Roof repairs in Bere Regis
Clay plain tiles, slate, stone verges, chimney lead and flat roofs over extensions, repaired in Bere Regis and matched to what is already on the slope.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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Roof repairs
Put right the part that has failed
Yes, we repair roofs in Bere Regis, from one cracked clay plain tile on a brick cottage to a slate that has lost its nail, a ridge tile rocking on dead mortar or lead that has come away from a chimney. We find where the water gets in, repair that point with material that matches the slope, and put the price in writing after a free site visit.
If water is coming through a ceiling now, ring 07435 839745 and say which room it is under.
A clay tile lying in two pieces on the path under a cottage that fronts the street. Crumbs of mortar at the foot of a gable where the verge has let go. A damp line on the kitchen ceiling where the lean-to at the back meets the main roof. A felt garage roof that has opened along a seam.
Each of those has a cause at one particular spot. We look at the slopes from the lane and the garden, go up where a roof ladder is safe, and get into the loft to see the underside. You get photographs of what we find and a written quote for fixing it. If the roof as a whole has run its course, you are told that as well.
The repairs
Tiles, slates and lead on a Georgian village roof
After a run of fires, much of the centre of Bere Regis went back up in brick in the Georgian years, and the historic survey of the village records those houses under clay tile, some under slate, and several with a course of stone along the verge. Houses built since the war generally carry concrete interlocking tile. Each fails differently.
Cracked and slipped clay plain tiles. A plain tile hangs on its batten by two small nibs on the back, with a nail through it every few courses. Snap a nib or let the nail rust away and the tile slides down, opening a gap in the lap above. Frost gets into old clay too and splits the face off in layers. We slide out the broken or missing tile and fit a match, often a reclaimed handmade tile, because a new machine-made one stands out against weathered clay. Where a nail cannot reach, it is held with a tingle or a tile hook. A few tiles from a roof ladder is a morning.
Slates that have lost their nails. A slipped slate nearly always means its nails have rusted through. That is nail sickness. One or two slates go back on copper tingles or stainless hooks. When slates are sliding all down one slope, the nails have finished across the whole of it, and a tingle on every slate just leaves a roof full of metal strips. That slope wants stripping and re-nailing, and we would talk you out of patching it.
Stone verges under the tiles. On some of the older brick houses the gable edge is a course of stone slate with the tiles laid over it. The mortar under and between those stones washes out, the stones shift, and wind-driven rain gets in at the top of the gable wall. We lift the loose stones, re-bed them in a mortar that suits the old work and point the joints. Sound stone goes back where it came from.
Ridge and hip tiles on tired mortar. A bedded ridge tile stays put until the mortar under it cracks, and then the wind works the run loose one tile at a time. We take off the loose tiles, clean them, and re-bed them with a mechanical fixing into each one, since BS 5534 now expects ridge and hip tiles to be fixed and not just stuck down. On a newer concrete roof, a dry ridge leaves nothing to wash out. Allow about a day for a ridge.
Chimney flashings. On a cottage the stack is the first place to look: the stepped lead up each side, the soakers tucked under the tiles, the back gutter on the uphill face, and the cement fillets that some older stacks were finished with in place of lead. A cracked fillet or a flashing pulled out of its joint shows up as a damp patch beside the chimney breast. We cut out old fillets and dress in lead, renew or re-dress the flashings and repoint the joint they sit in. A set of chimney flashings is about a day. Loose flaunching or open joints in the stack itself are chimney repairs as well.
The joint with the back extension. Where a single storey kitchen or bathroom at the back runs into the old house wall, step flashing and soakers carry the water past the joint. When that lead lifts or the pointing above it drops out, water runs down the inside of the wall and the stain appears on the extension ceiling, well away from the fault. We re-dress or renew the lead and repoint above it.
Valleys where slate meets slate. Where a slated wing joins the main roof there is a lead valley, and the laps between lengths of lead split or the sheet cracks along a fold. A valley carries two slopes of water, so a small split lets in a lot. Relaying one means lifting the slates on both sides, so allow a day or two. We will not smear mastic over a split in lead.
Concrete interlocking tiles. These tiles are tough. When water gets past one, look first at the clip, the nail or the verge bedding. A tile of the same profile goes back with a clip, and the gable ends can take a dry verge unit screwed into the batten ends.
Flat roofs over extensions, garages and dormers. Felt, GRP and EPDM give way in the same places: a split or blister out in the field, the upstand where the roof turns up the house wall, and the outlet. A small split over a firm, dry deck is patched in a few hours. A deck that gives underfoot has taken on water, and a patch will not bond to it. More on flat roofing in Bere Regis.
After a gale. Out here the wind has a long run across the fields, and it lifts the edges first: verge tiles, ridge ends, the bottom course at the eaves. If tiles are off, we make the roof weathertight first, refixing what can go back and sheeting the rest, then price the permanent repair. See emergency roof repairs. Photograph the storm damage from the ground for your home insurer before anything is moved.
