Roof repairs in Ashmore
Slipped slates, cracked clay tiles, loose ridges and tired lead repaired on the roofs of Ashmore, Dorset's highest village on Cranborne Chase, where the wind finds the edges first.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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Roof repairs
One fault, found and fixed with matching slate or tile
Yes, we repair roofs in Ashmore, the hilltop village on Cranborne Chase in north Dorset: slipped slates, cracked clay tiles, ridges and verges that have lost their mortar, lead pulled away from a chimney, and split felt on a flat roof. We trace where the water gets in, repair that point with matching material, and put the price in a written itemised quote after a free site visit.
If water is coming in now, ring 07435 839745 and say which room it is in and which side of the house.
On a village this high, a roof fault usually shows itself after a wet, windy spell. A slate has slid down and lodged in the gutter. A drip has turned up on the landing ceiling beside the chimney breast, but only when the rain comes sideways. A clay tile from a gable edge lies broken on the grass. Or the felt over the back porch has split.
We go up by roof ladder or tower where that is safe, inspect the underside from the loft, and photograph the fault. The quote names the slate, tile or lead going back and says whether the rest of that slope has life left in it.
What we repair
Slate, clay tile and lead on Ashmore roofs
The older buildings in Ashmore carry three coverings over walls of flint, rubble, brick and render: thatch, clay plain tile and natural slate. We repair the tile and the slate, and the lead that joins them to chimneys and walls.
Slipped and cracked slates. A slate hangs on two nails. When they rust through, which is nail sickness, it slides out of its course. One or two slipped slates go back with a tingle, a strip of lead or copper hooked under the tail. A cracked or broken slate is swapped for a reclaimed one of the same size and thickness, so it does not stand out from the lane. If slates are coming loose right across one slope, tingles only put off the next visit, and that slope wants stripping and re-nailing. Where the battens have gone with the nails, it becomes work for our roofers in Ashmore.
Clay plain tiles. A plain tile hangs on its nibs, and on old handmade tiles the nibs crumble or the pegs rot, so tiles drop out one at a time. A missing tile, a cracked tile or a broken tile and a half at the verge is a single repair. The work is in the match. New clay can differ in colour and in camber, so it can sit proud or leave a gap at the lap. We look for a reclaimed tile first, and hold it with a hook where it cannot be nailed.
Ridge, hip and verge. Old ridge and hip tiles sit on a bed of mortar. Once the bedding opens, wind rocks them loose. We lift the run, keep every ridge tile that will go back, and relay it with a mechanical fixing to each tile, as BS 5534 now expects. Gable verges lose their mortar the same way and are rebedded and fixed. On an unlisted outbuilding out of sight of the road, a dry ridge or dry verge to BS 8612 leaves no mortar to wash out.
Chimneys, abutments and valleys. Where a slope meets a chimney or a gable wall, the joint should be lead: soakers under each slate or tile and a stepped flashing tucked into the joints above. Plenty of old roofs have a cement fillet there instead. When it cracks, rain runs down inside and shows as a damp patch on the chimney breast. We cut the fillet out and dress new lead in. A split lead valley is relaid, lifting the tiles either side. If the leak starts in the stack itself, with loose flaunching or open joints, that is chimney repairs.
Where tile or slate meets thatch. Several cottages here are thatched, Thatched Bird Cottage among them. We do not thatch, so a leak in the thatch goes to a specialist thatcher. We repair the other side of the join: a tiled porch or extension against a thatched cottage, or the lead where the two roofs meet.
Flat roofs on extensions, porches and outbuildings. Felt splits along its seams and blisters in the sun, GRP cracks at the edge trims, and EPDM lifts at the upstand. A blocked outlet leaves water standing. On a dry, firm deck a split is patched in a few hours. A deck that gives underfoot means the covering comes off. More on flat roofing in Ashmore.
Gutters over flint walls. A gutter that overflows soaks the wall under it, so damp comes through the flint inside and the fascia behind rots. Clearing the outlet is sometimes the whole repair. A rotten fascia or a cracked downpipe is fascias, soffits and guttering work.
After a storm, and when to stop patching. Gale damage is usually a few slates, a ridge tile and part of a verge. We sheet the gap as a temporary repair until matched material is found. Patching stops paying when the felt under the slates has perished, the battens are soft or nails are failing across a whole slope. The quote then says so.
As for how long: a handful of slates or tiles is a morning from a roof ladder, a ridge run is about a day, and new lead round a chimney is a day.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
One person to ring from the first visit to the last. The quote is itemised, not a figure on the back of a card: access, where the fault is and what is being opened up to reach it, each tile, slate, ridge or flashing being renewed and what with, making good, and disposal on separate lines, so you can compare it properly against anyone else's.
Nothing is left open or unusable overnight. The site is swept at the end of each day rather than the end of the job, and what comes out leaves with us. If something turns up once we start that nobody could have seen, you get a photograph and a price before we carry on.
