Roof repairs in Branksome
Leaking chimneys, split valleys, slipped plain tiles and flat roofs on blocks of flats, repaired across Branksome and BH12 once we have found the fault.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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Branksome roof repairs
Tracing the leak on a Branksome roof
Yes, we repair roofs across Branksome, from a cracked plain tile beside the chimney of an Edwardian house around Brunstead Road to a split upstand on the flat roof of a post-war block. We find where the water gets in, fix that, and give you a written itemised price after a free site visit.
If water is coming in now, ring 07435 839745 and tell us whether it is a house or a flat, and which floor.
Damp spreads across the chimney breast in a bedroom every time the rain blows in hard. A plain tile has slid off the hip of a steep roof and is lying in the gutter. Or you live on the top floor of a block and there is a puddle on the landing after a storm, under a flat roof you have never seen.
We look from the street and the garden, get onto the roof where it is safe to, and go into the loft if someone can let us in. You get photographs of what has failed and a written price for putting it right. If the roof is past patching, you hear that too.
What we fix
Chimneys, valleys and clay: where Branksome roofs let water in
Around Brunstead Road the council describes the houses as red brick and render, with plain clay tiled roofs and prominent chimneys, built in the Edwardian and inter-war years on big plots up the hill. Beyond that you find post-war and later blocks of flats and inter-war semis. Each lets water in at its own weak points.
Chimney stacks. On a big Edwardian roof the stack is the first place we look. Water gets past a stepped lead flashing whose mortar joint has let go, through a back gutter behind the stack that has filled with leaves, or down through cracked flaunching round the pots. A rendered stack with a crack in it soaks up rain and lets it into the brickwork below the roof. We repoint the joint, re-dress or renew the lead, clear and reline the back gutter, and re-flaunch the top. One side of flashing is about a day once access is up. More on chimney repairs.
Valleys where bays and gables meet. These houses have bays, gables and cross wings, so a single roof can have three or four valleys. Each is either an open lead valley or laced with clay valley tiles. Lead splits along an old fold, and valley tiles crack as their bedding washes out. The tiles either side come up, the lead is relined or the broken valley tiles replaced, and the courses go back. Allow one to two days.
Plain tiles and steep hips. A cracked clay plain tile, or one that has started to flake on its face lets water through, and one with a snapped nib slides out of its course. We slide a matching tile in and hold it with a tile hook where the course above cannot be lifted. Where there is slate, one that has slipped with nail sickness goes back on a tingle. Hip tiles on a steep hip sit in mortar that cracks with age, and a loose one is dangerous over a front path. We rebed them with a mechanical fixing, or fit a dry hip to BS 8612 where it suits the house.
Bay and porch roofs. The small lead, felt or tiled roofs over bay windows and front porches meet the wall at a flashing that is easy to forget. A leak there shows at the head of the bay window, not in the loft, and it is repaired on its own.
Houses split into flats. The same big roofs now keep several households dry. Water that gets in at a valley can run along a joist and appear two floors down. The loft may be locked or reached through one flat only, and a conversion dormer or a flat roofed rear addition has edges of its own to fail. On the first visit we need to see the top flat and the loft, not just the room with the stain.
Post-war blocks. These carry concrete interlocking tile on a shallow pitch, or a flat roof behind a parapet. On the flat ones water ponds where an outlet or parapet gutter is blocked, felt or asphalt splits at the upstand, and coping joints open and let rain into the wall. We clear the outlets, cut out and patch the split, re-dress the upstand and reseal the copings. A membrane that has blistered all over is a replacement, covered under flat roofing in Branksome. On the shallow tiled pitches, verges and ridge lift in a gale, and we refix them dry, with every tile mechanically fixed to BS 5534.
Semis and detached houses. Mostly hipped, in concrete or clay, with a felt roof over a garage or kitchen at the back. After a gale the wind leaves slipped tiles, a missing tile or two and verge mortar on the path. If a gap is letting rain in, we sheet it as a temporary cover and then put the tiles back with a clip or nail in each. Where the felt roof meets the house wall, a cover flashing that has pulled out of its chase lets water in behind the felt.
