Flat roofing in West Lulworth

Lead, and what replaced it. Some of the older flats in West Lulworth started as lead over boards, with rolls and drips between the bays. Lead splits where it has been fixed too tightly to move and fatigues along a drip.

Plenty in West Lulworth have since been covered in felt, either a three layer built up system with a mineral cap sheet or a single torch on layer over the top of the last one. That is usually what we are taking off.

The systems that go back. EPDM rubber on a plain rectangle, bonded down in one sheet so there is no lap or seam in the open field of the roof. GRP fibreglass where there are kerbs, corners and upstands to laminate round. Single ply, hot air welded, on a longer run. Where a lead flat is original and seen, lead relaid properly is often the right answer and we will price it that way rather than talk you out of it.

Deck, joists and falls. Under the covering is plywood, OSB or chipboard decking on joists, with firrings creating the fall to the outlet. Wet chipboard swells, gives underfoot and has to come off. On an old building the joists are seldom level, so the fall gets built rather than assumed. A roof holding standing water has a fall problem, and that ponding does more damage over a winter than a gale does in a night. BS 6229 covers falls and drainage, and where re-firring is impractical we form them in tapered insulation.

Insulation and condensation. Where the room below is heated, Part L brings the insulation up with the covering. We put it above the deck: vapour control layer, then PIR, then the membrane, so no part of the structure is left sitting cold. The alternative is a cold roof with the insulation between the joists, which leaves the boards under the dew point and lets interstitial condensation build inside the construction. Against a thick stone wall that junction wants detailing rather than stuffing full of board. Building control are notified and inspect it open.

Junctions and openings. On a modern wall the abutment takes a chase with a lead cover flashing dressed into it and a cavity tray above. On old stone we step the flashing into the joints instead. Parapets take a coping with an apron below. Anything breaking through the covering is raised on a kerb first, so the membrane can turn up an upstand: a rooflight, a lantern, a Velux style flat roof window, a hatch, a soil and vent pipe. The open edges run out over a drip trim, and the rainwater outlet feeds a hopper, a downpipe or the gutter. A garage is a day, a back addition two or three working days.

Reaching a West Lulworth roof takes planning. A flat roof over a cottage's back addition, a garage off the lane and an extension behind a house up the hill each need a different platform. Low roofs usually come off a tower. Anything above a two storey wall needs a scaffold that stays up the whole time the deck is open, and the rules on roof work make that a priced line.

The system. EPDM rubber, GRP fibreglass and torch-on felt all go down differently. EPDM suits a plain rectangle. GRP copes well with awkward corners and upstands. Lead can be the right answer on a listed building or a small bay roof. Each has its own price and its own life, and Thomas tells you which he would fit and why.

The state of the deck. Chipboard that has been wet for years goes soft and has to come out. Ply that is still firm can stay. You cannot tell from below, so a corner is lifted before the price is written.

Where the water goes. Driven rain from the south west tests upstands and edge trims hard in West Lulworth. A roof laid dead flat ponds, and correcting the falls with firrings adds hours. Each outlet, upstand and trim is priced separately, because that is where leaks start.

Worth asking anyone else who quotes: is the deck being replaced or just covered? Which membrane, and is it bonded or mechanically fixed? Are firrings included to put the falls right?

West Lulworth sits in a bowl, and the ground rises on almost every side. That does something to flat roofs that no other village we work in does. A back addition roof, a garage or a flat extension that would be completely hidden anywhere else is in plain view from the paths above, and it is seen from the top down, which is exactly the angle a flat roof cannot hide from.

Inside the West Lulworth conservation area, appearance is what is controlled, so this stops being an aesthetic point and becomes a practical one. A bright white fibreglass roof or a light grey membrane reads as a pale rectangle from the hill, where a mineral finish or a darker covering disappears. Rooflights and lanterns are the other giveaway, because they add something that was not there. None of it prevents you having a modern, long lasting roof. It just means we agree the finish and the detail before the work rather than after, and put what was agreed on the written quote so there are no surprises for anyone.

Boscombe, where we work from, is 19.4 miles away. Our flat roofing reaches West Lulworth, East Lulworth, Winfrith Newburgh, Wool and the rest of BH20, and Dorset Council is the council for planning and building control. The company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, number 15471719, registered in England and Wales. Before you book a visit in West Lulworth, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Its owner, Thomas Hannen, is the one who climbs up to look at your flat roof and writes the price. One verified customer scored us 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. We do not charge for the visit, and the itemised written quote is free too.

Most repairs in West Lulworth 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.