Ashmore Conservation Area covers the village, so the slate or tile that comes off is the slate or tile that goes back, and the Planning Portal guidance on roofs explains why a change of material is treated differently. There are 26 listed entries in and around the village. If your house is one of them, anything beyond a straight like for like repair can need listed building consent from Dorset Council, so check before the work is booked.
Cost
What decides the price of a roof repair
No rate per square metre, because a slipped tile over a porch and the same tile above a three storey gable are one repair and two very different jobs.
Getting to it. In Ashmore that might be a single storey outbuilding reached from a ladder, a two storey farmhouse gable facing open downland, or a cottage chimney rising through a slate ridge. A tile over a porch or a bungalow eaves can often be reached from a ladder and a roof ladder. A ridge, a chimney or a valley on a two storey house usually wants a tower or a scaffold, so a small repair can still need a proper platform. The work at height rules decide that, which is why access is its own line on the quote and not hidden inside the repair.
Finding the cause, not the stain. Water runs along the battens and the underlay before it drips, so the mark on the ceiling is rarely under the fault. Tracing it back to a cracked tile, a lifted flashing, a perished valley or a ridge joint that has opened is part of the job, and a repair priced before anyone has looked is a guess.
What the repair uncovers. Lifting a few tiles shows the battens and the underlay around them. If they are sound the repair stays small. If the felt has perished or the battens have rotted, you get a photograph and a separate written price before anything more is done. Where patching stops being worth it is a conversation you have with the facts in front of you.
Comparing quotes? Ask what fault they actually found and where, whether access is included, what is being replaced and with what (a matched tile, new or reclaimed slate, which code of lead), whether the ridge and verge are being bedded in mortar or mechanically fixed, and what happens if more is found once the roof is open. Two quotes for the same job are usually two different jobs.
If it is leaking now
Water coming through a ceiling
Ring rather than use the form. Put a bowl under the drip, keep anything electrical away from the wet patch, and if a ceiling is bulging keep everyone out from under it. The first visit is about finding where the water gets in and making the roof weathertight, and the permanent repair is priced in writing once the fault can be seen properly. After a gale on an Ashmore roof, tell us which side of the house took the wind and whether anything has landed on the ground. Scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. For anything urgent, ring rather than use the form, and if we cannot pick up we ring you back as soon as we can.
Height and wind
Repairing a roof 700 feet up
Ashmore sits on high ground at about 700 feet, the highest village in Dorset. Wind works on a roof at its edges first: the verge, the eaves course, and the ends of the ridge and hips.
So when one slate or tile comes down after a gale, we check the whole verge or ridge run on that side of the house, and refix anything loose mechanically to BS 5534. Fresh mortar on its own will not hold an edge this exposed.
Whatever goes back is the same slate or tile, which keeps the repair as maintenance in the conservation area.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
Ashmore and its farms in SP5 sit on the Dorset side of the Wiltshire border, about twenty miles from our base in Boscombe. 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.
Nearby, and next door
Roof repairs near Ashmore
Nearby places we also cover for roof repairs, with straight-line distances from Ashmore, and the other trades we offer in Ashmore itself.
Roof repairs nearby
Our other trades in Ashmore
Everything we do in Blandford Forum Roof repairs, all areas Every area we cover
Questions
Questions about roof repairs in Ashmore
What goes into the price of a roof repair?
Access, the covering, and how far the fault has spread into battens and felt. Each item is on its own line; more on how we price a job.
How can I tell whether a roofer is any good?
Ask what fault they found and exactly where, and ask to see photographs of it. Look the firm up on Companies House: ours is company number 15471719. Be wary of anyone who knocks after a gale to say your roof is dangerous.
My cottage is thatched and the ceiling is wet. Who do I call?
A specialist thatcher, if the water is coming through the thatch, because we do not thatch. If it is coming in at the chimney lead, or at a tiled porch or extension where it meets the thatch, that part is ours to repair.
Is there a best time of year for a roof repair up here?
Any dry spell that is safe to work in. Lead dresses best and flat roof coverings bond best in dry, mild weather, and mortar should not go on in frost. On a hill as open as Ashmore, a very windy day stops work at the edges. None of that is a reason to leave a leak: a wet roof gets a temporary cover first and the permanent repair follows when the weather allows.
Will my insurer pay for storm damage?
That is for your insurer to decide. Read the three questions the Financial Ombudsman asks about a storm claim before you claim, and the ombudsman on gradual damage, because a ridge whose mortar opened slowly over years counts as wear. What we give you is dated photographs of the damage and a written description of what failed.
Do I need a new roof, and what does one cost?
One leak usually needs one repair. If the roof has had its day, the re-roof is quoted by our roofers in Ashmore.
Free quote
Tell us what your Ashmore roof is doing
Send the address and what you have seen: a slate in the gutter, a tile on the grass or a stain by the chimney. We come out, look properly and put the repair in writing.