Gutters and fascias. Not every damp patch comes through the roof. A gutter full of moss spills behind the fascia, and a soft fascia board lets water into the top of the wall. Sometimes clearing the gutter is the whole repair. That side of it is covered under fascias, soffits and guttering in Bere Regis.
When there is nothing sound to patch into. Some of the oldest roofs have no underlay at all, and some have bitumen felt gone brittle. Whenever we lift tiles for a repair we check the felt and the batten ends round them. Soft battens and felt that breaks up at a touch across a whole slope mean the repair will not be the last one, and that is re-roof work for our roofers in Bere Regis.
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.
In Bere Regis a like for like repair needs no application. The village core is a conservation area and there are listed houses in the parish, so a repair that changes the material needs checking with Dorset Council first, and on a listed building the rules on listed building consent apply.
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 Bere Regis that can be a brick cottage right on the street with no side way to the back, a newer detached house with a drive beside it, or a flat roofed garage at the far end of a garden. 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. When you ring about a Bere Regis roof, say whether the drip is near the chimney breast, at a gable or under the back extension, because that points to the flashing, the verge or the abutment. 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.
Conservation area
In the village core, a repair puts back what came off
The centre of Bere Regis is a designated conservation area, and Dorset Council is the authority for it. Inside it, putting back what was there is maintenance and needs no application. Changing the material, or how the roof looks from the street, needs checking with the council first.
So on a clay or slate roof in the core, a broken tile or slate is replaced with a reclaimed or new match of the same size and colour, never a concrete tile that happens to fill the gap. Where a gable has its course of stone under the tiles, that stone is re-bedded and kept. We would not box it in with a plastic dry verge cap without first checking with Dorset Council. There are 43 listed entries in and around the village, the Parish Church of St John the Baptist among them, and on a listed house listed building consent is needed before any repair that swaps materials or changes its character.
In practice, ask for the patch to match what is on the slope, and ask for sound old tiles or slates that come off during the repair to be kept for reuse. If the repair is on a back slope nobody sees from the street, the answer can differ, so raise it at the visit.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
Bere Regis is about 17 miles from our base in Boscombe, off the A35 in BH20, and we cover the whole village and the roads out towards Winterborne Kingston and Tolpuddle. Dorset Council is the planning authority. 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 Bere Regis
Nearby places we also cover for roof repairs, with straight-line distances from Bere Regis, and the other trades we offer in Bere Regis itself.
Roof repairs nearby
Our other trades in Bere Regis
Everything we do in Wareham Roof repairs, all areas Every area we cover
Questions
Questions about roof repairs in Bere Regis
Can one slipped tile really be fixed on its own?
Yes, if the tiles and battens round it are sound. A slipped clay plain tile or slate is slid back or replaced and held with a tingle or a hook, and a concrete tile goes back with a clip. The question is why it slipped. One snapped nib is a one-off. Tiles creeping all over a slope because the nails have rusted is not, and fixing them one at a time only chases the problem.
How do you find where a leak is actually coming in?
Water runs along the underlay and down a rafter before it drips, so the stain is usually below and downhill of the fault. We start at the likely entry points above it, the chimney, a valley, an abutment or a verge, then inspect the loft in daylight for wet timber. Tell us whether it leaks only in wind-driven rain or in any rain, because that narrows the cause down.
When is a repair no longer worth it?
When the fault is everywhere and not in one place: slates slipping all over a slope, clay tiles flaking across the roof, felt that crumbles wherever a tile is lifted, battens soft at the ends. That roof has little life left, and the money is better spent on a new covering, which is work for our roofers in Bere Regis. Where it is close, the quote can put the repair and the re-cover side by side so you can weigh repair or replace with the facts in front of you.
My neighbour's roof is thatched and joins mine. Can you help?
With your side of it, yes. We do not thatch, and the thatch itself needs a specialist thatcher. Where your tiled or slated roof meets the thatch, or a shared chimney stands between the two, we can repair the lead, the tiles on your side and the gutter below. It helps if the thatcher sees the junction too.
What should I check before letting a roofer up on the roof?
Ask for a written, itemised quote that names the fault and where it is, and photographs of it before any work is agreed. You can look up our company number, 15471719, on Companies House. Be wary of anyone who knocks unasked, says the roof is dangerous and wants to start there and then. Our page on how we price a job shows what a proper quote covers.
Can a roof be repaired in winter?
Yes, in dry spells. Clips, tingles, lead and slate work carry on through the year. Mortar should not go on in frost, so if a ridge or verge needs re-bedding in a cold snap, the roof is made weathertight with a temporary sheet and the bedding waits for milder weather.
Free quote
Show us the fault on your Bere Regis roof
Send your postcode and what you can see: a tile down, a stain, or mortar at the foot of the gable. We come out, look properly and write the repair down, item by item.