roof and prices it in person. A verified customer scored us 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. Coming out costs you nothing, and the itemised quote comes in writing, free.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Verwood?
Most repairs in Verwood 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.
| Question | In Verwood |
|---|---|
| Who decides | Dorset Council is the planning authority for Verwood. Dorset Council's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | None covers Verwood, so a like-for-like repair is ordinary maintenance. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Verwood. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Verwood. |
Questions
Questions about flat roofs in Verwood
My garage roof has dipped in the middle. What causes that?
A wet deck, almost always. Chipboard swells when water gets into it and never dries back flat, so the covering follows it down and the dip then holds water. We lift a corner on the visit and tell you whether it is a deck job or just a covering job.
Is a repair worth doing?
If the covering still bends and the failure is at a lap, a seam or an upstand, yes, and it is money well spent. Once the material cracks when it is lifted, or the deck moves underfoot, a patch is sitting on something that is going and you will pay twice.
Will you need a scaffold on a bungalow?
Usually not: most of this work comes off a mobile tower with proper edge protection, which goes up faster and stands for less time. Where a flat roof runs into a two storey wall we will price a scaffold and it will be its own line on the quote.
How long does it take?
A porch is half a day and a single garage a day. A back extension needing a new deck and firrings to correct the falls is two or three working days. Rain stops a membrane going down, so we will not open a deck we cannot close again the same day.
Nearby, and next door
Flat roofing near Verwood
Nearby places we also cover for flat roofing, with straight-line distances from Verwood, and the other trades we offer in Verwood itself.
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Our other trades in Verwood
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Get a price for your Verwood flat roof
Tell us the address and what you have noticed. We will get up and look, check the deck and the outlet, and put an itemised price in writing.