Trees. Mature trees and hedges are part of the character of the Brunstead Road area, and they fill valleys and back gutters every autumn. Water then backs up under the tiles long before anything overflows at the front. Sometimes clearing them is the whole repair, so see gutters and fascias in Branksome too.
Repair or replace. We patch the part that has failed. A whole slope only comes into question when the battens are soft and the underlay under the tiles has perished, and that is a re-roof, which is work for our roofers in Branksome. While the tiles and battens have life left in them, the repair is the right call.
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.
A like for like repair needs no planning application, and the Planning Portal guidance on roofs covers the exceptions. Around Brunstead Road you are inside a conservation area, which the council keeps the list for, so a repair there stays in plain clay tile with the same lead details the house has now.
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 Branksome that might be a steep hipped Edwardian house on the Brunstead Road hill, a house split into flats near Branksome station with the loft reached through the top flat, or a post-war block with a flat roof behind a parapet. 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. In a Branksome house split into flats, the wet ceiling can be a floor or two below the fault, so tell us which flat is wet and who can get us into the loft. 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.
Flats
Roof repairs when you live in a flat
A lot of the homes here are flats, some in big Edwardian and inter-war houses that were divided up, some in purpose-built blocks. If you hold a long lease, the roof, gutters and outside walls usually belong to the freeholder and are paid for through the service charge. So check your lease and tell the managing agent or freeholder before anyone books work, because a top-floor leaseholder usually cannot order a roof repair alone. We can still come out and find the fault. The written itemised quote and photographs of the fault are what whoever holds the budget needs to see, so tell us whose name the quote goes in and who has the key to the loft hatch.
For bigger work the landlord has to consult the leaseholders first under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, once each flat's share passes the threshold in the regulations. That can take weeks, so on a larger valley or rebedding job the sensible order is to make the roof weathertight now and do the permanent repair once it is agreed. If you rent, your landlord has to keep the structure and exterior in repair, gutters included, so report the leak to them in writing. If you own the freehold, or share it with the other flats, you ask us directly, and in a shared freehold agree between you who orders the work.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Branksome and BH12, from Brunstead Road and Gordon Road down Poole Road past Branksome station, with Westbourne and Parkstone next door. BCP Council is the planning authority, and Branksome is 3.5 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.
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Questions
Questions about roof repairs in Branksome
I own a top-floor flat. Can I book the roof repair myself?
Check your lease first. In most leasehold flats the roof belongs to the freeholder, so the repair is theirs to order and pay for through the service charge. You can still ring us to find the fault, then pass our written quote and photographs to the managing agent.
Who is responsible for safety while you are on my roof?
On work to your own home, we are. Under CDM 2015, a domestic client's CDM duties pass to the contractor, so planning the access, the platform and the way the work is done falls to us. The HSE page on CDM 2015 and domestic clients explains it in plain terms.
Is it the chimney or the roof that is leaking?
Look at where the wet shows. Damp on the chimney breast or right beside it, worse after driving rain, points at the flashing, the back gutter or the stack itself. A stain well away from the chimney points at a tile, a valley or a hip. We check both, from the roof and from the loft, before we price anything.
Can a leaking bay or porch roof be repaired on its own?
Yes. The roof over a bay or porch is separate from the main roof, and the fault is usually the flashing where it meets the wall or a split in the covering. We repair that without touching the main slopes.
Do you charge a day rate for roof repairs?
No. A day rate tells you nothing about what gets fixed. We price the whole repair in writing after the site visit, based on the access, what the fault turns out to be and what goes back on. How we price a job sets it out.
Free quote
Tell us where your Branksome roof is letting water in
Send the postcode, whether it is a house or a flat, and where you see the water. Thomas comes out, finds the fault and puts the repair in writing.